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How do you translate over 100 years of a brand’s heritage into communicating their energy and ability to work in today’s modern landscape?

That was the ask from Nicholsons Solicitors, a proudly local law firm celebrating over 100 years of helping businesses and individuals navigate life’s opportunities and challenges.

Originally, we were instructed to give consultancy on marketing for the firm and develop a new website, but it was clear that they needed a brand refresh in order to make the impact they were hoping for.

Sometimes it’s not a full rebrand that’s needed, especially in heritage businesses; there is a lot of currency in the existing brand. We took the bones of the brand — centred around the Nicholsons ‘N’ graphic — and modernised the wordmark, also building a visual language and colour palette that would define each department and work across other platforms. We also brought the team to the fore; it’s the people that have built that legacy, and they needed a better spotlight.

From social posts to in-house merchandising, a new future-proof website, ad campaigns and messaging, the brand has been rejuvenated. We hope it continues to serve them well into their second century.

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Function first, form later. That was the thinking for France-based SaaS platform, Abvius. Abvius is an all-in-one ERP for NGOs; full-service and modular, it ticks every box that an NGO needs for its day-to-day running. Its functionality is its total offering, so it’s natural that refining and perfecting the development was higher up the priority list than the branding when it was first established.

Abvius came to us when they had a fully working platform, but no name. The app’s UI design itself was functional, but not distinct.

Brand name consultancy is something we offer and always enjoy working on with business owners. The brief here was simple: it should be legible for global dialects, imbue a sense of trust, and naturally, be distinct from other brands both in and out of segment.

We presented the name Abvius, along with an icon and wordmark that looked at home amongst its counterparts, along with a gentle colour palette that aids user experience, rather than dominates. We chose a typeface with personality, aiding brand recognition in its own right, that can be used sparingly across the app’s UI design rollout, but more extensively in its marketing materials.

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