Branding
Identity systems built to survive real use, from the mark itself to the rules that keep it intact.
What you get.
For companies whose identity is applied by more than one person, in more than one place.
A logo is the smallest part of this. What matters is whether the identity still works when ten different people apply it across a year, on a vehicle, a delivery note, a phone screen and a stage backdrop.
So we deliver the mark alongside the system that holds it together, and the templates that make following the rules easier than breaking them. That is the difference between a brand and a folder of logo files.
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Naming support and positioning
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Logo design and mark construction
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Typographic and colour systems
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Brand guidelines and usage rules
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Stationery, templates and asset kits
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Rollout across web, print and social
What is included.
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Positioning you can repeat
A short, plain statement of what the brand stands for, arrived at through interviews rather than adjectives, and written so your team can say it out loud.
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A mark constructed properly
Built on structure, tested from favicon to signage, and supplied in every format including the awkward ones that always get requested later.
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A full system
Typography, colour with accessible contrast pairs, layout, photography direction and motion rules, set as one coherent document.
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Guidelines written to be read
Short, specific and full of real examples including misuse, rather than forty pages nobody opens.
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Templates and asset kits
Stationery, decks, social and signage prepared so the first week after launch does not become a queue of requests.
The problem
Identities are delivered as a folder of logo files with no rules, so within months the brand exists in six inconsistent versions, stretched in a deck, recoloured in a spreadsheet, and rebuilt badly by whoever needed it at five o'clock.
How we solve it
We deliver the mark alongside the system that holds it together, and the templates that make following it the easy option rather than the disciplined one.
What that means for you.
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Recognisable at any size
The mark is constructed and tested from favicon to signage before it is signed off, not scaled and hoped for afterwards.
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Documented
Clear rules on spacing, colour, type and misuse, written to be read rather than admired.
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Ready to apply
Templates for the things you actually produce every week, so the identity survives contact with a deadline.
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Built to last
Decisions are made on structure rather than trend, so the identity still looks deliberate in five years.
How it runs.
In order. You know what happens next at every point.
Start a project-
01
Discover
Interviews, category review and a clear written statement of what the brand has to stand for and who it is speaking to.
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02
Direct
Distinct visual territories presented in real context, on a vehicle and a phone, not floating on a blank page.
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03
Refine
One route developed and tested at every size against real applications, including the unglamorous ones.
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04
System
Type, colour, layout, photography and motion rules set as one document with accessible contrast pairs.
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05
Roll out
Applied across the assets you need first, with templates for the rest and a short session for the team who will use them.
Selected work.
Questions.
- Do you do naming?
- We support naming, including availability checks, but we do not handle trademark registration. We can refer you to someone who does.
- How many concepts do we see?
- Two or three fully developed routes. Volume tends to indicate a weak brief rather than a generous one, and choosing between twelve sketches is not a decision anyone can defend.
- Can you refresh what we have?
- Yes. Where equity exists in the current mark, keeping it and fixing the system around it is usually the stronger and cheaper move.
- How long does it take?
- Discovery and direction move quickly. The system and rollout take longer, because that is where the work has to survive real use.