Introduction: Constable VAT Consultancy are one of the largest specialist VAT consultancies in the UK. With the main office based in the heart of ‘Constable country’ – their business name was inspired by their location and its surroundings within the beautiful countryside – which too had inspired the great landscape painter John Constable. After successfully trading for over 15 years and successfully growing to become one of the leading agencies in the UK they were looking to raise their profile and make the step of growing the business and its client base further, by refreshing their brand and retiring their old generic logo. I was tasked with building a brand that could enable this transition more effectively and enable this ambitious company to develop with a brand identity that reflected their own ambitions to build upon their success to date.

Strategy: At the start of this project Constable VAT Consultancy had somewhat of an identity crisis. The incumbent identity was generic and full of issues. The way the company described itself both verbally and across communications channels was different every time. To add to the confusion the web domain they were using was different to their company name – and in fact the name of their largest competitor! There was a clear opportunity to develop the identity into something that worked much more successfully and effectively at all brand touch points and conveyed a stronger message around the unique business name. A more relevant solution was required.

Solution: The chosen direction for the new identity was based around the concept of ‘Masters of our Art’. This concept focuses on the artistry involved in providing VAT advice – linking it to the innovative and imaginative solutions that are conceived to address the wide ranging problems faced in the world of VAT consultancy. This artistry provides a duality with the business name and the great artist Constable in a subtle yet distinctive way – they are both masters of their art.

The new logo features a dynamic painted stroke to form an abstract ‘C’ symbol. This provides a subtle link to the name whilst adding a sense of confidence and energy to the logo. It has been created in a series of different colour combinations which reference the colours found within the landscape. The name is set in a customised serif typeface to compliment and contrast the symbol. The result is a dynamic and truly distinctive identity that pays homage to the name in a subtle way.

Look and Feel: A unique element of the new brand identity is the imagery style which has been created to fit perfectly with the new brand theme ‘Masters of our Art’. The style mixes textured paint strokes with business associated imagery to create a distinctive visual style that has real stand out. Each images has been created in each of the four colour variants to ensure full flexibility in application. A distinctive and unique look and feel is created when the logo and the new imagery style are combined, working alongside the other elements of the brand such as the colour palette and typography.