Inspiring
Identity

A successful brand is a clear idea; an accurate and positive perception of a product or service that lives in the mind of each individual audience member. A well-executed identity clearly communicates that idea and acts as a sign which, when seen, triggers the recollection of past experiences and associated emotions in the mind of the viewer.

• Creative workshops

  We like to take some of the guesswork out of developing or refreshing a visual identity for a brand. As much as we like to assess visual identity concepts objectively against an agreed strategy and in the context of the current competitive landscape, we also appreciate that our clients’ personal tastes have a part to play in what gets approved – especially when they are the founder. It’s business, but it’s often also personal.

  Rather than us attempting to mind-read, creative workshops help our clients to articulate their aesthetic preferences before we start designing. It’s a bit like checking your compass before you embark on a journey, they build consensus around the correct direction of travel right from the outset.

• Logos

  A brand is much more than a logo, but your logo is one of the critical foundation stones upon which a brand’s visual identity is built. As intrinsic and meaningful as a person’s signature, a logo is a brand’s guarantee of authenticity and quality. Imbued with meaning and association, logos provide the introduction to your entire brand narrative.

  Whether the answer is an elegant wordmark, a logotype with appropriate symbolism woven into the lettering or a combination of a wordmark with a separate symbol, these days logos need to work exceptionally hard across an ever-increasing array of channels and media – even taking advantage of opportunities for animation where appropriate. We’ll craft yours with the care and attention it deserves.

• Visual identity systems

  A visual identity includes a logo, but it also covers all other elements of visual expression associated with a brand including some or all of the following: colour palette; fonts and typography; photographic or illustrated imagery; icons; data visualisation including charts, graphs, tables and infographics; shapes; patterns and other graphic devices.

  The selection and use of each element should be carefully considered to support and amplify a brand’s strategic intent and achieve the three core aims of authenticity, relevance, and differentiation. Effective visual identity systems should create a distinctive recipe from these ingredients so that a brand becomes recognisable as the source even if its logo is not immediately apparent.

• Brand guidelines

  The impact of a great logo and visual identity can be undermined or diluted by haphazard application. Brand guidelines exist to help organisations effectively manage the roll-out of their visual identity even if multiple individuals or agencies are responsible for the creation of communications collateral.

  A powerful visual identity finds the right balance between consistency, coherence, and context with adequate repetition to help fix a brand in a viewer’s mind combined with sufficient flexibility to adapt to different messages and media. Good brand guidelines make this balance easier to achieve; comprehensive enough to cater for most eventualities without being difficult to implement or police.

• Tone of voice guidelines

  From advertisements to presentations, websites to customer service emails, invoices to social media feeds, instruction manuals to corporate videos, there are ever-increasing opportunities for brands to engage with their audiences. Communication is no longer the responsibility of only the PR, marketing and sales teams.

  Tone of voice guidelines can help all those who write or speak on behalf of a brand to sound as if they are speaking with a single voice. Usually rooted in the values and personality of a brand they should provide easy to implement advice that helps a user understand the overarching brand narrative as well as the nuts-and-bolts housekeeping such as consistent punctuation or an accepted lexicon of terms.

• Brand toolkits

  Once a visual identity is approved and before any large-scale activation work commences, we think it’s vital to get all your ‘business as usual’ applications up to date and on-brand. Whatever kind of launch is planned, the devil is in the details, so we create and collate all the digital files and supply you with a brand toolkit that you can store on your network and distribute to the relevant teams within your organisation. A brand toolkit usually includes .ai, .eps, .jpeg and .png files for every version of your logo, stationery templates and artwork for print, and assets for both email signatures and your preferred social media channels.

• Trademark registration

  While we are not trademark lawyers, years of experience have taught us the importance of correctly registering brand names and logos across relevant sectors, categories, and regions. Legal protection helps to prevent anyone else from passing-off their products or services as yours and potentially undermining the goodwill built up by you over time. We have trusted experts within our roster of partners and are happy to liaise with clients’ legal teams to facilitate the correct course of action.