It is worth starting with the idea of your business product or project. Definitely, the success of a business depends on its idea — how unique and in-demand it is. Any innovation needs a fresh presentation, visualization. Therefore, offline/online startups nowadays are often remembered for their identity. Not all of them, but most come to this and it’s good.

But imagine you launch a cafe, similar to hundreds of other cafes in your area. It is the same, but you know what is special about your cafe: it can be the interior, a special recipe, an amazing manner of waiters, or just a price/quality ratio. But who will know about it? What can you stand out for? Of course, for branding. It should be a whole system of identifying your brand — both visual and verbal, such as an instant greeting in Starbucks coffee shops, or “Korovka” candy in Mu Mu restaurants. Yes, you should be remembered by a casual customer!

That’s why our team uses the term “breakthrough identity”. That’s what we do, because we believe that the corporate identity is the start of a company’s relationship with its customers: a business card, a logo, a website style, a signboard, a bag or even a signature in emails. And in the current market, oversaturated with players, you need to have at least the smallest features that will pleasantly distinguish you.

Naming.

Problems of being. People don’t think properly about what they create, even starting with the names of legal entities and seals. These are probably the most depressing works of human thoughts: to be named just to be named, to make a seal just to make a seal. However, already at this point, you can start to form a brand. LLC Everything Will Be Cool (installation of engineering equipment in Krasnodar), LLC Giant Rabbits (an advertising agency): even the fact that people were creative about the name, and tried to make it special already attracts attention; it’s a small and funny thing but it attracts attention and starts forming an image. So, why should we think about the name?

There are many directions and methods of naming development, but you don’t need to be a prominent specialist and spend money on naming — if you are a creator of something new or just starting a new project, who if not you can know better how to name it. Just take some time, and discuss it with your nearest focus group: your partners, friends, and relatives, show them several options that came to your mind and look at their emotions, and reactions. It will help you choose the most successful option. We adhere either to the simplicity or to the uniqueness of the name. Remember: the name is created not for you, but for customers, so it should be understandable and fascinating only for them.

For example, for the project of a hotel complex in the countryside for family recreation, we proposed the name “Dacha”, since it immediately formed all the advantages of this recreation, it is simple and understandable for the end customer.

For a company that distributes elite alcohol, we have developed the Spiritus naming which perfectly emphasizes their attention to the choice of products, as they work with their soul and understand the significance of each drink and its features which will later become the very soul of the company at a party or backstage gatherings with a cigar and a glass of whiskey. We have created the values of the company and combined them with the values of customers who value time, environment and taste.

The system of the brand visual identification. Corporate identity of the company.

We are adherents of a dynamic identification system. It means that the corporate identity does not consist in ranking the logo on different types of media, such as business cards, bags, signboards, badges, etc. The system of perception of your brand should go much further than using your logo or name.

The combination of colors, shapes, fonts, and iconography can create a unique, very special style of your company. It can be completely versatile, but it must have unique combinations that will allow you to stand out among many brands.

Let’s consider an example of a fresh identity of the city of Porto in Portugal.

At first glance, the logo in the form of inscription “Porto” may cause a reaction from a lot of customers like “What? I paid just for the name inscription? I could write that myself, why would I pay tens of thousands of dollars for this?”. I think such opinions are a frequent experience when working in our industry.

Definitely, when it comes to a city logo development, the name should remain a name, simple and readable, and there is no need for any sophistication on the part of the graphics since it should be easy to read. It can be a uniquely designed font, or any font available to everyone and created earlier. Choosing a font is also a complicated and special work with deep analysis and testing on a variety of surfaces.

So, what is the peculiarity? It is about the developed system of identification of the city brand that emphasizes the attractiveness and features of the city.

In this example, the main dynamics of visualization are concentrated in the use of patterns that provide boundless spaces when working with any media, while their unified stylistics creates a special style for the city brand. This is a frequent technique and it’s great that there are more and more such examples, because you want to dive into each medium, study it, find the riddles embedded in it — this is the visual communication of the brand. Such an approach can turn a customer’s journey into an adventure or have a very distinguished shade among other signboards and carriers of other companies.

About the sense.

Having created the idea of involving a customer into visual communication, never forget about its sense, since the “communication” of the customer should have a final goal, like navigation in the city and the designation of infrastructure or your letterhead with the necessary contact details and auxiliary materials.

Therefore, it is better to fill any of your bright emotional shades with additional sense. For example, color can carry a substantive basis of confidence or a reflection of different fields of activity.

In conclusion, I advise you to approach thoroughly the formation of visual communication with a customer, in addition to verbal one (like an oral work of customer service, for example). Pay attention to the details: elaborate a complete Customer Journey Mapping, define the points of contact with him, highlight the brightest ones (for example, transfer of the product in a bag and additional souvenirs), strengthen them — this way you can increase loyalty to your brand, which means to encourage a customer to future sales. After all, customer retention is one of the most important tasks in modern business, since you have already paid to attract them. Develop your “fan club” and don’t forget to make pleasant surprises for it.

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Breakthrough Branding was originally published in Bootcamp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In 2019, I created a joky GIF, when I came to the office and found no mates. I sent it to the team chat for fun. In 2020, this joke has become a reality.

There was a period when I parted with employees after working together for 5–6 years. There were no reasons for dissatisfaction with each other, we just eventually realized that everyone needs to move on. Although there was no turning point in the framework of their responsibility in the company.

What points should you pay attention to:

— a designer should strive for a multidisciplinary approach. If during a year employee continues to work in the same direction and does not improve his skills in application-oriented things: typography, 3D, animation, or even development — it is worth, shaking him up and helping to set goals.

— as long as a team is getting bigger, the trend of mentoring is logical. A team or a department needs a leader whose experience they will strive for, respect, and reach out to. Usually, such a leader is one of the studio founders or people with the longest work experience. For them, this is a logical point of growth. If such a person cannot be found in a team after a long time - you have problems in your team.

— design is definitely a creative industry. But the trends force specialists who influence other people’s companies and products (as they create their identity and interfaces) to go deeper and deeper into their business and its clients, to work with feedback, to like criticism, to see a picture wider than the market is. If a designer avoids responsibility and wants to stay alone with his canvas in a Figma and perceives it as the master’s handwriting - it’s a bad trend.

The whole time the people in your teamwork should become a clear route with non-stop development. In this case, your specialists will be satisfied with themselves and the tasks that they have learned to solve. And you will receive a greater return from the skill set of your colleagues, which means more efficiency.

Having analyzed this experience of the formation and development of the team, going through crises and mutual success, I made the following conclusions:

— a team needs constant growth. Regardless of the current position, an employee should understand what the next stage of his development looks like within the team and the business as a whole.

— there should be both material and non-material motivation through new tasks and interesting projects and support for a single mission of the entire company — a simple and understandable mission.

— methods of development within a team. Vertical management is inefficient since it rests on units under which entire departments are formed. I would like to tell you about it in more detail.

Over time, we have developed a more efficient structure of production teams. The Junior Specialist is the learner of the Middle Specialist, and the Middle Specialist is the learner of the Senior Specialist. This “subjection” determines the obligation of more experienced people to share their knowledge with those who are walking nearby. Thus, the development of entire chains is underway, regardless of whether it is design or IT development.

The lists of job descriptions and complication of a team’s work process is not needed. A less experienced employee receives the attention of a mentor for no more than an hour a day. In this way, he works independently, forms problems that he has encountered during a day, structures them, and turns to a mentor for analysis.

The purpose of this interaction is the constant growth and development of a team, the formation of independent team units, and the strengthening of relations, which became noticeable within a month after the introduction.

Simply put

— attention to each employee; it’s important not to leave him alone with the idea of separation from his team, especially in conditions of remote work.

— more fun and parties; it’s important to raise not just employees, but also a team of friends.

I wish stronger relationships and greater efficiency for your teams!

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How to avoid firing designers for 6 years. And then — to fire everyone. was originally published in Bootcamp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The world of digital products and services is developing rapidly. The requirements for them are becoming more and more complicated. Nowadays, any business is thinking about or trying to develop its own ecosystem: marketplace, internal CRM, automation of business processes, etc.

Companies cannot resist the fact that the systems inside them will only become more complicated, and their services for a client are getting increasingly digitized, and there is a need to improve interactions with him.

We have been involved in the development of IT/brands/products for more than 10 years. Our experience proves that custom development, as a direction of business development, does not lead to an effective result. Since the business itself does not have the competencies of management and the formation of a detailed vision of digital development, all clients’ projects remain one-time attempts or small steps on the way to a digital platform.

This is not the fault of either a business or IT contractor. This is how the market works: IT contractors are burdened with constant operating costs. They have clock-bound contracts; they have no economic justification to immerse themselves in your product at the proper level, to work on the competencies of your team, to monitor the project after its launch, etc. To show the minimum profitability, they need to follow a strict plan scheduled day by day.

Now let’s imagine that a contractor has to make a clear work plan for a complicated business transformation at a time. Taking into account the complexity of the processes, it would be a correct approach to evaluate the results and to amend the plan from time to time, rather than to work based on the Terms of References made half a year ago.

Product development is a systemically repetitive process, regardless of company size, its experience in the market and industry. Therefore, the contract with a contractor immediately creates unjustified expectations of the business that it has “made” a product.

We are witnessing this process of frustration, burning budgets and misunderstanding what to do next in our customers, successfully fulfilling our contracts.

Today, an IT service has come very close to the heart of any business, so contract-based relationships don’t work anymore. What is the solution?

— Transform your services to integrate into your client’s business processes smoothly. An expensive offer at the start and the definition of a product or service for a year ahead entail high risks for everyone: a client may be afraid of big investments, and you may miss with a vision.

— Divide the stages of work and analyze the results together with the client. Adjust the course of a project, admire the success and mistakes that occurred on the way, which you encountered not at the end, but on your way to victory.

— Engage a client in the process. The more peculiarities and complexities he can see in your work, the more he is immersed in participation, the more he understands the need to move on. The longer your cooperation will be. Arrange mutual workshops: draw CJM, audience portraits, present modern trends and successful practices of other products.

— Work to form a client’s team. Sooner or later, partially or fully, you will have to transfer the product into the hands of your client’s team. So that the product’s activity does not suffer at this moment, his team should be ready for this. The product success after the contract completion is even your greater success. You didn’t just launch a service, you helped strengthen your client’s business and gained his trust for many years to come.

Based on our experience, we have transformed our approach to development and design services:

— strategic planning;

— developing the vision of the companies’ future digital growth for 3–5 years ahead;

— conceptual vision, design and branding;

— forming a team for a client’s project with this team gradual transfer to the internal unit of a client’s company.

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Become a partner, not an executor was originally published in Bootcamp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Siesta (rus. “Сиеста”) is a shopping mall located in New Moscow. In the years ahead it will be a magnet for local residents to escape from routine and have a comfortable rest. The agency was challenged to design naming, visual identity, and communication of the shopping center.

The origins of the idea

Analysis of the surrounding areas showed a dominant Spanish theme: RC Spanish Quarters, Cervantes Street, Magellan Avenue. When working on the project, it was decided to maintain the area positioning so the new project was not against the theme style and even could complement it.

Naming is based on the Siesta Spanish tradition — that is a work break for a quiet rest. These conceptions match well with the values of the shopping mall and made a base for requirements of the brand’s visual identity and communication system.

Creation of identity

Pastel shades emphasize calmness, kindness, and brand serenity, creating a pleasant atmosphere and friendly communication. The system of combinations will help the company staff to work correctly with the corporate brand palette.

The visual language of the brand contains 4 types of patterns with a breakdown by applications: horizontal and vertical. The basis of the pattern is the same 4-hour sector which is the dominant feature of both the visual style and the verbal identity.

For communication materials, there is a series of key carriers developed based on the dynamics of the pattern; each visit to the shopping mall will differ from the previous one. When designing marketing materials, we were focused to make them continent in design, so they could better fall in line with business objectives.

The communication tonality simplifies the brand identity by focusing more on verbal messages and a beneficial attitude so as to make you feel satisfied after having a good rest when visiting the shopping center.

Don’t stop thinking

Having moved to the end of the brand work, we provided a digital concept of the prospective shopping mall where a visitor through the application gets access to the services of all vendors, makes personal scenarios of his/her visits and goes shopping with one shopping cart.

Even a simple visual solution should always be supported by a fundamental idea that will build all further communication of a brand or product, do not forget about this.

You can see what we got in the brand-style video.

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Case study: simple solution but deep meaning was originally published in Bootcamp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The shopping mall on Paveletsky Railway Station Square is one of the most famous long-term construction projects in Moscow. In the 2000s, a pit was dug on this site, thereafter all works stopped. The unsettled territory was simply closed with a high fence. Opening Paveletskaya Plaza shopping mall is one of the most anticipated events for the city residents and guests. It will become not just space, but a hallmark of Moscow for those who come to Paveletsky railway station in the capital from the eastern and southern regions, the CIS countries, and Moscow adjacent areas.

Studying the project idea

Any design in our studio starts with immersion into the product. It is important to identify the key characteristics that distinguish the shopping mall from other similar solutions.

We have identified the following advantages:

First, Paveletskaya Plaza is a project with a unique architecture that fits into the urban space. Instead of a construction pit, there will be a huge park area with pedestrian paths, squares, street cafes and recreation areas. This will preserve the balance between nature and the metropolis.

Secondly, the shopping mall itself will be located underground, and the entrance areas under the glass canopies that resemble lakes from a bird’s-eye view will fit neatly into the overall surface landscape.

The roof structure has a non-standard oval shape that looks like hovering above the ground. Such a design creates a recognizable project and solves lighting issues adding a feeling of greater space to the shopping mall.

Third, Paveletskaya Plaza has a rather difficult task of combining passenger flows from different metro stations and Paveletsky Railway Station. The shopping mall plays the role of a kind of transition from travel to urban space.

Defining the target audience

Due to its location in the city center and the purpose of combining passenger flows, the audience of Paveletskaya Plaza is quite diverse. First of all, these are residents of Moscow and Moscow adjacent areas who go to shopping malls for shopping or active leisure with their families. For them, Paveletskaya Plaza project is a breath of fresh air in a stuffy metropolis.

The second group is tourists. For them, the shopping mall is the hallmark of the city, the first thing they see after they get off the train. It is also a place of return departure that fix the impression of the trip, as well as helps people to have fun while waiting for their trip home.

The third group is residents of the district who are going to have dinner in a decent restaurant, go to the cinema or just take a walk in the evening in Moscow.

Office employees are the fourth auditory segment. It is important for them to leave an office, change the location, and spend their lunchtime in a pleasant venue.

Also, several large universities are located in the accessibility zone of the shopping mall, so the fifth target audience can be identified as students who go to Paveletskaya Plaza to have fun or just take a walk.

Creating a design idea

The agency had a task to develop a corporate identity concept for an innovative space on the historic square near the Paveletsky Railway Station. It was important for us to emphasize the value of this place for each of the designated audience groups. The solution should be up-to-date, modern, but simple and clear.

When developing the concept, we were inspired by the bird’s-eye view of the glass roof architecture that was simplified to classic geometric shapes.

Building a design system

As the main graphic technique, we chose the integration of key shapes of the project architecture — oval and semi-oval. They resemble an arch as a symbol of the transition to another reality — the main purpose of Paveletskaya Plaza. Combining the shapes formed the basis of the entire design system.

The logo refers to the silhouette of the central atrium, the future amphitheater and symbolizes the first letters of the project name — “Paveletskaya Plaza”. The sign shape conveys the lightness and openness of the space.

The color scheme reflects the unique features of the building. The yellow color refers to the sun that fills the room with natural light through the panoramic windows. The green color refers to the landscape park connecting the shopping mall with the urban environment. It aims to combine the overall concept of the complex into a single ecosystem.

A pattern based on a modified shape of the logo appears in the communication materials. Ovals and semi-ovals can be used both as the elements of a single system, or as a graphic container where images, color, and texts are immersed.

The grid modularity creates a recognizable visual language — open and up-to-date.

We decided to emphasize the architecture of the city park and to brand pedestrian crosswalks and walking areas with rare patterns, to avoid overloading the space with complicated structures.

Minimalistic solutions are implemented in shopping mall navigation. The emphasis is placed on the labels and guides arrows. Some formats contain a recognizable shape made of plastic or illuminated structures.

The developed corporate identity concept supports the architectural uniqueness of the complex, reveals the key advantages of the space, and also forms a design system that can be easily adapted for different media. Bright and simple visual communication for the perception by different audience groups.

When working on a style, you should always check how it will work on social media. Better when the style is active, with movement. This allows you to create different content that will grab attention.

Let’s create more bright, charismatic solutions!

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Case study: From idea to design system was originally published in Bootcamp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The history of the creation and evolution of a coffee brand will set you off on a journey.

The project for Biji, a coffee manufacturer, is important to us because we’ve participated not only in the creation and launch of the brand but also in its evolution. Together with us, it made the way from a little startup for connoisseurs of good coffees, to a large bean supplier for the business segment. It all started three years ago, when a team of young guys, who had just been back from Indonesia, got in touch with APUS. Actually, good coffee had always been a rarity in the market, while the number of its lovers was constantly growing. This inspired the Biji founders to set out in search of the best coffee beans on remote plantations of South-East Asia. They armed themselves with their experience, knowledge, and passion for good coffee, and set out to Indonesia. From village to village, from region to region — the company founders traveled across the country, making stops at coffee farms. They met farmers, watched the bean production process closely, shared roof and food with them. And, of course, tasting coffee. Again, again and again. Until they finally fixed upon three plantations of high-mountain Arabica. Later, the first three sorts of Biji coffee product lines were named after these three farms.

Stage 1. Launch

We grew fond of this story and decided to take it as a basis for brand development. Actually, it was an ideal solution to the tasks set for us. We had to develop a corporate identity, including a logo and packing design, as well as Biji’s corporate website. In other words, we had to build greenfield relationships with buyers, starting with the acquaintance, making it maximally impressive. To do this, we decided to make the consumer involved in the birth of the product and to set them off on a journey across Indonesia.

Package

Package became one of the key elements of the storytelling. We placed the farmers’ portraits on it, made in an emotional, expressive manner. Through them, the abstract idea of the brand acquired definitely tangible features — those of Mr. Sakti and Mr. Darman. They seemed to invite buyers to hear their story and to be carried over thousands of kilometers to secret coffee fields of Indonesia. We wanted to generate a feeling among the audience that they don’t have a product of an impersonal corporation before them, but rather the fruits of real people’s labor. People who have their characters, their habits, their appearance. To make the interaction with the brand as human as possible, and to make buyers coming to the shop to have another pack of Biji happy as if they saw an old acquaintance. The one responsible for a specific sort of coffee, personally guaranteeing its quality and taste.

Website

The story about the journey to Indonesia in search of the best coffee beans gained momentum on Biji’s website. There was a collection of travelers’ stories there about the everyday life and household of farmers growing coffee in various regions of the island. The stories were supported by real photos made during the journey. And, to ensure full immersion, we provided an interactive map of the island, showing the route followed by Biji founders. But the website was not only an entertainment, it had also to be a tool to sell. Therefore, we provided descriptions of the three sorts of coffee and tied them to the regions they were grown in. Right here it was possible to buy the coffee and to order delivery.

Visual ecosystem

We were scrupulous about creating the brand’s visual language: we selected thoroughly an eye-catching font, a recognizable color code, and a laconic vertical makeup. We made a special focus on the ecosystem’s icon graphics. By using easy-to-understand and graphically noticeable icons, we described the brewing methods suitable for each sort of coffee. By doing this, we showed that Biji is an expert in the complicated coffee brewing culture, including the most sophisticated methods.

Logo

As opposed to bright illustrations, we decided to make the logo maximally simple and graphic, for it to stand out on the pack and to be easy to remember. This solution was prompted by the name, Biji, which means “a coffee bean” in the Indonesian language. Four beans in a line seem to repeat the lettering of the name, while forming a crown together, to emphasize the specialty level of the coffee — the high-mountain Arabica of the same cropping period, subjected to three sorting phases.

The launch of the campaign by the brand provided good coverage in mass media. Publications about the start of the new product appeared both in Russian and in foreign media outlets. The information was caught up by professional publics, which allowed restaurants and other coffee business players to learn about Biji.

Stage 2. Evolution

The successful start was followed by marked growth of the company. Biji was no more limited to coffee supplies from Indonesia and encompassed new and new territories. Therefore, the company entrusted APUS to renew their corporate style and package design. Other factors that required the pack to be rethought came into play. Firstly, the number of pack sizes increased. Secondly, Biji wanted to simplify the package production and to make it cheaper. Actually, it used to be produced by outsourced printing houses in Turkey. Now, the company endeavored to increase the volume and rate of production, therefore, the packing had to be produced locally, at its own facilities.

Challenges

The task wasn’t really a simple one. We had to think about how to keep the design as bright and distinctive while giving up the costly package. An original solution had to be conceived using an all too conventional carrier — a sticker. At first, we felt like being very restrained. However, soon, we came to a solution that defined all subsequent work on the design.

Solution

We noticed that the logo applied on a bag changed very much, once the bag was filled with coffee. It became twisted and unevenly stretched so that it only vaguely resembled the original. Therefore, we decided to bend the logo outline and to give it the shape of an arc. Thus, we managed to keep the logo readable on plumped bags, and at the same time, we found a technique that we used throughout the entire pack design. The outline of the label, the layout of the logo, the shape of the illustration received a wavy profile. This made the pack look light and unconventional, and thus, more perceptible on the shelf.

Brand Identity

We wanted to maintain succession and to make the new version of the packing not less bright and expressive than its predecessor. Therefore, noticeable local colors were taken as a basis of the color code matching the various sorts. We used a large, bold type of clear lettering, easily readable from any distance. And to keep the packing decoration design emotional, we chose figures of rare animals inhabiting the areas from where Biji delivers its coffee. The figures were painted in a graving-like manner as if they leaped from the pages of books about heroic deeds of path-breakers, which was a subtle reference to the adventure theme set at the very beginning.

Added value

In terms of sales, Biji has strongly focused on the business segment, supplying bean coffee to coffee houses and restaurants. As a rule, suppliers do not care about the package design, leaving it rather impersonal. In the case of Biji, the bright package has brought an unexpected image dividend. We noticed that many restaurant keepers put coffee packs out to the shelf. With increasing frequency, this becomes the case of Biji packs. The distinctively designed packs strike the attention while ensuring coverage and awareness among visitors.

As a result, we managed to solve the main task set by the client — we developed a new visual ecosystem, subject to simplified packing production and extended territory of coffee supplies. It is distinctive, recognizable, and develops the traveling theme. Besides, we obtained an additional result by using unconventional solutions to increase the brand awareness among visitors of coffee houses and restaurants.

The solutions invented and the design standards set by us live on in new Biji brand packages and visual language. They logically transform and evolve, while keeping the brand’s DNA created together with the company founders, based on humanity, bright character, and the desire to create the world’s best coffee.

Full case video about Biji brand evolution.

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Why evolve your brand visual system was originally published in Bootcamp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.