Brand
Identity
Brands need more than a logo. Four layers, built in order, each one deciding what the next can do.
Strategy
Where the brand stands and what it is arguing for. Decided before anything is drawn, because it is what makes the drawing judgeable.
Identity
The visible part: a mark, a typographic voice, a colour logic and a graphic language that can carry meaning on its own.
System
The rules that keep it coherent once other people start making things. This is the layer that decides whether an identity survives its second year.
Expression
Where the brand actually meets people, and the only real test of the three layers above.
What should your brand feel like
A strong identity starts before anything is drawn. We work out what the business does, who it is speaking to, what surrounds it and where it intends to go.
Then the visual work begins with a point of view rather than a moodboard. The answer has to survive contact with the business, not just look good in a presentation.
From idea to identity
Understand
The business, the challenge, the audience and the context it competes in.
Explore
Visual territories and creative directions, narrowed deliberately rather than endlessly.
Build
The identity system: mark, type, colour, graphic language and the rules that hold them.
Apply
Translation into real touchpoints, where the system either works or does not.
Selected brand identity work
All workBRIAA Wellness Resort
All four layers, from the name's double meaning to the printed guest material.
Jerusalem Cinematheque
Who this is for
New brands
Starting from nothing, where the first decisions set everything that follows.
Growing companies
Businesses that have outgrown the identity they started with.
Established organizations
Many sub-brands, materials and teams that need one clear system.
Identity work usually continues into the digital experience and the printed material built on top of it.
Questions we are asked
What does a brand identity project include?
Positioning and creative direction, the identity itself (logo, typography, colour, graphic language), and the system that holds it together: guidelines, layouts, components and the first real applications.
When should a company consider rebranding?
Usually when the business has changed and the identity has not. New audiences, new products, a merger, or a visual language that no longer matches how the company actually works.
What is the difference between a logo and a brand identity?
A logo is one asset. An identity is the system that decides how everything else looks: type, colour, layout, imagery, tone, and the rules that keep them consistent as more material gets made.
Can a brand identity include a website?
Yes, and it usually should. The website is where the identity is tested hardest, so we design it as part of the same system rather than a separate project. See the BRIAA case study for how that plays out.
Do you continue supporting the brand after launch?
Most of our relationships continue past launch as ongoing design support: new materials, new products, and keeping the system coherent as the company grows.
What’s next
Tell us what the brand has to do.