Branding & Brand Identity
Client: Various | 2002 - 2023 | Naming and Brand Identity
Although my focus for the past 20 years has been in digital, UX & UI, an equally enduring and successful aspect of my multi-disciplinary background involved and still involves branding and design. Working currently with global agencies to deliver brand strategy, design, marketing strategies, campaigns and communication collateral for global clients. Some examples below.
Kia
2023 | Agency: The Caffeine Partnership
The brief was to position and articulate the Kia brand for the global internal Kia audience using the 'Movement that inspires' strapline but with a focus on people. Our solution following multiple internal workshops was to develop a narrative about Movement based on simple principles such as Bold, Simple and Progressive.
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We were encouraged to stretch the brand guidelines to accommodate and amplify the energy of the repositioning whilst retaining the core Kia brand identity DNA and this culminated in new graphic devices and images that were applied across multiple communications channels including brand books, internal comms and training videos.
Natura Cosmeticos
Agency: Interbrand
Reposition and rebrand to attract a younger market without alienating a mature loyal customer base.
Natura is Brazil's largest and most popular health and wellbeing brand, it has been in existence since the 60's and is respected and revered by its loyal customer base. The old brand identity was showing its age but still very recognisable subsequently the new logotype was reworked so that the new execution was modern, more vibrant and supported new narratives that could be carried through in internal brand communications, advertising and marketing.
Narratives drawn from the rationale of the new form factor were to symbolically represent the old brand identity but in the form of an open shape with a connecting line representing a transparent 'bowl' offering 'bem estar bem' (well-being-well).
The positioning and accompanying collateral was to also lean towards the company's ongoing commitment to develop products using natural ingredients from the amazon rainforest and its subsequent protection.
FIBA
Agency: Interbrand 1999
Created a brand identity that would make the sport more attractive to sponsors and marketing.
The governing body of world basketball, FIBA, wanted to move away from their simple and somewhat dated typeface-based identity that had persisted for decades and move towards a more dynamic and exciting brand positioning and identity to reflect the growing popularity of professional European basketball.
After visiting multiple games and understanding the fans and their incredible energy and also understanding the pure nature of the game itself, hands and their continual contact with the ball became one of the most standout elements. Rather than a simple single hand, multiple hands were overlaid that both represented international cultural inclusiveness but also loosely resembled a collected shape that was intended to resemble countries spread across a globe.
Tutumo
Agency: Ngoar | 2018 | Brand/UX/UI
Naming and brand identity for a new insurance brand aimed at young families looking to take out life insurance policies. The development of the name was drawn from the Latin word Tutum which broadly translates as 'safe' or 'protected'.
The identity was created to give a sense of adults connected to their children with the relationship between the crossbars of the t's directly joined to the lower-case u’s.
Made by Cousin
Agency: Ngoar | 2017 | Brand name/Brand Identity/Brand Strategy
Premium print production agency Cousin, needed to reposition itself to match the desired perception of its luxury brand clients and to focus on the bespoke and largely hand crafted elements of their business.
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Retaining the name Cousin for consistency, we simply added 'Made by' to draw attention to the brands purpose and used a clean timeless font and identity system to allow the focus to be centered more around their products.​​
Additional brands
Agency: Interbrand/The Caffeine Partnership 1997 - 2015
From 1996, I have been working on developing global brands from a naming, strategic and creative standpoint, formerly with Interbrand where the true notion of brands was first analysed and defined to a deep level, driven by a need to understand the meaning of brands way beyond simple identities, packaging and products.
Our work was equally strategic and creative in balance and our access to clients to understand brand purpose and customer experience was always made at C level.
It’s a principle that continues to inform my approach; collaborating with former branding colleagues on various global brand positioning projects. Equally, there are obvious strategic parallels between brand strategy and User experience in terms of understanding and process that continue to inform my perspective in the digital landscape.
Ngoar Ltd
Agency: Ngoar Ltd
Although the name was created and registered over 15 years ago, the brand identity lacked cohesion and purpose and was starting to age.
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Rather than completely re-brand, we developed a more defined business purpose shifting from a digital start-up agency to a mature technology company, a business growth strategy which was supported by a flexible toolkit, an evolved and refined brand identity, and a communication strategy to reflect the repositioning.
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