Capabilities / Brand and identity
Look likeyou mean it.
Your brand should feel as considered as the business behind it. A good identity captures something true about you - what you value, who you are for, and why somebody should remember you. We find that idea first, then turn it into something people can see, recognise and use every day.
Designed forthe real world.
A brand does not live in a presentation. It lives on websites, vans, proposals, uniforms and social posts, and in whatever somebody needs to make at four o'clock on a Friday. We design the whole system with that in mind.
We understand what already exists
How your business presents itself today, what is working, and where things have started to drift.
We design for where it has to live
From a favicon to a van, the identity has to work wherever your customers and your team will actually meet it.
We make it easy to use
Your team gets the files, templates and guidance they need to keep everything looking and sounding like you.
What we build here
More than a logo.
How you look, what you stand for, and the tools that keep the two together. Most projects need some of each, in proportions we work out with you.
Identity design
How you look. Your logo, typography, colour, imagery and the visual language that makes the business recognisably yours.
Brand strategy
What you stand for, who you are speaking to and how you want to be understood. The thinking that keeps everything else heading in the same direction.
Design systems
The templates, components and rules that turn the identity into something your team can use consistently, without needing a designer every time.
Made tokeep working.
The best identity is not the one that looks impressive on launch day. It is the one your team can still use with confidence two years later, and we design for that from the beginning.
Four things make sure of it:
Works at every size
On a van, on a favicon, embroidered, or stamped in one colour. We test it at the extremes, because that is where an identity shows whether it holds together.
Files people can actually use
Not only the studio's working files. The formats your printer, your web team and your office all need, named clearly enough that anybody can pick the right one.
Guidelines people will actually read
Short enough to take in before a meeting, and clear about the decisions that matter most. They exist to make the next piece of work quicker.
Accessible by default
Contrast that passes, type sizes that hold up, and colours that still work for somebody who cannot tell two of them apart. Part of the design from the start, not a fix afterwards.
How it works
Fewer, bigger decisions.
A typical piece of identity work looks like:
One call
What you have, what has changed about the business since it was made, and what you would want somebody to think in the first two seconds.
Two routes
Two properly considered creative directions, each with a clear idea behind it. Enough difference to make a meaningful choice, without turning the process into a beauty contest.
One system
We develop the chosen direction into a complete identity and apply it to the things your business actually uses.
When you are ready
Show us where you are starting from.
Whether you are starting from scratch, refreshing something familiar or pulling a growing brand back together, we will help you work out what needs to change, and what does not.
Before you ask
The questions we always get asked.
We only need a logo. Can you just do that?
Yes, and sometimes that is exactly the job. We will usually suggest a few basics alongside it - the type, the colours, how it behaves on a dark background - because those are the questions that come up every week once a logo is in use.
How many concepts do we get?
Two, each developed properly with a clear idea behind it. That is enough difference for a real choice about direction, and few enough that each one gets the time it deserves.
Do we have to change everything at once?
No, and it is usually cheaper not to. We would normally put the new identity on the things that get seen most and let the rest change as it is reprinted or replaced, rather than skipping a van's worth of livery.
What if we mostly like what we have?
Great. Not every brand needs reinventing. Sometimes the right job is to refine what is already there, strengthen the system around it and make it easier to use consistently. We will work that out with you before deciding how far to go.
Will our team be able to keep it consistent?
That is what the design system is for. Templates in the tools they already use and a short, readable guide make the consistent option the quickest one, and that is what keeps a brand looking like itself.
How long does it take?
Less time than software, and the design is rarely what sets the pace. How quickly decisions come back does, which is one reason we keep them few and clearly defined.
Keeping you in the loop on the technology changing how work gets done.
Read our hot takes on the technology changing how people work, and find out a bit about the nerdy things our team have been doing.
Read the latest issueNo pitch, no deck
Tell us what isactually happening.
Describe the problem in your own words. You do not need it worked out first - an honest conversation usually gets further than a tidy brief.
Unovo LimitedSteel City Stadium, Olympic Legacy Park
Worksop Road, Sheffield S9 3TL
Registered in England and Wales, company no. 16375453