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A brand’s new life

November 27, 2020/in Case studies/by Editor

When a small, family-owned regional enterprise first sets out on its pathway to success, the logo is a very personal connection to who they are and what they stand for. It is worn with pride as the business grows. However, sometimes the visual brand is left behind in the process of expansion. Then, almost overnight, it is realised that the brand has become outdated and no longer portrays what the business has become…

This was the story for Global Engineering & Construction when they first approached us. The logo was still a proud emblem of the business – so we were not to alter it significantly. Our brief was to finesse the logo to create a more contemporary and refined mark and then apply it to new corporate collateral.

By re-imagining the brand’s key elements (logo, font styling, imagery and colour palette) we have achieved a fresh, energised new take of the original identity.

Building a new brand for all

Global started in 2012 with a team of five and has now grown to over 250 staff. Due to the rapid expansion of the business, consistency of identity and application had been left behind.

While there are a multitude of important factors to address in a fast-growing business, maintaining a solid brand identity and culture is vital.

Global understands this and recognises how important it is for staff, partners, suppliers, and existing and potential customers to identify with the business through its visual identity.

Every picture tells a story

Global operations are predominantly based in regional Queensland and South Australia – Australia’s iconic outback known for rugged, stunning landscapes. We have captured these vast landscapes in a portfolio of photography, which has become the hero element within our designs.

Colour

Taking inspiration from the blue skies and ochre earth, we expanded the brand colour palette. The combination of imagery with the refined colours provides a strong, confident identity.

Developing organisational culture through branding

One of our initial projects was to design resources featuring the organisation’s vision and values. Global needed a strong, unifying foundation on which to grow a positive staff culture. Posters, murals, screensavers and corporate documents all present these key messages in a way which expresses pride and teamwork.

Growing the brand

With the ‘new’ logo in place, we have developed a consistent, contemporary application of the brand that expresses the business it is today.

We have produced a wide variety of resources and branded collateral including stationery, corporate profiles, safety documentation, induction presentations, social media promotions and a new website.

We have loved this journey – collaborating with our client to build new resources and enhance the value of their brand through creative design.

Because everything is better with a sprinkle of salt!
SALT.Shaker

QMHC strategic documents & branding

April 9, 2020/in Case studies/by Editor

The importance of a consistent visual brand across a document suite

QMHC is an organisation which drives reform of the mental health and alcohol and other drugs systems in Queensland. Its role is to encourage and facilitate change to improve the mental health and well-being of all Queenslanders.

Salt Design has developed a strong visual profile for QMHC across multiple platforms and projects.

Understanding QMHC’s vision and purpose has enabled us to design engaging, positive, on-message collateral. By ‘getting’ what our client does, understanding their strategies and reason for being, and knowing their audiences, we have such a strong foundation on which to create purposeful designs.

It’s a point we have always felt so strongly about – that we MUST know our clients to be able to successfully create their brand and effectively profile their business purpose. Our work must never reflect our design styles. Rather, it should always communicate who our client is and visually present their business personality.

Art illustrating life

When developing a collection of strategic documents for QMHC, we needed to create a visual brand which represented the organisation’s future plans. A brand which engaged with key industry stakeholders, government, support organisations and the general public. Most importantly, a visual brand which reflected positively the sensitive topic of mental health and wellbeing.

During the initial design briefing, QMHC provided us with a collection of artworks produced during art therapy workshops. The works were powerful portrayals of the very personal journeys of a group of people with lived experience of mental health issues.
Each artwork was a colourful, abstract, multimedia expression, as diverse as the individuals who created them. And they provided the key to the design solution we were after!

Consistent visual branding

We still needed a means by which to ‘connect’ the artworks together within the initial document design. To do this, we selected an abstract painted background graphic. When combined with the artworks, this graphic provided colour, texture and visual interest.

The application of the painterly effect has been diverse. We have applied the graphic to multiple reports and supporting documents, posters, display banners, invitations, social media graphics and online resources.

We have also applied different brand colours to the graphic. By retaining the graphic and changing its colour gradients, we have created a new, fresh brand identity for the latest suite of corporate documents. It has provided a strong visual unity to the resources to make them truly a cohesive collection of information.

Because everything is better with a sprinkle of salt!
SALT.Shaker

RacksBrax brand design and strategy

October 29, 2019/in Case studies/by Editor

If there was a creative ‘dream project’ – this would be it!

Over the past 12 months, Salt Design has worked on an amazing creative project bringing to life a new product.
It has provided us the opportunity to apply our professional skills across the full range of design and branding application, including…

Branding development

• Logo development
• Branding architecture

Our initial design brief was to develop the logo and brand architecture for the ‘parent’ product – RacksBrax. Our client’s brief was to create a strong, confident, quality mark – attractive to the 4×4 vehicle/outdoor/adventure audience, yet not too ‘blokey’.

Logo

Our solution is a strong typographic mark which is an interplay between the product name and its link to the 4×4 market.

Colour & graphic treatment

Colour is an important element to the success of the branding. Our research indicated that our colour palette would stand out against the common automotive and outdoor accessories marketplace. We developed a colour palette which is rich and vibrant, and versatile to suit multiple combinations.

A dynamic visual link across the brand is the emphasis of the RacksBrax “X”.

Taglines

Sitting in our studio, dreaming of our own outdoor escape – we realised the perfect tagline … because what’s better than taking off on your next adventure to the great outdoors! Promotion of the brand required key statements to explain the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of the product.

The ‘why’: “Take off on your next adventure” communicates the end goal – conveying the emotive reason to buy a RacksBrax Hitch.

The ‘how’: “Fast on Fast off” provides an easy-to-recall message which resonates with the simplicity of the accessory’s purpose.

Having some fun with the key message!

We also created and refined much of the content that appears on the packaging, website and promotional brochures. As a means of connecting with our ideal customers and getting them to recognise the life-changing solution RacksBrax provides – we presented a ‘relaxed, fun vibe’ to the content. We then developed a series of ‘from-to’ statements which extend the brand story – providing multiple scenarios and uses for the product range.

Packaging

Working with an Engineer has it’s advantages! Our client was able to calculate product measurements and technical specifications long before the product was coming off the assembly line! This information was then utilised so we could develop the customised packaging.

Our expertise in packaging design, teamed with our print production experience, enabled us to design and print a single packaging solution to suit not one, but three different product variations. Considerations included production methods, costs and timeframes. We collaborated with local print packaging suppliers Platypus Print Packaging to develop prototypes to ensure the most effective solution. Already the market’s reaction to the packaging design has been resoundingly positive and is establishing the brand as high quality and well-established – just as our client’s brief had required.

Photographic direction

Having the right images to ‘tell the story’ was vital to communicating the purpose and value of this new product.

Salt Design coordinated the initial image requirements – focusing on how images could be used to explain the technical installation and use of the product. Also vital was to develop a library of ‘hero’ or ‘happy life’ images – provocative images of how life will be so much better with a RacksBrax Hitch fitted to your roof-rack accessory!

Salt Design provided direction throughout the 2 x full-day photoshoots with Dean from ALLISLIGHT. We provided vehicles, props and even model talent! It was quite an exciting day on location at the far end of Bribie Island . . . a 3.00am start to the day was just part of the joy – and got us the money shot sunrise images!

Promotional collateral

• Promotional brochures
• Trade marque and feather banners
• Custom-made demonstration stand
• Promotional coupon stickers
• Bumper stickers
• Influencer pack graphics
• Promotional t-shirts
• Corporate uniform graphics

Developing a product from idea to retail shelf was just one part of this project. Creating a strategy and developing promotional resources to inform and engage with target customers was another.

Face-to-face promotion of RacksBrax will be at expos and tradeshows (wherever there’s a crowd of enthusiastic adventurers!). It was fabulous to visit the very first RacksBrax Tradeshow – where all of our designs came together as such an exciting presentation!

Online promotion

The strategy to generating large unit sales for Racksbrax relies on their availability for purchase online. It was imperative that the user experience be a streamlined, simple transaction on a website which informs and reassures the buyer of the quality product they are investing in. Salt Design collaborated with our client and their technical sales support IT team to design and construct the Shopify site.

Although this interface has some restrictions and presented some challenges, we successfully created a website which is engaging, informative and compelling to potential customers.

Australian Made, Australian owned – Australian Designed!

We are so proud to see a local family realise their innovative idea. We wholeheartedly applaud their insistence to have a product which has been engineered, developed and made here in Australia. Oh – and designed locally (by us) too!

Because everything is better with a sprinkle of salt!
SALT.Shaker

Tag Archive for: website design

A brand’s new life

QMHC strategic documents & branding

The importance of a consistent visual brand across a document suite

Art illustrating life

Consistent visual branding

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