# Brand Refresh
Modern Networks
Modernising Modern Networks: building a contemporary and consistent brand identity
Insight
Modern Networks is a leading IT and telecoms provider to the UK’s commercial property sector. With close to 20 years in the business, the company had accumulated a large portfolio of marketing material. Their branding, however, was inconsistent and slightly random, with varying straplines and logo iterations. When we were briefed to look at their branding, the task was not so much about brand strategy, but more about modification, development and consistency. We were to implement a brand refresh and bring consistency to their printed and digital marketing collateral.
Brand Refresh
Our refresh was a multifaceted and considered the core logo, colour palette, font styles, imagery, iconography and document layouts. The original logo was unbalanced: the circle motif was too large compared to the company name. We realigned the logo, tweaked the font and adjusted the colours: making the black a softer dark grey and the red brighter.
Each subtle adjustment was documented in a new set of brand guidelines, which now acts as the bible of the new brand identity.
One of the key requests from the client was to look at their colour palette. The original palette was only black and red, which made it quite harsh. The client joked that the large use of red in backgrounds on presentations caused ‘retina-burn’ it was so intense! Our solution was to introduce a secondary colour palette of softer greys, which gave us a wider spectrum of colours to use and calmed the look of design work.
Brand Development
The new branding takes the oval shape from the core logo to create organic, curved-patterned backgrounds. These backgrounds are bold graphics that are central to the new design style. Made from tints of grey and red, they soften the original branding and provide a unique design style for the new brand identity.
The organic, rounded lines also define the style of the iconography used throughout the marketing material.
Implementing the Brand Refresh
Many of the marketing tools such as Word documents and PowerPoint presentations were often circulated and used throughout the business, so we needed to consider ways to ensure documents were easy to use and edit without losing design consistency. Clever work rounds such as using free-resource Google Fonts and locking down design features as backgrounds in Word docs, help ensure the design integrity can’t be eroded when the documents used throughout the business on a day-to-day basis.
If you would like to know more about our branding services, please get in touch.
What our client said
I'm so pleased with the results. We've had a complete website refresh, new branding on our buildings, brand guidelines and standardised documents created. We've gone from a collection of disjointed and mismatched branding to a consistent, clear and contemporary look for all our digital and printed media. Very very happy :)
Matthew Reeve // CEO Modern Networks
Final Files
Once the brand refresh was complete, we supplied the client with a suite of artwork templates and editable documents that included: business cards & stationery, brochure, exterior signage, PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, email newsletter, email footer, social media branding … and last but by no means least, a website.
Website Design and Development
Built in WordPress, but fully bespoke, the new branding translated seamlessly into the new website design. We still have the organic, fluid curves that make the bold backgrounds. The web fonts and colour palette are a direct match to the printed work.
This highlights Union 10’s unique quality: the marrying of web design to web development. Often design can be diluted when transposed into code, but at Union 10, we work hard to solve the problems where design for print meets digital media. If you would like to understand more about how we code bespoke websites, please get in touch.
