A new identity, custom typography, photography, print communications, video and online brand repository for one of Ireland’s largest architecture practices. Having recently celebrated its 100 year anniversary, we were tasked with bringing all of the architectural disciplines within RKD (from industrial to interiors) together under one new brand identity system and positioning which unifies and simplifies the organisation and its communications.
Working with their steering group, and interviewing staff, we looked to create an identity and voice for the brand that brought their agreed positioning to life. ‘Design That Works’ is the practical sentiment which carries through from the core of the organisation. Architecture made for real life and for real people.
A building can appear to change shape depending on the viewers position or aspect. This simple concept informed the development of a distinctive, confident and robust lettermark that works across all platforms at multiple sizes and in different compositions i.e the logo reacts to space/environment/application.
Careful consideration was also given to the choice of typeface, a contemporary grotesque with simplicity and abstraction in mind – aptly reflecting the firm’s attention to detail. The colour palette which comprises of a bold statement yellow alongside greys and black help standout in the international architecture arena. Photography and video depict warm and functioning spaces and internal collaboration between the people who work there and their clients.
Perhaps the biggest challenge of all was solving the issue of internal communications. Misuse of logos, templates and imagery for document creation was resulting in a widely variatied output quality, which, overall was proving ineffective and ultimately damaging. We teamed up with Frontify (cloud-based brand management software) and mapped out an architecture for a repository that would now allowed RKD to have one source for all its communications. Populated with new templates, imagery, video and guidelines, the framework is now in place for RKD to start communicating in a simple, unified amd effective way.
