VGroup were approached by an energetic business start up, who wanted a professional brand identity and website for their new venture. TransWorldCom are an independent voice, data, mobile and IT company with a wealth of experience, but they recognised the importance of a strong brand to help give them an edge in a highly competitive market.

It was agreed that our client should use the acronym TWC as the top level brand name, with TransWorldCom underpinning it and making up the website domain name www.transworldcom.com

The logotype emerged as a bold and confident rendering of the characters in a customised font with the introduction of a circular, fluid symbol juxtaposed with the ‘T’. The primary palette was selected to be a dark purple complimented by a fresh and vibrant warm yellow. As intended the overall feel of the identity is progressive and technology led.

It was important that TWC’s 4 core products and services (voice, data, mobile and IT) were promoted as the focus of the identity and the website; It was decided that each would have it’s own ‘mini identity’ so we designed a set of graphic icons which emulated the structured yet fluid style of the logo.

The four symbols are unified on the homepage of the site, and used alone, in an abstract way on their respective dedicated pages within the site.

The website was developed using Couch CMS, which has a simple end user interface. It is also flexible enough that when scoping the site we realised that there were items such a blog and the social media links that the client required in the future – but at this stage can be hidden by checking a box until the company are ready to use them fully.

www.transworldcom.com

What they say:

“We chose VGroup after the careful consideration and review of a significant number of branding and design agencies. Being so involved with technology we needed to choose the right partner in this field and VGroup immediately stood out as being highly competent, honest, professional and knowledgeable in its field. Despite looking at other leading agencies they were always the ones we wanted to work with.

This decision has been vindicated throughout the various stages of the project as they have been a pleasure to work with. They have communicated and advised us well taking on board any comments we made; delivering a fantastic, class leading and exciting website. Thank you to all at VGroup involved in the project for TransWorldCom (TWC).”

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This is Design’ is an exhibition which celebrates Britain’s visual identity. The journey is documented through the most iconic of British product design spanning the 20^th Century.

The exhibition is thematically arranged, highlighting key transitions such as the move from the handmade to the mass-produced, and therefore the following recognition and development of the design profession, cleverly presented through the evolution of the chair.

Similarly the ground breaking transformation of digitalisation is presented in the form of a joystick arcade game from the late ’70s, contrasted with Microsoft’s recent Motor Sensor Control Kinect for Xbox360 – which of course you are invited to play.

Other key exhibits with economic and cultural significance include the Anglepoise lamp, the candlestick telephone and the Moulton bicycle. Margaret Calvert & Jock Kinnear’s road signage, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s 1936 UK traffic lights.

The Traffic Lights, redesigned by renowned british designer; David Mellor in 1966, were commissioned by the Department of Transport as part of the total redesign of the national road traffic sign system. Highlighting the endurance of good design – Mellor’s iconic design is still in use today and are a familiar sight on Britain roads.

For those who find it hard to understand the impact everyday design has on shaping and even influencing the visual identity of Britain; this exhibition demonstrates it in a tangible and exemplary way.

By exploring the relevancies of collecting design, with this exhibition the museum firmly establishes its continued importance in examining the impact and influence of design on the modern world.

The Design Museum is due to relocate from its current home at Shad Thames to the former Commonwealth Institute building on Kensington High Street, west London in 2014.

To mark the 10th Anniversary of Investance, a global management consulting firm dedicated to the financial services industry, VGroup has created a new logo, visual identity and website as part of a new brand communications strategy to raise awareness of their specialist capabilities. With over 70 clients in 10 countries and 300 employees in France, North America, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, Singapore, India and the UK, Investance now has an exciting brand platform from which to drive its phenomenal growth.

With revenues increasing at an average of 45% year-on-year and faced with an increasingly competitive environment for consulting services, competition for talented people and the need to increase their visibility in key markets, Investance recognised the need to improve their brand communications.

With an understanding that business branding is built around perceptions in the minds of audiences, a review was undertaken of Investance’s brand values, core proposition, messaging and tagline before agreeing the direction for the identity and communications. Clarity and emphasise was brought to their range and quality of services, so clients could achieve significant improvements in business performance.

One of the challenges was that the Investance brand assets were only relatively recently introduced and therefore they were looking for evolution, not revolution of the brand identity. Their new logo, vibrant colour palette, dynamic and bespoke illustrations now creates a visual identity that is confident and evokes leadership. A forward thinking identity that makes Investance stand out from its competitors with its fresh, modern hand drawn typeface, their new symbol becomes a guiding light, a beacon, defining Investance as a forward thinking company that provides direction and help for clients.

As part of this process The Investance Institute, the research, training and business events arm of the Investance Group, was also rebranded. The Institute was established in 2002 to act as a think tank to help clients predict and prepare for change and to provide a platform for the dynamic sharing of knowledge through publications, training courses and seminars.

The rebrand was applied to every aspect of marketing communications from stationery, literature and white papers, to Word and PPT templates, promotional items, signage and a comprehensive set of illustrations.

One of the most important requirements was a complete overhaul of their website. We helped review the site architecture, functionality and specification of the dual language site. The result is a stunning new website with full CMS capabilities, allowing the marketing team to update content and publish documents and news: http://www.investance.com

The new brand was launched to Investance employees at their head office in Paris, where specially personalised hand-outs were presented to staff along with some fun promotional items.

“We are absolutely delighted with the results. The work that VGroup did to take our ideas and push them to the next level were fantastic. They went beyond the brief and made suggestions for how we could try different things with real impact. We know this is just the beginning of a new era in brand communications for Investance but with the help of the team at VGroup until now and in the future I am confident we will achieve our objectives”.

Simon Drury
Global Head of Marketing, Investance

Corven is an integrated group of businesses all focused on creating value through strategic change. The business is composed of three divisions; Corven Consulting, Corven Ventures and Corven Networks. Working with FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies as well as with central government departments, in Europe and North America, dynamic growth led them to reappraise their brand and communications. VGroup’s appointment, following a credentials pitch, has resulted in a cohesive and integrated look to their communications.

Having successfully won the pitch, we started an intense six week project schedule to refresh their brand identity and their communications including a new website. The first stage was to clarify the hierarchy of the business divisions, each of their sectors and practice areas, and to distil this information into a clear brand architecture.

The Corven logo and Corven Networks logo were retained in order to maintain brand recognition. Our core objective was to refresh their visual identity, build upon their existing brand mark and produce a cohesive look to their corporate brand that would enable Corven to have full control over content in their  literature and website.

We rationalised their colour palette and typefaces across the Group; created an important new brand element in the form of a ‘wrap’ graphic panel which was employed throughout the design work to provide a distinctive area for titles and headers.

With Corven’s need for flexibility to edit and produce a lot of printed materials in-house careful consideration was given to the branding, fonts and colours to ensure consistency across InDesign and Microsoft Word platforms.

The Corven logo’s are written in Helvetica light, a clean open typeface, so it was decided that the Helvetica family should be used as the primary font throughout their printed materials. We took advantage of the release of Helvetica as a web-font to achieve onscreen consistency across their website. If this was unavailable to users, we nominated Arial as a secondary typeface as it would work well with Helvetica as well as across numerous Word Documents that are used internally and externally; this ensured there were no issues with type rendering incorrectly. In short we wanted to make life as easy as possible for their marketing teams.

The personality of the company is warm, colourful, optimistic, genuine and professional, so we felt it was really important that these values came across in their brand. We commissioned a photo shoot of the teams at work and engaging in live projects – the results of which can be seen across the website and in all of their collateral.

Corven PowerPoint template

The new Corven website brought together Corven Consulting and the H-I Network (now renamed Corven Networks). We created a new site architecture to ensure the content could be found easily once brought together.

When the sitemap was approved we moved on to creating a fully interactive wireframe version of the site that allowed Corven to click through and get a feel for how the site would work. These wireframes were then used as the base for the site design.

As with the printed materials we created a clean and modern look for the website ensuring it retained all the brand values of the new visual identity. With the site being built on the Drupal Content Management System (CMS) we paid careful attention to allowing the site to be as flexible as possible. Lots of different page templates and modules are available for the client to update copy, images, create new sections and promotions quickly and easily.

The results speak for themselves, but by working closely with key personnel who were involved in managing and producing marketing materials, Corven now have a more contemporary feel to their communications that represents their value and culture as a business. Their “brand toolkit” will enable them to attract new clients, as well as the calibre of people they need for their growing business, and lastly build brand value over the mid-long term.

“I wanted to write to thank you for your efforts with our website and brand refresh. Whilst it was an intense project, we are very pleased with the end results, and have had very positive feedback from clients, candidates and network members alike, as well as our own staff.” Charles Oppenheim, Corven.

www.corven.com

Technology specialist and lovely client of ours CNC recently celebrated their 15th birthday with their clients at the brand new Brighton & Hove Albion FC Stadium.

No birthday celebration would be complete without a cake, and what a lovely one they had! We think the new logo looks great on the Cake! Good enough to eat in fact. VGroup helped CNC rebrand at the start of the year, ready for the successful business technology consultant’s 15th birthday.

Founded in 2005, LOC Consulting (LOC) is a management consultancy firm which specialises in implementing complex business change and technology projects for the private and public sectors. In the past three years sales have grown 77% a year and 2010 turnover was £10m. In 2010 LOC were awarded 40th place in the Sunday Times Fast Track top 100, the only management consultancy firm to be listed.

Their brand and website design have remained static for the past four years and they felt that as the company was growing now was the time to rebrand and enhance their image and marketing communications. Following a four way pitch in March 2011, VGroup was awarded the contract to rebrand LOC and to roll-out the new brand across all their communications.

Three months later, we’re pleased to say the project has been a great success and as Elinor Fentem, Managing Consultant comments..

“Massive thanks to you and all at VGroup for your excellent work on this. I can see it [the website] in Antwerp and it looks great :) Everyone at LOC is very excited about our brand refresh and the website really is the central platform to launch this to the wider world & is definitely now a platform we can be very proud of and represents LOC perfectly… I for one love it – it is fresh, dynamic yet professional and is certainly light years away from what we had.”

Well, what they did have certainly didn’t reflect an organisation that had achieved such dynamic growth with proven capabilities. Their brief was to:

• reinvigorate their current image to keep the LOC brand fresh but without losing any of the key attributes or differentiators
• fortify the brand and ensure consistency across all marketing lines
• forge a more recognisable master brand with all components aligned
• have a brand which allowed for future evolution
• gain greater control of their website to enable frequent editorial updates to be made as and when required by resources within LOC
• ensure that the brand refresh did not conflict/constrain future web changes/updates

OLD LOGO

NEW LOGO

SUB-BRANDS

As we keep saying, “a brand is not simply a logo”. We looked at all aspects of their business culture and positioning – with the aim of capturing their personality and differentiators to ensure the business presented itself in a way that would attract and inspire clients, partners, employees and suppliers. We challenged LOC’s strapline “Unlocking your business potential” and simplified it to “Unlocking Business Potential”.

LOC has successfully delivered a range of programmes and projects with passion, integrity, innovation and flair, and throughout this growth they have retained the original vision and value set of the firm. Their new brand re-affirms their commitment to their clients and values and it reflects what makes them unique. It is also a consistent reminder as to who they are and what they do – both visually and culturally

The alignment of their brand identity across print and digital media was an essential requirement of the project and as an integrated agency, something we are set up to deliver . From stationery and flyers to presentations and website, we created a dynamic and fresh visual identity using cross-media typography, an inspiring colour palette and distinctive, photographic imagery. Here’s how it all came together:

WEBSITE // locconsulting.co.uk

FOLDER // FRONT

FOLDER // OPEN

FLYERS // SERVICES

FLYERS // PRODUCTS

We are now finalising their Brand Style Guide which will provide guidelines to help their employees and suppliers manage the design and production of their branded communications in the future.

If you run a professional services business, VGroup have specialist expertise and understanding of B2B branding and design, so give us a call on 020 7734 8855 to discuss what makes you special and how we can help communicate that most effectively to your audiences.

www.locconsulting.co.uk

MXC Capital is an investment company, and a consultancy. MXC’s proposition is to work with clients to identify acquisition and disposal opportunities as well as provide corporate consultancy on all aspects of business management. But it also, crucially, invests into the client companies with which it is engaged.

MXC Capital approached VGroup with a brief to brand them in a way that reflected both the financial and the consultancy aspects of their business. There was a balance to be struck between ‘financial’ and ‘racy’ so, unusually, we presented a number of options on the visual identity allowing MXC Capital to choose visually where they would position themselves between ‘financial’ and ‘racy’.  You can see what they opted for as we think the overall design speaks for itself.

The MXC Capital website brief was for a clean, clear, concise site with a bit of subtle Flash animation. Oh, and… “Can it work on my iPhone?”. Well, yes. We have used web fonts (Thank you Typoteque) and some lovely JavaScript animation to lift the site but keep it firmly in search and mobile device friendly technology. Attention to the grid and typography means that the site has visual impact without relying on a whole lot of irrelevant imagery. Take a look.

Their stationery, and in particular the business cards, also needed to make a serious impact. We produced a thick, duplexed colour plan card—black on one side, white on the other—with a foil blocked logo. Wow.

The whole brand identity came together really nicely, accurately positioning MXC Capital as an investment company with an edge.

It all started with a mouse mat.

Since CNC, our lovely new client, was first established they have been sending out mouse mat calendars annually to their customers and suppliers. A simple bit of merchandise, but apt for an IT company and one that stays on their clients’ desks all year round. If their clients don’t receive a mouse mat in January they call to ask for one!

After 15 years in the business, CNC has evolved, alongside offering day-to-day IT support they focus on creating bespoke IT infrastructure solutions for their clients, designed to aid and grow their customer’s businesses. Now mature and progressive, CNC wanted a more dynamic look to reflect their core values and the increasing success of the company.

So in December, with the mouse mat send looming, a new year, an expectant audience, it was time to begin the rebrand. The first thing to feature on our to-do list, the mouse mat would announce the new identity.

CNC had a very clear strategy about the direction in which they wanted the business to progress. They are technologically advanced and also committed to listening and reacting accordingly to their customers’ requirements. Our task was to distill these aims into clear propositions for potential customers. There was no existing strapline but the longhand for CNC—Computer and Network Consultants—featured on the brochure. We started with the keywords as we saw them: dynamic, proactive, process, accountable, inspired. Ultimately we felt there had to be a strapline. It is impossible to encapsulate all that they do in one line but we certainly could convey their ethos. “Inspired Business Technology” is what CNC are all about.

The existing brand had done well for CNC to this point, but lacked the punch and standout that CNC now wanted. The logo comprised of a cyan square, an abstract marque and a light, lower case cnc within the square. The three elements jostled for prominence and the lower case cnc felt weak. There was however, equity in the logo and although CNC were not averse to a complete change, we felt there was an argument to evolve the elements that had mileage.

We were drawn to the cyan square. It had structure, and was the most noticeable thing about CNC’s existing brand, so we felt that the evolved logo should include reference to that shape and colour. When we explored the typography we noticed that CNC looked stronger and more confident in uppercase. We have set it in a customised version of Gotham; a classic, sans serif font which is clean, contemporary and has a bigger company feel.

We’ve transformed the flat cyan square into a three-dimensional cube adding a white cube within it to represent IT infrastructure, which is at the heart of many modern businesses. The structural feel of the marque reinforces the solidity of CNC, but also nods towards their progressive approach. With a mind to production costs and consistency, we designed the logo to be printable in only two colours but with creative use of tints it has the feel of more colours.

Taking elements of the logo, we created a sculptural and abstract graphic device as part of the brand identity. We call it the ‘Infrastructure Device’. Although it is actually more than one graphic, there can be infinite variations on the theme. We use this throughout the printed collateral and website, and have plans to use the device to create signage and branding within the CNC office for example. This fluid branding device reflects the adaptable nature of the way CNC works. On printed items we added a metallic silver to the palette, this fits well with the forward thinking technology and adds a ‘special’ quality.

The previous branding featured stark, austere photos of the office and abstract shots of cabling. We immediately saw the need for adding personality to their collateral. We commissioned a photographer and art directed the shoot at CNC’s offices. The images produced portray not only the collaborative, approachable nature of their staff, but also their professionalism.

In the updated typographic style, bold headers are juxtaposed with a modern, very legible serif font. The messages are confident, yet the body copy is informative and plain speaking. The complexities of IT made easy to digest by the customer.

Again, the website reflects a fresh, clear approach to ordering of information. All the information visitors immediately want is available on the home page, and further detail can be accessed without leaving the page by panels which slide open to reveal more information. We created concise messaging written in a straightforward way, avoiding jargon and waffle, which reflects the approach and personality of CNC.

The site is controlled by a CMS, allowing CNC to control the information, and to easily keep it up to date with the fast moving technology they work with. They now have a blog section, in which they publish their ideas and insights, helping to keep their customers up to date, and proving their expertise to new or potential customers.

So CNC start the new year with a new brand, which we hope you’ll agree is befitting of the company they have become and positions them to achieve their strategic business goals in the future.

There’s something brewing over at Starbucks HQ. And it’s not just the coffee. To celebrate its upcoming 40th anniversary Starbucks have launched a new logo set to be rolled out across its stores in March.

Starbucks opened for business on March the 30^th, 1971 in Seattle, Washington. The company was named after Starbuck, the captain’s first mate in the novel Moby Dick. The original logo was based on a 17th-century Norse woodcut depicting a topless siren with a double fish tail. With a coffee brown colour scheme, the circular ring surrounding the mythological mermaid figure contained the text  “Starbucks – Coffee – Tea – Spices”. The overall image was designed to resemble a cigar band label.

Howard Schulz joined the company in 1982, and having been inspired on a trip to Italy to bring the espresso bar and café culture to America went on to create the cafe ‘Il Giornale’. He later purchased Starbucks and merged the two to create the Starbucks Corporation.

Elements of the Il Giornale logo were retained and integrated into the second version of the logo, which was used from 1987– 92, the drawing was refined; and a little more befitting of a new corporate image. The siren’s modesty is now covered by her streamlined flowing hair, but her navel was still visible, and the fish tail was cropped slightly.

A third revision of the logo in use from 1992 – 2011 crops the image of the mermaid to a close-up view. The mermaid’s tails on either side are mostly obscured which creates some mystery and question for those unfamiliar with the provenance of the brand.

The new logo releases the name from the symbol. It is a bold move, but with 16,858 branches and a presence in 50 countries worldwide arguably a justifiable one. In terms or brand recognition, they are now aligned with other companies such as Apple, Nike, Shell and Vodafone. The advantage of a word free logo is that it translates more easily across digital media and abroad.

The rationale behind this step indicates that Starbucks intends to roll their brand out across a wider range of products and are now free to do so without the constraints of the word ‘coffee’ in their logo. Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz said: “What is really important here is an evolutionary refinement of the logo, which is a mirror image of the strategy”.

At the beginning of 2009 we re-branded Archer Hoblin, a very successful London based construction company. Since then we have delivered five websites for their growing specialist divisions and recently have updated these with some of the new projects they have completed or are in progress.

It has been great to see the new brand in use on site. From flying high on a huge crane over the development…

…to providing a large scale advertising wrapper for the construction site.