You may have noticed that things look a little different round here. That’s because we’ve spent the last couple of months working with branding agency Awake on a complete redesign of ICON Printing.

It’s been a huge undertaking – one which has required us to rethink how everything from our logo and stationery look to the design of the website. But we couldn’t be happier with the results. We wanted to know how Awake tackled such a mammoth project, so we sat down with designer Bence to get a behind the scenes look at redesigning ICON.

Q. When you were asked to redesign ICON, where exactly did you start?

A. I always start with a big review of the brand and conduct some in-depth research that helps determine where the business currently stands, and where it wants to be. We had lots of discussions and brainstorming sessions with the team at ICON to help define their brand’s core values. These values then formed the foundation of the brand and design strategy.

Q. What did you discover about ICON during your research, and how did that in turn help influence the design?

A. It was immediately obvious to me that ICON is a cool, upbeat company with big ambitions backed up by a solid work ethic. ICON is well connected to London’s creative hub. It has a big client base of interesting and strong brands and – according to our research – its design- and customer-oriented feel gives clients peace of mind. So the ethos, the work, the positive responses from customers were all there already. But there wasn’t a coherent strategy or a strong visual identity, which is where our expertise was needed.

Q. What did you want to achieve with the new identity?

A. As with all brands I work with, I wanted the design and every aspect of ICON’s visual identity to reflect its core values and, through this, differentiate it from its competitors. ICON needed to really stand out and be remembered. I wanted to capture their uniqueness and, at the same time, reflect their high standards of printing.

We found that at the heart of ICON’s services there is this agile, proactive and progressive spirit that influences everything they do. They’re agile because they’re flexible. They will always do their best to accommodate their customer’s requirements. They’re proactive because they go out of their way to help clients make the most of their printing. They use expertise to lift the burden from the shoulders of their customers. And they’re progressive because they’re rapidly growing and not afraid to be bold and different if it means a better service.

Above: Some of our sensational new stationery

Q. What aspects of the company were you keen to push to the forefront with the new website?

A. We wanted the website to reflect the customer-friendly nature of ICON. To achieve this, we went for a minimal look, with a hierarchy that is simple and clear. There’s no clutter, and it’s very easy for users to skim through the pages.

We also wanted to highlight ICON’s attention to detail. We achieved this with bold, close-up imagery of the printing and embroidery processes, as well as the finished garments. They’re an inspiration for the viewer, but also a sign that ICON cares about the small things.

The product catalogue was a huge chunk of work too. Previously, the images for each brand were from different sources and in different styles. It didn’t just look bad, but it also didn’t help customers understand the sometimes subtle differences between styles. So, to make their lives a little easier, we decided to shoot all the garments with professional models from all angles, with close-up shots of the details.

Above: An animated overview of the wide range of garments that were photographed for our product catalogue

Q. What did you enjoy most about working on the project?

A. I enjoyed it all because our principles for high quality fell in line with each other’s. I could push for improvements on every level, from the catalogue design, to photography, to the tagline wording. It was nice fine tuning the look of the website to make sure it appealed to both small creative and big corporate clients. And, personally, I love the boldness of the colours we’ve used.