For those keen eyed amongst you, you may have noticed that we are looking different. We have launched our new identity and branding, and we thought it would be interesting to share with you our journey and what it means to us as a business and to our clients.
We commissioned The North Space to create our new identity and they guided us through the process.
Mirror mirror on the wall…
Well we realised we weren’t looking the fairest of them all. Our existing logo had morphed out of various earlier logos and had been with us for over 20 years.
We had a working session with The North Space where we had to take a really good look at everything – warts and all. So although we were proud to be a leading industry specialist and to be working with some amazing clients, we realised that our brand wasn’t telling that story to the outside world. Our business had grown and progressed and our identity had got left behind.
Repositioning the brand
We worked with The North Space to develop a new brand strategy and to pin down what our brand values were. We asked our own team to be part of the process. We also asked some of our clients for their thoughts about our business. We added all these ingredients into the pot, mixed in several strong coffees and emerged with what we all feel are the values for our business.
Decisions decisions
After defining the creative brief with The North Space – this included elements we wanted to retain (definitely our name in some form) – they went away and did what creatives do (probably involving late nights, loud music and magic markers) and designed different visual options for our new brand.
The big reveal
The moment we saw this identity we just knew it was ‘the one’. It was fresh, dynamic, bold; but familiar like an old friend too. It felt like a natural progression from where we had been, but at the same time wasn’t a ‘safe’ option. It challenged us to think about who we were, who we wanted to be and it felt right.
Working hard
What we loved about the identity was how it also had a purpose. The North Space had created it to work as eight ‘petals’: each one representing one of our service areas.
This sub-branding enables us to structure our services and communications and also adds a vibrant colour palette.
Bringing our brand to life
It’s great to now see our new identity being rolled out across our communication materials. We launched our new brand at Foodex 2014 and felt very proud to be wearing our branded jackets, to be standing next to our new stand and to be handing out our new literature.
We first met Hannah and Simon from The North Space a few years ago when they were based in offices near us on the Broughton Hall Estate. It’s great to be able to work with a local design agency that understands our business and how we have changed over the last few years.
The new branding for Verner Wheelock was long overdue. Everyone in the business had an input into the choice of the new logo so it reflects us as a company and we are all proud of the new design which is now visible on our website and all literature and course materials.
About The North Space
The North Space is a design agency based in North Yorkshire, made of original thinkers with a thirst for creativity and client satisfaction.
www.thenorthspace.com