Visual Identity
A pretty face isn't enough.
Anyone can make something look good. Look around, everything looks good now. The question is whether it looks like you, and whether someone who has never heard of you can feel your promise before they've read a word. Visual Identity is where your positioning becomes visible: logo, colour, typography, imagery and a design system that holds it all together.
What is a visual identity?
Your visual identity (also called brand identity or corporate identity) is the full set of visual building blocks your brand uses: logo, colours, typefaces, photography style, icons, layouts. Bundled in a house style guide, it makes sure your brand looks like itself on a building site hoarding, in an Instagram story and in a quote someone sends out at five to five.
How we look at it
A visual identity always comes after the verbal one. We start from the promise, not from a moodboard. That's the difference between a house style that decorates and a house style that tells. A typeface is a choice of voice. A colour is a claim. If we can't explain in one sentence why something looks the way it does, with a straight line back to your positioning, it goes.
That doesn't mean it has to be serious (ours is yellow, and has a dot where an O should be).
What you walk away with
Logo and wordmark, plus the variants you'll actually need
Colour palette and typography
Imagery and photography direction
Design system: grids, components, icons, the rules behind the look
Templates for the things you make every week: presentations, social, documents
House style guide: a brand book your team and suppliers can work with without calling us
How it goes
Translate. We turn the positioning into visual principles before anything gets drawn.
Design. A few directions, one choice, then refining until it holds up small, large, moving and in black and white.
Hand over. Guide, templates and files, organised so the next designer you hire doesn't have to guess.
FAQ
Can I hire you for just a logo?
You can, but we'll ask what it has to say first. A logo is the smallest version of your brand story. If the story isn't there yet, we'll usually start one step earlier.
What's the difference between a visual identity and a house style guide?
The visual identity is the system itself. The house style guide is the manual that explains how to use it. You need both: a system nobody knows how to apply falls apart within six months.
Do you build websites too?
We design the identity the website is built on and art direct the build, together with developers we trust.
No pretty face without a promise.
Next: Brand Experience →