Brand Identity Systems

A logo is one file. A brand is a system.

The test of an identity is not how it looks on a white slide. It is whether the same mark still reads on a truck door at forty miles an hour, on a 32-pixel favicon, on a pin badge and on the second page of a letter. Below are ten systems we built to pass that test — shown as the pieces the client actually received.

Brand Foundation & Refresh — from $497 More Logos in the Gallery

What You Receive

Every system ships the same way.

A primary mark and its lockups. An icon that works where the name will not fit. Colourways for light, dark and single-colour printing. Stationery — card, letterhead, email signature — set up and ready. Social profile and cover artwork. Templates for the pieces you will need again next month. Every file in vector, PNG and PDF, organised in folders a printer or a web developer can open without asking you questions.

That is what “Brand Foundation & Refresh” means on our pricing page. The systems below show what it looks like when it is done.

Professional services · Insurance

PA Insurance Brokers

Abdala Insurance opened in 2017 with a gold crest. When the agency became PA Insurance Brokers it needed a mark that read as Pennsylvania, as property, and as a partnership — without losing the client base that knew the crest. The keystone-and-rooftop monogram carries across a full lockup set, three icon treatments for social and signage, and a services card that closes the sale on its own.

Primary mark
Lockup set
3 icons
Business card
Email signatures
Legacy mark

Primary mark

PA Insurance Brokers — Where it started — Abdala Insurance, 2017 — Where it started — Abdala Insurance, 2017

Icon — round

Icon — brush ring

Icon — mark only

PA Insurance Brokers — Business card, services side — Business card, services side

Horizontal lockup

Media · Bilingual newspaper

La Voz Latina Central

A Spanish-language newspaper for Central Pennsylvania needed a masthead that would survive newsprint, a website header and a phone screen. The masthead sets in three colourways; the LVLC speech-bubble icon does the work where the full name will not fit. Advertiser materials — signature, LinkedIn banner, a “five reasons” infographic — came out of the same system.

Masthead
3 colourways
Icon set
Email signature
LinkedIn banner
Advertiser infographic

Masthead — blue

Icon — blue

Icon — red

Icon — black

La Voz Latina Central — Publisher email signature — Publisher email signature

La Voz Latina Central — “5 reasons to advertise” — long-form social — “5 reasons to advertise” — long-form social

La Voz Latina Central — LinkedIn banner — LinkedIn banner

Community organization · Est. 2022

Hispanic Republican Coalition of Philadelphia

A new community organization needed to look established on day one and to sit alongside sister coalitions. The seal was drawn so the elephant and ring could be re-coloured for the Haitian and Cambodian coalitions, then carried onto letterhead, a news-release template, social banners and the merchandise that funds the group.

Seal
Coalition family
Letterhead
News-release template
Social banners
Merchandise

Coalition seal

Hispanic Republican Coalition of Philadelphia — Sister coalitions — Hispanic, Haitian, Cambodian — Sister coalitions — Hispanic, Haitian, Cambodian

Hispanic Republican Coalition of Philadelphia — News-release template — News-release template

Hispanic Republican Coalition of Philadelphia — Letterhead, second page — Letterhead, second page

Hispanic Republican Coalition of Philadelphia — Memorial Day post — Memorial Day post

Hispanic Republican Coalition of Philadelphia — Mugs — Mugs

Hispanic Republican Coalition of Philadelphia — Pin badge — Pin badge

Hispanic Republican Coalition of Philadelphia — T-shirt — T-shirt

Hispanic Republican Coalition of Philadelphia — LinkedIn banner — LinkedIn banner

Education · Personal development

Human Spirit Institute

An institute running courses, retreats and an annual Humanity Day needed one parent mark and a way to brand each program without starting over every time. The figure-and-sun mark anchors a family; each program — Caregivers Project for Renewal, I Am Humanity, Do You Have an Expired Role? — gets its own emblem that still reads as the Institute. Templates for banners, course pages and event invitations keep the output consistent between design rounds.

Parent mark
Program emblems
Banner templates
Course templates
Event invitations

Parent mark

Logo family

Human Spirit Institute — Caregivers Project for Renewal — Caregivers Project for Renewal

Human Spirit Institute — Humanity Day invitation — Humanity Day invitation

Human Spirit Institute — I Am Humanity emblem — I Am Humanity emblem

Human Spirit Institute — Program banners — Program banners

Human Spirit Institute — Course listing template — Course listing template

Humanity Day lockup

Human Spirit Institute — Page header template — Page header template

Membership organization · Bilingual

The Small Business Union

A Philadelphia small-business association with a bilingual membership needed a mark that felt like a union without looking like one from 1950. The clasped-hands badge carries onto roll-up banners for events, a Spanish tri-fold for recruitment and an email signature — plus a sub-brand, The Business Truth Channel, for its radio and video programme.

Badge
Roll-up banner
Tri-fold brochure
Event invitations
Sub-brand

Badge lockup

The Business Truth Channel — wordmark

The Small Business Union — Tri-fold brochure, Spanish — Tri-fold brochure, Spanish

The Small Business Union — Roll-up banner — Roll-up banner

The Small Business Union — Breakfast meeting invitation — Breakfast meeting invitation

Channel mark

The Small Business Union — Channel mug — Channel mug

Nonprofit foundation

Building Bridges with Hope

A nonprofit that raises money in rooms — galas, community events, police-department visits — needs its identity to work as objects people take home. Beyond the logo and website, the system covers QR business cards, a donor thank-you card, gift-candle labels and a full merchandise range that doubles as fundraising stock.

Logo
QR cards
Donor thank-you
Gift labels
Merchandise range
Website

Logo card with QR and socials

Mark, as displayed

Building Bridges with Hope — Business cards — Business cards

Building Bridges with Hope — Donor thank-you card — Donor thank-you card

Building Bridges with Hope — Gift candle label — Gift candle label

Building Bridges with Hope — Hoodie — Hoodie

Building Bridges with Hope — Notebook — Notebook

Building Bridges with Hope — T-shirt — T-shirt

Logo

Energy · Propane & fuel distribution

Maibach Energy

A propane and fuel operation in Lancaster County with a growing truck fleet. The logo had to work as a door decal read at a distance and as a letterhead read at a desk; the fleet catalogue gives the sales side a clean way to present equipment to buyers.

Logo
Truck decals
Letterhead
Fleet catalogue

Logo

Maibach Energy — Truck door with DOT & PUC numbers — Truck door with DOT & PUC numbers

Maibach Energy — Fleet photography for the catalogue — Fleet photography for the catalogue

Maibach Energy — Fleet catalogue page — Fleet catalogue page

Maibach Energy — Letterhead — Letterhead

Home services · Repeat client

Fer Mc Exhaust Hood Cleaning & VIP Renovation

Carlos Lantigua brought us his second company after the first. Fer Mc needed a mark, a services flyer and the NFPA-96 service sticker technicians leave on every hood. VIP Renovation followed with a badge, an all-over crew shirt that shows finished projects, business and services cards, and a van.

2 identities
Service sticker
Flyer
Crew shirts
Van livery
Cards

Fer Mc Exhaust Hood Cleaning & VIP Renovation — Fer Mc services flyer — Fer Mc services flyer

Fer Mc Exhaust Hood Cleaning & VIP Renovation — Service sticker, NFPA-96 record — Service sticker, NFPA-96 record

Fer Mc Exhaust Hood Cleaning & VIP Renovation — All-over crew shirt — All-over crew shirt

Fer Mc Exhaust Hood Cleaning & VIP Renovation — Both shirts, as worn — Both shirts, as worn

Business group · Energy, insurance, publishing

Alkem Group

A holding group with unrelated divisions needed one mark to sit above all of them. The gold monogram stays constant; each division gets its own skyline banner in the group’s yellow so the family is obvious at a glance.

Gold monogram
Division banners
Social covers

Monogram

Alkem Group — Division banner — Insurance — Division banner — Insurance

Alkem Group — Division banner — Energy — Division banner — Energy

Alkem Group — Division banner — Who We Are — Division banner — Who We Are

Political campaigns · Philadelphia & Indiana

Campaign collateral

Campaigns run on deadlines and on volunteers. For the Aaron Bashir campaigns (Mayor, then City Controller) we produced the banner system, letterhead, announcement and fundraiser invitations in a format any volunteer could hand out. For Schenke for Congress we built the website and the endorsement post series on the campaign’s existing identity.

Banners
Invitations
Letterhead
Endorsement series
Campaign website

Campaign collateral — Bashir for City Controller — header banner — Bashir for City Controller — header banner

Campaign collateral — Letterhead — Letterhead

Campaign collateral — Fundraiser invitation — Fundraiser invitation

Campaign collateral — Announcement — Announcement

Campaign collateral — Schenke — endorsement post — Schenke — endorsement post

Campaign collateral — Schenke — story-size endorsement — Schenke — story-size endorsement

How an Identity Project Runs

Four weeks, three rounds, no surprises.

We start with the business, not the sketchbook. You see directions properly presented, choose one, and refine it within agreed rounds. You finish with files that work everywhere — and a studio that already knows your brand when the next piece comes up.

Request a Brand Impact Review Identity Pricing

Brief

Offer, audience, competitors, and every place the mark has to live.

Directions

Two or three routes, each shown in context — not as a logo on a white page.

Refine

One direction developed into lockups, icon, colourways and type.

System

Stationery, social artwork, templates and the style guide that holds it together.

Handover

Organised files in every format, and a walk-through so your team can use them.

Your System Next

What would yours look like, done properly?

Send us your current logo, website or social links. We will tell you plainly what is holding the brand back and quote the system specifically — complimentary.

Review My Brand Talk It Through