Brand identity services
- Brand design and visual identity. How the brand looks as a whole: logo, colours, typefaces, imagery and layout rules, designed as one system that is recognisable on every medium.
- Corporate identity. The identity of the company as an organisation: how it presents itself to customers, suppliers, employees and partners, from official documents to its premises.
- Naming and tagline. The name of the company, product or line and the line that goes with it, following the method described below. The tagline says in a few words what the brand promises.
- Logo and variants. The mark and its versions for print, digital and product: primary, compact, single-colour and reversed versions, with the rules for using them.
- Brand architecture. How the main brand, sub-brands and product lines are organised, so they can grow without confusing people.
- Brand positioning. The place the brand wants to hold against its competitors. We define it in our strategy work and translate it here into name, signs and words.
Visual system, verbal identity and brand book
- Colour palette and typography. The colours and typefaces that make the brand recognisable, with the permitted combinations and the values for print and screen.
- Icons and patterns. Icon sets and graphic patterns that complete the identity and keep it recognisable even without the logo.
- Visual system. The rules that hold everything together: grids, use of images, illustration style and composition, so every new piece looks part of the same family.
- Verbal identity and tone of voice. How the brand speaks: tone, vocabulary, key messages and phrases to use and avoid, so the website, social media and packaging sound like one voice.
- Brand book. The brand’s user manual: logo, colours, typefaces, imagery and tone of voice, with correct and incorrect examples. Brand and visual guidelines for whoever applies the identity: internal teams, agencies, printers and licensees.
What is verbal identity?
Verbal identity is the part of a brand identity made of words: name, tagline, tone of voice, vocabulary, the way the brand addresses people and its key messages. It sets how the brand speaks and writes on the website, social media, packaging and customer service, so it is recognisable even without the logo. It is usually a chapter of the brand book, with examples of right and wrong phrasing.
Rebranding and brand refresh
- Rebranding. When the brand no longer represents the company: positioning, the name if needed, logo and visual system are rethought. We set it up together with the strategy, so the change has a clear reason.
- Brand refresh and restyling. Often a restyling is enough, without starting from scratch: we update the logo, colours, typefaces or tone and keep what people already recognise.
- Switching to the new brand. The list of materials and channels to update and the order to do it in, so the old and new identity do not coexist for too long.
What’s the difference between rebranding and a brand refresh?
A rebrand changes the brand in depth: it can touch the name, positioning, logo and visual system, and usually follows a change in the company, such as a merger or a new market. A brand refresh updates the existing identity without overturning it: the logo, colours, typefaces or tone are adjusted to feel current, while keeping what people already recognise. Often a refresh is enough.
Applications and brand assets
- Stationery. Business cards, letterheads, envelopes, email signatures and coordinated stationery.
- Brand assets. The ready-to-use kit: logo files, palette, typefaces, icons and templates for presentations and documents, organised so anyone can find the right file.
- Applications. Communication materials, packaging and merchandise, developed with our graphic design work. Shoots and videos in line with the new identity are made by our production team, channel content by social and content.
Brand identity projects
We have worked on the identity of very different brands: from sports (Wolf Racing, San Siro Stadium, HC9 and FICR) to entertainment (Mare Fuori, Carnevale di Viareggio and Giovanni Allevi) and consumer products (Dal Negro, Locanda Italia and Boston).
How we work
- Discussion. We learn the brand’s history, values and audience, and how its competitors are positioned.
- Concept. We propose different creative directions and choose together the one to develop.
- System. We design the logo, colors and typefaces, then gather everything in a guidelines manual ready for whoever will apply it.
- Application. We apply the identity to the first materials and hand over files and guidelines to whoever will use them, in-house or suppliers.
Naming: the name of the company or product
The name is the first thing people hear about a brand, and the hardest thing to change later. As a brand naming agency in Milan we work both on the name of a new company and on the name of a product or a line, and we develop it together with the rest of the identity: a name that doesn’t read well in a logo or on a pack is only half a name.
- Brief. What the name has to say, to whom, next to which competitors, and in which markets and languages.
- Naming strategy. The rules for naming future products and lines, in line with the brand architecture, so the family of names stays orderly as the brand grows.
- Exploration and short list. Many proposals in several directions (descriptive, evocative, invented), then a reasoned selection explaining the why behind each name.
- Preliminary checks. We can run preliminary checks on the availability and presence of the name in the main registers and digital channels, and check how it is pronounced and what it evokes in the languages of the markets it will enter; the final legal check is the job of specialist professionals.
- Presentation. We show the finalist names all in the same way, already set in a logo or on a mock-up pack, so you judge the name and not the graphics.
- From name to brand. Once the name is chosen, we build the logo and identity. If the brand could grow into other products, it pays to register it in the right classes from the start: it’s the first step toward future licensing.
What you get
- Naming, when needed: a long list, a reasoned short list and preliminary checks on the name’s availability in the main registers and digital channels.
- The logo with its versions for print, digital and product.
- Colour palette and typefaces.
- The brand book: the brand’s user manual with correct and incorrect examples.
- The first applications: communication materials, packaging, merchandise.
- The brand files in PDF, SVG, PNG and JPG, plus the source files where the project includes them.
- The tone of voice and key messages, when the project includes verbal identity.
- The brand architecture, if the brand has several lines or sub-brands.
- The brand assets kit and coordinated stationery.
When you need it
- A new company, product or line is being born.
- The brand no longer represents the company after a change of market, product or audience.
- The identity has become inconsistent from one channel to another.
- The brand still works but looks dated: it needs a refresh, not a rebrand.
- You have several sub-brands or lines and it is unclear how they relate.
Who it is for: new brands, and established brands that need to renew themselves without losing the people who already know them.
Brand identity FAQ
The logo is just one of the elements. A brand identity also includes the name, colors, typefaces, imagery, tone of voice and the rules that hold it all together, so the brand stays consistent across the website, social media, packaging and stores.
When the brand no longer represents the company, for example after a change of market, product or audience, or when the identity has become inconsistent from one channel to another. Often a restyling is enough, without starting from scratch.
It’s the brand’s user manual. It explains how to use the logo, colors, typefaces and images, with right and wrong examples, so that agencies, suppliers and internal teams always apply the identity the same way.
Yes, brand identity work can start from the name: we propose reasoned alternatives, can run preliminary checks on the name’s availability in the main registers and digital channels and, once the name is chosen, build the rest of the identity around it.
It depends on how many names you need (a company, a product, a whole line), how many markets and languages need checking, and whether the work also includes the logo and identity. That’s why we don’t have a price list: after a first conversation we prepare a proposal for your case.
Before presenting a name we can run preliminary checks on its availability and presence in the main registers and digital channels; the final legal check is the job of specialist professionals: a full clearance search and the trademark filing are handled by an IP attorney or a lawyer.
A company name has to last and support different activities over time; a product name has to be understood at once on the shelf and sit well next to the brand’s other products. Often you also decide together how future products will be named, so you don’t start from zero every time.
It is how the main brand, sub-brands and product lines are organised. The parent brand can appear everywhere, sub-brands can stand on their own, or you can choose something in between. Deciding the structure before launching new products avoids overlapping names and logos and makes it easier to grow the brand, including through licensing.
Yes. After the brand book we prepare the first applications, such as stationery, presentations, communication materials, packaging and social media graphics, and we can update the website and digital channels. If other suppliers will do it, we hand over files and guidelines and check that the identity is applied consistently.
