Further forward.

Setting the right course for an ambitious freight forwarding firm.

Team output

Brand identity
Web design
UX strategy
Strategy support

Personal contributions

Brand model
Naming
Tagline
Web copywriting

Situation.

When several logistics veterans set up their own international freight forwarding firm, they committed to a company name that was hindering their progress for creating a brand.

They needed the perspective of an outsider to correct perceptions about branding, help develop the right image and set their story straight.

Insight.

Identifying what makes a new company unique and competitive can prove challenging when value come from the intentions and ambitions of many decision-makers – in other words, when your company doesn't yet exist, you've got to build a brand on potential rather than present performance.

So what's the insight? The founders were experienced and experts in their field, but agreement on services, sectors and competitive advantages still needed some soul-searching. So wherever they end up, their new brand had to accommodate this volatility.

Strategy.

A new name. The old name just wasn't going to work (there's a good story there). We underwent an extensive naming journey, exploring helpful word roots and thematic territories, which resulted in the team discovering a name that they felt the most comfortable with.

By running the naming and strategy projects concurrently, the chosen name inspired a mnemonic to express the company's values.

The key idea and tagline helped crack the nut of rationalizing however they advance their business: the phrase "Further forward" not only linked to freight forwarding but indicated their position as always ahead of the competition.

Creative.

Strategy translated to brand identity. Design isn't my forte but I can take credit for the lightbulb moment of moving the tagline to sit slightly ahead of the logomark in the lockup to express forwardness.

Meanwhile, I created the sitemap, page structure (thinking of copy hierarchy to feed into the web design) and wrote the website copy.

Outcome.

Turning idea and intention into reality. Bringing the brand to life online and in decks helped the client make critical decisions about their business and its offerings, such as finalizing services and sectors.
A finished site that gave the firm the support and credibility they needed to start attracting clients and investors.
A logo lockup that would hopefully make some semiotician out there very happy.