Our Work.
CASE STUDY: Caporn Young Rebrand.
Brand Strategy | Brand Design | Corporate Literature
Long-term client Caporn Young set us the task of refreshing their brand image. This was a considerable challenge given the agency’s history and a strong reputation in the market, and the fact that the old branding wasn’t ‘broken’ by most people’s standards.
The new style had to be unique and reflect the types of beautiful properties the agency represents. The client wanted a lifestyle brand, given they are generally selling a lifestyle rather than just property.
As well as developing a new brand identity system, the project has involved redesigning Caporn Young’s entire suite of marketing tools.
Logo
An important part of the logo update involved visually bringing together the two names ‘Caporn’ and ‘Young’. They had previously been stacked and separated by a horizontal line, which encouraged some people to refer to the agency as Caporn & Young, so we wanted to correct this.
We also recommended the agency build on its ‘CY’ branding as we felt it had great long-term potential. The previous monogram, while a strong device, didn’t read well as ‘CY’ and we wanted to own those initials.
With numerous marketing channels and the ever-changing digital landscape, we created a more flexible brand system that worked better across many different applications. Instead of a standard logo, we developed two brand elements, the Monogram and the Wordmark, which can work independently or together depending on the need.
Sophisticated. Elegant. Emotive.
The style of the monogram and typography was inspired by the world of high-end fashion and brands such as Giorgio Armani, Vogue and Harpers Bazaar. It is based on a lettering style that dates back to 1784 and has been fashionable throughout its long history.
There’s a theme of contrast in the style, with thick strokes contrasted by very fine hairlines. The thick, bold strokes symbolise the tangible results you expect from a top real estate brand, while the thin lines represent the attention to detail and client experience that Caporn Young does so well.
There is also the navy/white contrast, and interestingly, the style has been described as both modern and timeless in equal measure.
Style
Colours
The colour palette is very restrained, with the emphasis on form and contrast rather than bright colours. We darkened their navy a little to move away from a number of other agencies that have adopted blues. We completely removed orange from the visual language altogether and we replaced it with white for a classic and clean feel.
Business Card
The business card and other brand items only use a single colour, with the focus on form.
We also introduced a subtle repeating pattern done in a spot varnish that makes different cards join together. One of the key strengths of the company has been the teamwork between agents, so having everyone’s cards join together was appropriate symbolism.
Our personal favourite!
