How it came to be

One day our team leader Mariya stumbled across (not literally) upon Will, who is the manager of Blue Giraffe. His agency does recruitment operations within the real estate industry and was in need of rather urgent rebranding. Of course, we immediately got in touch to lend a hand. Will was very specific about the direction he was going in terms of rebranding. The project sounded very promising, for it is relatively rare to witness a brand working in such a corporate environment who aims to be both casual and approachable, yet professional at the same time. But Blue Giraffe is exactly like that, actually, thus we were very happy to oblige by creating a visual identity which reflect such uniqueness.

Briefing

As mentioned above, Will was about to initiate a rebranding project. He had already prepared a concise brief for his expectations. We reviewed it and very soon both parties agreed on the project terms. Will received a short questionnaire from us, which he diligently filled out and thus helped us nail the brief and come up with the fine results he expected.

The client understandably wanted to keep the brand’s name, for he operates an existing business. Company tagline is the smart and fitting “Recruitment at new heights”. We planned to work on a giraffe key visual to further enhance the brand uniqueness and recognition. At first, Will suggested uplifting the stock giraffe image he had. Mariya went further and created a new proprietary version, one that reflects her take on the task. It became the base of brand’s key visual.

Creation phase

Visual identity rediscovery

We began the visual rebranding. As usual, for initial presentation we prepared a moodboard, color palette, three logo variants plus three key visual styles for the giraffe mascot. It was time for Will to pick a direction and he promptly did.

The client opted for the realistic visual style of giraffe representation and we made additional image examples accordingly.

For his first revision, Will asked to see a combination between Mariya’s new logo version and the touched-up existing one. We based the upcoming linear iteration of the logo on the already agreed key visual to create a match. Take a look below.

To emphasize and highlight the selection, we prepared some supplementary materials based on the key visual:

At this point, the color palette exploration had been concluded and a final variant was confirmed.

The second revision came in. Client’s feedback was short and specific. Will very much liked how his visual guidebook was shaping up. He opted to do away the linear logo mark entirely and rely on the logotype instead. He also asked us about further key visual examples to depict the giraffe wearing attires which vouch for brand’s approachable nature, as it would be more customary to the people who contact Blue Giraffe about potential recruitment. Spot-on, in our humble opinion.

We applied Will’s feedback rapidly, packed and delivered the following assets as a complete visual guidelines brand book:

LOGO DESIGN TYPOGRAPHY

COLOUR

VISUALS

LINKEDIN PROFILE

SOCIAL MEDIA ADS

LANDING PAGE

BUSINESS TEMPLATE

EMAIL SIGNATURE & ICONOGRAPHY

The client reviewed and soundly approved the final variant. He sent the final payment and we promptly delivered his files. Usually, at that stage everything is wrapped up design-wise. Every asset is proofed in-house prior to sending. Of course, if any typo or misalignment finds its way to the presentation, we amend it as soon as spotted. It rarely happens, though.

Delivery form

Here is what Will received upon the completion of Blue Giraffe’s rebranding:

• Brand book in PDF: 20 original content pages.

• Tailored logo design in: AI, TIFF, JPG, PNG, EPS, PDF, SVG; for print and web.

• Brand document and supporting digital materials; for print and web.

• Related fonts and several bespoke presentation mockups.

This was one of the fastest rebranding we ever did. The deposit to commence the work was send our way on Monday and the project was completed the next Monday, in just 5 working days! We are proud of the results not only because of the rapid turnaround time, but because of the quality of work and client satisfaction, which we always put on top of our efforts. Credit for this achievement should go to Will as well, for he was very responsive and specific about his requirements thorough the project, filled out our questionnaire thoroughly and was available for communication and feedback whenever we needed his input. We are very happy with him as a client and really enjoyed our Blue Giraffe time.

Below you can see an excerpt of Blue Giraffe’s new visual identity. We hope you will like it as much as we do. Thank you everyone for journeying with us for another glimpse at how the magic of design happens with Mariya Design Studio.

Thank you for staying with us thus far! In the meantime, you know where to find us for your design-related need. See you soon and good luck!