2008 was a rocky year, the global financial crisis was on everyone lips. So, for our client christmas present we wanted a gift that would offer a little hit of hope and sweetness in tough times, and chocolate cheers everyone up.

We sourced the most stunning chocolate in the world that looked just as sublime as it tasted from our good friends at Ganashe Chocolate. We then designed the packages to reflect the premium quality of the chocolate and to inspire a cosy, peaceful moment of calm in such turbulent times.

Just Car Insurance
Owned by AAMI, Just Car Insurance was created to fill a niche of car insurance for drivers considered ‘un-insurable’. Working with advertising agency BADJAR, we developed the brand strategy – Just Car’s brand was built on embracing the very things that made cars and drivers difficult to insure, there-by becoming the expert (and the number one brand) for that part of the market.

Working with the brand strategy and brand personality we designed the Just Car brand identity to reflect the passion of the car lovers who would be the brands most loyal customers. We focused on the symbolism of customized number plates to celebrate those for whom their car is their obsession.

We selected a vibrant blue colour palette that was not just on-brand but also differentiated and ownable within the car insurance market and supported it with a ‘no-bullshit’ palette of brand visual language.

ANZ Bank
ANZ Bank is a bank that is committed to building lasting partnerships with their customers, shareholders and communities throughout Australia, New Zealand and 26 key markets in the Asia Pacific region. Always ahead of the pack, ANZ has an stern reputation for being one of Australia’s leading banks.

A Longstanding Relationship
Over the years we have worked on several card projects for the ANZ Bank. We’re been commissioned to manage naming processes, consult on marketing propositions and of course design the cards. Our understanding of the ANZ brand and the needs of sub-brand entities gave us the insight and ability to produce cards that could be on brand for the bank while having a clear differentiators for its customers.

A New Model of Talent Management
Forum5 represents the next generation of artist and talent management company founded by Mark Richardson in collaboration with global media company; Fremantle Media. Mark’s background was
in running some of the biggest record labels in the world, representing many of the biggest names in music internationally. Mark’s vision for Forum5, was a new kind of talent management based on the understanding that in the age of shared and social technology, the talent creating the content holds the power, and the ideal management relationship is an entrepreneurial partnership. With Fremantle Media’s backing, Forum5 was launched in 2008 and has found much success with the new model
of talent partnership, quickly growing to represent local talent from the television, music, food and lifestyle industries.

A New Level of Brand Clarity
We worked with Mark to help Forum5 develop absolute clarity around their brand definition and differentiated market proposition. We designed a brand story book and helped form a new language
to communicate the new Forum5 offer to market, staff and potential talent partners. Forum5’s brand essence of ‘Partnering to Build Talent Equity’ focused on Marks unique value proposition and formed
the starting point for our creative brand expression.

A New Brand Identity
The Forum5 brand mark locks the number 5 within the word ‘Forum’ to illustrate the focus on talent partnerships in a simple and memorable form. The word-mark is simple and graphic allowing it to work across many different applications and to be ‘dialed-up’ or ‘dialed-down’ in prominence depending on the piece of communication and the talent brands it would be appearing with.

The Forum5 business card had to stand-out in an industry where talent is typically bombarded with business cards. Driving from our communication platform of Talent Partnerships we created a book of perforated business cards. The talent receives one half of the card with Forum5s contact details, but the talent’s details are also taken, written on the part of the card that remains with the Forum5 staff member. The ceremony of tearing the card and taking details becomes a brand gesture demonstrating the unique proposition of partnership-based talent relationships. The cards are also individually numbered, and each month a number is drawn and the person who received that card is invited to a lunch with Forum5 founder Mark Richardson.

To assist Forum5 in communicating their brand proposition to the market place, their staff and to Fremantle Media we designed a brand story book. We developed a set of new language and key brand communication messages for each market, enhanced by the book design to spark buy-in and facilitate understanding of the Forum5 brand proposition.

Client: Amar
Amar is a designer woman’s clothing and fashion online store that has a selection of boutiques
in Australia, Europe and Asia. With a passion for design and a flair for innovation, Amar required
a stylish, feminine and unique website that reflected its market proposition, ‘transcending cultures, borders and languages’.

Amar was already a stylish modern brand, but they lacked any visual properties. We saw opportunity
in creating a new visual identity with a range of visual properties that Amar could own and use. The stylish oriental pattern and bird, combind with a floral sign posts and frames, creates a delicate balance of east meets west.

About the Client:

SAGE started life as a two man electrical engineering company in 1994, when we met them they had grown to an Automation specialist with over 200 employees, a list of Australia’s blue chip clients, a turnover of $40 million and a truly national presence. The only issue was they had truly outgrown their current brand, both strategically and stylistically.

For an engineering company one of the most important pieces of brand communication is their Tender. For SAGE it was one of the driving forces for an update. If the abilities and beliefs of the company were not being expressed, the way a good visual brand system can, they are putting themselves at a serious disadvantage when tendering. And winning tenders is the life blood to growth and survival for a company like SAGE.

Evolving the Brand:

Naturally, we started out with a Strategic brand workshop, with the executive team, to get some sharper thinking happening on the brand. From the workshop we developed a Brand Essences, Values and Personality. These were then combined into a Brand book, a publication that records and explains the strategic intent of the brand.

Upon completion of the brand book it became clear to the exec team at SAGE that their brand mark and visual language no longer lived up to their how they envisioned their brand. We we’re engaged to evolve the brand’s visual assets to a point where the brand mark would be a visual standard for the progressive and modern business SAGE had become.

We present several steps from a conservative touch-up to a modern corporate brand that could be a generational leap. We we’re delighted when they backed themselves (and us) and settled on what we thought was the best solution but might have been too much of a change for them.

One of the few stipulations of the evolution was that the icon must stay, apparently it’s either a lathe bit, or a scythe. What ever it was is lost in the sands of time, the important thing is that it represented SAGE since 2000 and is recognised by both clients and staff.

The Rational:

The new brand mark was created to have the visual language of a modern international brand. The lathe bit became a counter cut out of a red sphere. Which deliberately has an Asian feel, we wanted the brand to feel bigger than an Australian brand. The logotype, strong caps, in a modern but friendly sans-serif. The A of SAGE is the Delta symbol Δ which to engineers means a change or the difference. This is then locked up with the Name of each of the different companies that make up the SAGE Group.

A key element of the visual language was the sphere elements, a series of overlapping translucent spheres, that can work as a secondary branding element and provided the opportunity to vary the level of branding used on any communication. The visual language for the brand extended to a series of metallic images, which help express the modernity the brand required and could be used in branded pieces while a new, more modern photographic library was developed.

The new identity was then implemented across stationery, uniforms, livery, signage, presentations, brochures, website, the all important tender templates and the SAGE Racing Ute.

The conclusion:

Not all brand expressions are of the same value. For SAGE, the look and feel of their tenders was the most value. For your brand it will probably be something different. Knowing what it will be, is the key to getting real value from your visual brand. Then using the 80:20 rule you can leverage the other key points to supercharge your brand.

If you’d like to have a chat about how you can evolve your brand, strategically and visually, or target your most rewarding brand expression, give us a call.

Rogerseller is a luxury, premium interior product design company. In has been in business for over 100 years and is the leader in beautiful and innovative products for bathrooms and kitchens.

With new competition in the market Rogerseller wished to re-establish a differentiated position for their brand. We were engaged to direct them in the definition of their brand proposition, brand essence and values. Once defined we created this A3-sized brand book to translate the outcomes of the brand work for their staff who are responsible for bringing the Rogerseller brand to life ever day.

The brand book has been designed to reflect the beauty and luxury that is evident through all of Rogerseller’s products. The red thread that weaves its way through the book represents the role of the brand, which also weaves through every aspect of the business from product selection, through the brand’s visual language, to Rogerseller’s high level of client service.

Client: 135° Degrees

135° Degrees is a luxury property investment group, marketed to high wealth individuals in Australia and ex-pats in the Asia Pacific region. 135° Degrees owns ultra luxurious holiday homes in the most exotic locations around the world. With properties in Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, members could experience
a range of extraordinary experiences ranging from skiing slopes in the island of Hokkaido (Japan), through to relaxing at Singh Beach (west coast of Phuket) surrounded by the majestic Andaman Sea. The 135° Degrees experience provides the services of a luxury hotel, the exclusivity of private villa rentals and the equity benefits of second home ownership. The 135° Degrees proposition is ‘A life balance investment’.

135° is the angle between the sides of an octagon, the ancient symbol for peace and tranquility. 135° Degrees as a name complements the market proposition of ‘A life balance investment’. As the target market becomes increasingly time poor they seek more extraordinary experiences, blending relaxation with ultra luxurious, understated style. We developed 135° Degrees brand definition, brand identity and communications campaign in harmony with these ideals.

The brand identity developed throughout 135° Degrees communications is equally luxurious and exclusive. Photography focuses on ‘place’ and ‘feeling’ and is packed with exotic colour and texture. Contrasted with a slick black overlay, the visual language is clean, luxurious and contemporary.

Gelati Sky is a boutique, premium gelati range. The story of Gelati Sky has a strong personality driven by Gelati Sky founder Paul Scalisi’s memories of growing up in Rome, eating gelati – ‘a world where every moment seemed frozen in an amazing sensory assault and every cloud in the sky made you feel it was about to rain gelato’. We were looking for something that was strikingly unique, represented his story and would create conversation. The communication platform of ‘it’s what dreams taste like’ was derived out of the brand strategy definition for Gelati Sky conducted by Brand DNA.

The goal was to express these feelings through the package and the tastes through the flavors. The concept that we came up with was born out of these ideas. We combined the imagery of Italy with objects that looked like the flavor to create a unique, organic and scrumptious shape for each flavor. The packaging looks like it is part of memories and dreams from Italy.

Gelati Sky started as a boutique Gelati range servicing restaurants and specialist food shops. The packaging was the strongest step to building a brand consumer could connect with. As small ultra premium brand, the package needed to take on a more delicate personality than the bigger, more established companies. The package needed to not only reflect the personality and story but also to look different while still maintaining premium feel. The taste of the Gelati is simply amazing and we knew that if we developed a rich, beautiful label, one that would get buyers and customers excited it would be very successful.

“Every presentation we have done when I pull the containers out of the box the first word is WOW! Then they taste the product and they say WOW again! I think we got a winner.”

Paul Scalisi
Managing Director & Gelati Chef
Gelati Sky

Client: Gelati Sky
Brand identity, brand strategy and packaging for retail gelati brand Gelati Sky.

Our work with the City of Whittlesea as their brand communications design agency provided us the opportunity to work on the brand identity for their Youth program. We ran some brand image research sessions with a range of young people from across the City’s broad population base to establish a consideration set of relevant visual language to inform the project design brief. We also used the opportunity to talk about themes for possible names for the program.

Baseline was the name approved for the program based on ‘a connection to music, it was relevant and current to the audience who felt the name didn’t speak down to them, but connected with them on their level’. We ensured the name would be both current, but also wouldn’t go out of fashion.

Working with a young designer with a relationship to the client, we tucked him under our wing as we developed the visual language for this vibrant brand identity. The final result is a fresh and relevant brand identity that provides an interface for the youth of the City of Whittlesea that is far rtemoved from the conservative, corporate image of Council.

Client: City of Whittlesea
City of Whittlesea Youth Services naming, brand identity and brand strategy.