Hitting the heights of corporate brand re-design

There’s always an air of excitement in the studio when we take on a new corporate branding project – and this was particularly the case when we were asked recently to roll-out a new global brand.

Tractel is a world-leading safety specialist for working-at-height solutions and services, operating in 30 countries and across seven time zones. As part of a new phase of development and strategic transformation, the business asked Touch to help strengthen Tractel’s market position by creating a comprehensive visual identity, using the newly developed logo as the starting point for the entire brand system.

We took the client through our step-by-step brand development process, which involves:

  • Understanding the brief– defining the problem before designing the solution
  • Research and insight– exploring the organisation, audience, competitors and wider context to identify opportunities
  • Finding inspiration– using visual references and creative exploration to help shape ideas
  • Developing creative territories– generating multiple concepts, each with a clear strategic rationale
  • Testing and refinement– evaluating concepts against objectives, gathering stakeholder feedback and strengthening the chosen direction
  • Building a visual identity– translating a concept into a flexible brand system that works consistently across print, digital and social media
  • Presenting creative work– explaining the thinking behind design decisions to gain stakeholder confidence and approval.

For Tractel, this process included presenting three initial concepts for the visual identity, including fonts, colour palettes, iconography and graphic assets. We refined these concepts through client feedback to reach an agreed brand style.

The brief called for a clean, easy-to-use visual design system suited to a worldwide team, avoiding unnecessary complexity. We used the arrow-shaped ‘A’ from the logo as a core graphic device – exploring scale and repetition to create a distinctive visual language across all assets, drawn directly from the brand logo. 

The visual identity truly came to life through the design of templates for a wide range of materials, from catalogues, flyers and technical sheets to PowerPoint presentations, social media, banner stands, vehicles and workwear. This process allowed the identity to be fully explored, refined and proven in practice before the final stage when everything was brought together into a comprehensive brand identity guidelines document.

It is pleasing to think that the inspiration and creativity developed in the Touch studio in Nottingham, UK, will now be seen across Europe and further afield, both on the ground and at some of the highest workplace heights.

As Tractel state: “(This is) more than just a visual update, the new identity signals our ambition to accelerate innovation and strengthen our position in the market… The result is a more modern, more dynamic, and more ambitious Tractel, ready to meet the evolving needs of its industries.”