Month: February 2025

Funds Congress Conference

Posted on by Matthew Gillman

Funds Congress is the definitive gathering of fund managers and asset allocators. It brings together top executives to tackle the most pressing challenges facing the asset management industry. From regulatory change and economic outlook to AI and digital distribution, it is all discussed in this forum. The event is one of the most senior conferences in the UK funds calendar. Recognised as Event-led Initiative of the Year at the Financial Promoter Awards 2024.

This year the visual identity running throughout, across the environment, signage and all event materials, is created by Designhouse.

Co-hosted by Carne Group, Dechert,  PwC, and Euroclear, the challenge is to reflect the collaborative nature of four significant institutions coming together. To visualise this we use a gradient wave device and a clean typographic logo. This concept communicates connectivity and confidence. It presents the organisers as a unified proposition to an audience of over 1,000 senior delegates.

 

Seeing our work in place, at scale, and in context, is one of the more useful things a design team can do. A conference identity of this kind is not simply a backdrop. It sets the register of the whole day before anyone takes the stage, and in a sector where trust and credibility are foundational, the visual language carries real weight.

 

In asset management, trust is the product. Brand is how you build it.

 

Designhouse has partnered with FTSE 250 companies and global enterprises for over 50 years, delivering strategic brand consultancy that creates measurable competitive advantage. If you’d like to discuss your brand challenges, we’d be glad to talk.

Contact us

M6N – A Brand Under Pressure

Posted on by Matthew Gillman

The first weekend of the Six Nations delivered everything it usually promises. Kit design upgrades were in evidence across all the teams. France were imperious in Paris, Ireland edged a tight one in Dublin, and Scotland held off a determined Italy. But alongside the on-the-pitch kit and caboodle, there was a parallel conversation running, one that those of us in brand design found equally compelling.

Rebrand Reactions

The tournament rebranded to M6N ahead of its 25th anniversary in 2025. The new identity was developed by London creative agency How Now. It centres on a slanted, shiny wordmark rendered in a fiery orange gradient, chosen to channel warmth and optimism. The reaction, predictably, was split.

Fans compared it to everything from Mars bar branding to the credits of a 1996 comedy film. Others called it a necessary evolution. That kind of response is familiar to anyone who has worked through a major rebrand with a client. The logo lands first, stripped of context, and people react to a mark rather than a system.

 

 

Standing Strong In the Face of Criticism

Michael Ritson, Head of Marketing & Creative at Six Nations Rugby was clear on the intent. It is designed to create memory structures with the brand, attract younger fans, and build something that works as a digital-first identity. The men’s rebrand also aligns with the Women’s Six Nations identity launched in 2023. There is now a unified, intuitive naming structure across M6N, W6N and U6N. As a result, each stands on its own, while also remaining part of the same family.

Ritson’s response to the initial backlash was straightforward: trust the strategy, and see how it comes to life when the games kick off. That is sound thinking. A brand identity is not a logo on a white background. It is colour filling a stadium, players wearing it, broadcasters running it across millions of screens, supporters wrapping themselves in their nation’s colours. Seen in that context, across that first weekend, it worked. Brilliantly.

The Final Result

The M6N rebrand is a useful case study in one of the most consistent truths in brand design. Reaction at launch is rarely the measure of success. The measure is whether the identity holds, scales and builds meaning over time.

And this is most definitely a brand identity that earned its conversion.

Designhouse has partnered with FTSE 250 companies and global enterprises for over 50 years, delivering strategic brand consultancy that creates measurable competitive advantage. If you’d like to discuss your brand challenges, we’d be glad to talk.

Contact us