The EquityWatch approach to a financial consultancy rebrand project
Richard Chapman
Specialist in brand and web design for financial services, interior design and real estate firms
EquityWatch describe themselves as a firm that uncovers the ‘intricate web of identities who shape an organisation’s journey’. In essence they provide data about companies so investors have the best possible idea of who they are investing in – and with. The whole exercise has been an intriguing project figuring out how to present a business that offers detailed data reporting in a way that demystifies what they do. In the event, this financial consultancy rebrand project required an inventive approach, one that felt sharp, avoided clichés and branded the firm in a stylish way.
Over the past months, the EquityWatch project has included a new logo, visual branding concept, the design of animation and its application to a fantastic new website which has just launched.
Catch your eye
The first part of EquityWatch’s brief was to devise a new corporate identity for the firm. Managing Director Kelly Atkinson was clear from the outset that she wanted a stark, minimal design aesthetic – a total departure from everything that had preceded it. Her proposal to us as a creative angle was to evoke a Scandinavian-style, almost domestic crispness. So with this in mind, we began by combining this visual idea alongside visual concepts inspired by different ways of seeing.
The finished EquityWatch logo design is a graphic branding device that blends type (with the letters E and W in the design) and our concepts around vision (perhaps even binoculars) in the pursuit of an identity that delivered our ‘holy grail’ of combining two conceptual ideas at once.
Having agreed this core of the financial consultancy rebrand itself, we then started thinking about a way in which the curving, disconnected concept could be extended to a bigger-picture design scheme, creating its own pattern.
But… we were after something a bit special…
The aim was to be sure we were presenting EquityWatch as a business that thought laterally, uncovering answers for their clients that weren’t immediately available. As a result the finished design is a striking (I’d say even captivating) result that works as a visual play around the idea of foresight as well as logic.
Hit the bull’s eye
Our finished brand tessellation concepts for EquityWatch create a combination of the identity in pin-sharp colour, then a series of irregular patterns that evoke the creative concepts of vision we’d devised in an altogether different way – by pulling in and out of focus.
Before we began website project for EquityWatch, it was clear that we’d need to do something really impressive with the graphics. Avoiding the use of illustrative (but perhaps distracting) schematic photos, an array of needless icons or stock-shot video here, the process and purpose of EquityWatch and what they do comes strikingly to the fore.
The idea of animating the pattern in a series of ways, vertical, horizontal, in focus, with a blur… and using our new colour palette across the board, was irresistible. The end result of this creative process has really defined the whole project. It looks fantastic and I must say it’s not often that the reality of a creative idea so vastly exceeds expectations of the original notion.
Alongside the identity, pattern and colour we have also worked extensively with a fantastic typeface. Our choice was Fairgates by Swedish type foundry Norberg – chosen to echo the original Scandinavian brief and then has been retained top-down: from logo to every aspect of the web design.
In the public eye
As the brand and site has launched, it has caused a real impact, resetting preconceptions of EquityWatch and providing a new platform for them to promote their business. It has caused quite an impact, and we’re looking forward to various parts of the project such as print design and other visual promotions to follow.
However, this is such a satisfying piece of work and it feels like a great moment to review what we’ve done. I think EquityWatch t is such a great example of a project that has really shone by having almost obsessive attention to detail and creative thought poured into every stage of the work.
In particular we’ve had some great feedback from the team, which is incredibly gratifying. EquityWatch is ultimately a fantastic case study of a financial consultancy rebrand – and one we’re all really proud of.