Our mission was to encapsulate the essence of Entrepreneurs Forge into a cohesive brand identity. This journey culminated in the creation of detailed branding guidelines and hands-on software training for the University team, ensuring consistent, effective brand communication.
University of Suffolk
A new brand to express growth, innovation and technology.
What is the purpose of a brand?
A logo that represents choice, channels, connections. Inspired by digital circuitry the mark appears as an “E, F“ for Entrepreneurs Forge.
The colour represents variety in the users journey and convey opportunity with rich colour.
The Entrepreneurs Forge is a comprehensive development program crafted to cultivate and nurture innovation that is robust, long-lasting, and successful.
The program is at the forefront of enhancing the capabilities of Suffolk's digitally creative SMEs and improving the employability of students and graduates in the region. It aims to establish strong connections among participants, fostering both personal and business recovery and resilience.
How to develop a brand?
A brand is more than its logo. It starts with understanding the target market, a task often linked with business development but equally crucial for designers. Their role? To help define the brand's mission and values, turning these into visual representations.
Our job is to blend this insight into distinct styles that reflect the brand's values, setting the right expectations for your audience about your product, whether it's premium, technical, luxury, or mass-market.
In essence, this is the foundation of brand development. Everything else – style execution, marketing – builds on this base.
Six Logo ideas generated
We undertook a design study featuring six primary concepts, yielding ten designs that underwent internal evaluation. These logos were crafted to encapsulate the essence of 'Entrepreneurs Forge,' blending company values, name, letterforms, and relevant symbolism to create a distinctive mark resonating with the target market.
Our refinement process was rigorous, permitting only a select few concepts to progress. Both internal assessments and targeted external research studies played a pivotal role in shaping the final design. We prioritised feedback from individuals with a neutral perspective on the logo, ensuring it genuinely resonated and effectively communicated its intended message.
Geometry and typography at harmony with one another.
Strategic geometrical alignment and visual balance captivate the viewer's attention, anchoring their focus.
This logo symbolizes options, pathways, and linkages, drawing inspiration from digital circuitry to form an "E" and "F," representing Entrepreneurs Forge. The chosen color palette reflects the diverse journey of the users and communicates possibilities through its richness.
Incorporating appropriate symbolism that aligns with the target market is crucial in effective branding. Such a design ensures that the brand occupies a distinct and favourable position in the consumer's mind, enhancing brand preference and driving purchase intentions.
Four Stylescapes were pitched
A Stylescape describes the specific values of a brand condensed into a single stylistic sheet that can be judged at once.
With a methodical style locked-in we progressed on producing template content for the brand.
Email campaign
Although And Element was not responsible for implementing the brand strategy for Entrepreneurs Forge, we played a key role in maintaining brand consistency. We provided a range of marketing templates to ensure that the audience encountered a coherent brand image across various platforms.
Ensuring that the brand's established identity was consistently reflected in all assets was vital. This consistency is crucial for reinforcing the brand’s message and values, making certain that the audience consistently receives and recognizes the brand's intended image and ethos.
Documentation
Consistent branding is essential for reinforcing brand recognition, building trust, and providing a unified and predictable customer experience. To solidify these principles for Entrepreneurs Forge, the project culminated in the creation of a comprehensive branding guideline book. Additionally, we conducted training sessions on key software for the University team. This approach ensured that the team was well-equipped to maintain brand consistency, further embedding the brand's identity and values in every aspect of their communication and engagement with their audience.
