Sectors: Finance

Clarity is the new creative

Posted on by Sam

Matt Gillman, Designhouse Design Director on the hot topics and heated design debate at this year’s D&AD Festival. Clarity in the face of complexity, the real creative opportunity AI tools represent, courage over caution, and the benefits of actual human interaction.

Simplicity in creativity is not a new idea. But in a world of accelerating complexity, clarity has become a genuine commercial advantage. Spending two days at D&AD last week, surrounded by people who care deeply about ideas, that tension was visible everywhere.

Global creative community, D&AD, has set the benchmark for creative excellence in advertising and design since 1962. Its Pencil awards remain the industry’s measure of the very best creative work globally. And their annual Festival draws together practitioners, strategists and creative leaders to examine where the industry stands and where it is heading.

Challenging Complexity

The strongest work on show tended to be rooted in ideas that felt, in hindsight, obvious. And that is the point. The real creative challenge is taking the obvious idea and making it singular, embedding it into every touchpoint of a brand. So that product, service,  experience, all become inseparable from what the brand actually is. In a landscape flooded with AI-generated creative work that is competent and entirely forgettable, distinctive clarity is the force magnifier.

The harder parallel challenge is convincing clients to commit to it. In a volatile commercial environment, bravery is a difficult sell.

That said, simplicity as an antidote to increasing complexity only takes you so far. Reducing everything to its most legible form can become its own kind of constraint. Complexity itself is not the problem. The problem is complexity that is hard to navigate. The most durable brand systems hold genuine strategic and operational depth within an architecture that feels intuitive to use. Making complexity feel effortless is a more precise ambition than simplicity for its own sake.

What AI makes possible

The industry’s response to AI was the other dominant current running through the festival. There is a pronounced resistance, much of it rooted in the speed and scale of change rather than reasoned opposition. Some of it rooted in an  instinctive defence of human craft. The comparison to the arrival of the personal computer and the internet gets made often, and it holds some truth, but the analogy is limited. The pace of what is happening now is of a different order entirely. Regulatory and safety questions deserve serious attention. Creatively, however, the more productive question is, what is it that AI makes possible?

I am more confident that AI tools will support our human creative thinking process, for the better. That they can support our emotional intelligence. A way of problem solving that is better calibrated to human behaviour, more attuned to what actually resonates. AI speeds up production, which should mean more time for creative thinking. And that means that, if used responsibly and purposefully, a truly strong creative will have an enhanced level of emotional resonance with their audience. The industry’s current instinct, to lean harder into craft, tactility and the language of human-made work, reads as much as a defence of identity as it does a creative position.

The case for carbon

For me, my experience at D&AD was creatively energising. Being surrounded by people who genuinely care about ideas reminds you why you love it. D&AD felt truly restorative. A reminder, amongst the pressure, to find the joy in what we do. And to power down the digital world and mingle in the real world, with real people, bouncing ideas off carbon-based lifeforms rather than liquid crystal screens.

The industry demands continuous output, continuous thinking, continuous production. Moments like this,  that restore the appetite for imagination are vital. I wonder if the pressure to produce has quietly displaced the space to imagine. And if so, maybe the AI impact that everyone is talking about is simply to free up time to think creatively, to find the clarity in the complexity.

Author:  Matt Gillman, Design Director, Designhouse

 

Designhouse has partnered with FTSE 250 companies and global enterprises for over 50 years. We also work with start ups and scale ups to create brand identities that can grow with their business. If you’d like to discuss your brand challenges, we’re ready to talk.

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Evara launches with a brand built for scale

Posted on by Sam

When a nine-year-old fintech consultancy decides to rebrand, the reasons behind that decision matter as much as the outcome. For Fran Sánchez, Managing Director of Evara, formerly Inbound Fintech, the launch on 27 April 2026 was the result of a deliberate, multi-year growth and evolution process. The brand work was its natural conclusion.

“If you want to scale and you cannot communicate properly who you are, then you are nobody.”

Background

Designhouse worked with Evara through every stage of the programme, from the strategic positioning through to naming, visual identity and brand architecture. The brief was demanding. Evara operates in the highly competitive financial services sector, and after nearly a decade of strong growth and responsive product development, it is repositioning from its origins as a digital marketing agency. The business now needs a brand strategy that reflects who it is and where it is heading over the next decade, as a leading growth systems consultancy for financial services.

“We found our personality, we identified who we are”

Speaking at the launch, Sánchez was direct about where the value of the process lay. “For me, the most impressive part of all the work we did with Designhouse was the strategy. We found our personality, we identified who we are. People building systems, systems building growth. That was an amazing piece of work because it is exactly what we want to do.”

Process

The name itself reflects that strategic clarity. Evoking the word ‘evolve’,  Evara also resonates as a name with a strong feminine feel, significant to a business founded by two women in a sector that remains male-dominated. “We always said the company is a woman,” Sánchez explained. “It was founded by two strong women, Sheila Mitham and Marie Hanes, and we didn’t want to dilute that.”

The name emerged through three rounds of internal review with the full team and was the consistent first choice throughout. Short, memorable, and free of the literal descriptiveness that constrained the previous name, it is built for scale.

ROI

For Sánchez, the investment case for brand work of this depth is straightforward, even if it is rarely easy to articulate to a finance director. “We can have the best operations in the world, the best services in the world. If nobody is looking at us, or if nobody is able to understand us, then we have a problem. Brand is an investment that is key, essential.”

“Brand is an investment that is essential”

The timing aligned with a broader operational transformation: more than 100 internal processes created in the past year, a new office in New York, restructured service lines, and a move into AI consultancy. A business preparing to scale needs a brand that can carry that weight.

The launch coincided with Evara’s first full-company retreat, bringing together team members from across multiple geographies. Sánchez noted that the visual identity performed across every surface tested, from digital assets to merchandise, and that the team’s response was immediate and unanimous.

“to be nobody is a big problem”

The Evara engagement illustrates a pattern Designhouse consistently observes in B2B rebrands done well. The visual system and the name are the tangible deliverables. The work that makes them land is investing in the strategic architecture underneath. As Sánchez put it at the launch: “If you want to scale and you cannot communicate properly who you are, then you are nobody. And to be nobody is a big problem.” When the foundation is right, nobody becomes somebody very quickly.

Evara is operational at evara.co

written by Sam Steele, Marketing and Communications Director

 

Designhouse has partnered with FTSE 250 companies and global enterprises for over 50 years. We also work with start ups and scale ups to create brand identities that can grow with their business.  If you’d like to discuss your brand challenges, we’d be glad to talk.

Contact us

How do you build a £3 billion brand from scratch?

Posted on by Sam

Designhouse Creative Director Peter Dobie on authenticity, risk and the future of design.

Peter Dobie, Creative Director at Designhouse, faced exactly that question when the agency was appointed to name and brand Adura, the Shell and Equinor North Sea joint venture. The business secured a £3 billion credit facility, within months of launch. The brand had to be worth lending against before it had time to earn an operational track record.

“we’re very much about the relationship with the client”

Interviewed by Transform Magazine ahead of their recent awards, Peter’s answer begins with honesty as a structural requirement of the brief. The name, the identity, the entire positioning had to reflect the genuine character of the business. That authenticity is precisely what made it bankable.

In the interview Peter discusses the contrast with Cruxy, Designhouse’s other award-winning project at Transform Europe 2026.

Understand Objectives

Adura needed to slip into the market and feel established. Cruxy, a data-led growth consultancy, needed to earn attention in a sector with deeply established visual and verbal conventions. Playing it safe would have been invisible.

“you don’t always get asked to create a brand that stands out”

Designhouse built Cruxy’s entire brand around a single strategic idea: the Calculated Maverick. Taking considered risks, in a controlled way, to deliver a superior result.

Be Brave

Peter describes the point at which the team knew the work was right: they felt genuinely uncomfortable with how far they had pushed the ideas. That discomfort was the signal.

“just push the envelope, go as far as you can”

The client supported every element of it without hesitation, which for a creative director, Peter notes, is precisely the brief you want. The commercial outcome, 136% revenue growth in the first half of 2025 is what happens when a brand position is specific, committed to, and executed with discipline.

Those two projects sit at opposite ends of a spectrum that Designhouse navigates regularly. It requires a precise understanding of the competitive landscape, the audience, and the commercial objectives.

Human Centred AI

Peter is excited about what comes next. On AI, his position is direct: it is as significant a shift as the arrival of the Apple Mac. The anxiety the industry feels now is the same anxiety designers felt when digital tools arrived and proceeded to define the next era of the craft.

“in terms of design AI opens the door to a whole boat-load of new thinking”

The ideas have always been the irreducibly human part of the work. The intellectual rigour, the strategic positioning, the creative judgement, none of that is what changes. The tools that realise those ideas are simply becoming more powerful, and that opens the door to outcomes that were previously beyond the reach of smaller clients’ budgets. That, Peter argues, is straightforwardly good for the industry.

Watch the full interview with Peter Dobie

 

Designhouse collected six awards at the Transform Awards Europe 2026, including three Golds, for the Adura and Cruxy projects.

 

 

Designhouse has partnered with FTSE 250 companies and global enterprises for over 55 years. We also work with start ups and scale ups to create brand identities that can grow with their business.  If you’d like to discuss your brand challenges, we’d be glad to talk.

Contact us

Sweeping the Board at The Transform Europe Awards

Posted on by Sam

Last night, at the Transform Awards Europe 2026, Designhouse took home six awards across two projects. A result that places us among the most decorated independent brand design agencies in Europe.

The awards cover 53 categories. With entries across the full spectrum of the industry, from major international networks to boutique studios. Three Gold awards, two Silver awards and one Bronze, makes us one of only ten agencies this year to achieve multiple Golds.

 

“We love partnering with you, and appreciate the immense push to just DO GREAT WORK. Yeeeha! “
Carrie Osman, Cruxy CEO & Founder

 

Creative Excellence

 

The awards recognise excellence across the full breadth of brand development. Including naming strategy and creative direction through to visual identity and brand evolution. To win across so many disciplines in a single evening reflects the strategic rigour that underpins everything we do.

Our work with data-led growth consultancy Cruxy was the standout story of the evening. We bagged four awards: Gold for Best Brand Evolution (Business), Gold for Best Visual Identity in the Professional Services sector, Silver for Best Visual Identity in the Financial Services sector, and Silver for Best Creative Strategy.

Adura, the Shell and Equinor  joint venture, won Gold for Best Naming Strategy (New Name) and Bronze for Best Visual Identity.

 

Getting to the Cruxy Gold

 

We worked closely with the Cruxy leadership team through a series of collaborative workshops to understand the firm’s genuine competitive differentiation. From those conversations, we identified a brand personality we named the “Calculated Maverick”. A balance of  intellectual precision combined with a daring, challenging energy. That single insight shaped every subsequent decision, from the visual identity to the tone of voice.

 

“an outstanding brand evolution that shifted the business with great results”

 

The judges were unambiguous in their assessment. On the Gold for Best Brand Evolution, the panel noted it was “an outstanding brand evolution that shifted the business with great results”.

On the Gold for Best Visual Identity, judges described it as “a strong rebrand that brings a unique brand personality to the sector”. The Silver for Best Visual Identity in Financial Services recognised “a design solution that succeeds with an identity that demands attention”.

 

“a design solution that succeeds with an identity that demands attention”

 

Additionally, the Silver for Best Creative Strategy acknowledged the work’s strategic foundation. Judges noted  the Calculated Maverick strategy, “expressed through bold geometry, a confident colour system and a voice that is incisive yet approachable, reimagined Cruxy as a consultancy that does not just advise, but also accelerates.”

 

“bold geometry, a confident colour system and a voice that is incisive yet approachable”

 

The commercial results speak for themselves. In the first half of 2025, Cruxy achieved a 136% increase in revenue compared to the same period in 2024. They went on to secure  over $250 billion in additional Assets Under Management.

These are not vanity metrics. This is strong brand strategy, designed coherently, to create commercial momentum that compounds over time.

You can read more about the Cruxy project here

Explore our thinking on brand strategy and ROI in our related piece here.

Building A New North Sea Brand, Adura

 

The Adura brief was a really demanding naming challenge. A JV between international energy companies, Shell and Equinor, needs a name that accomplishes several seemingly contradictory things at once. It has to establish immediate credibility as a major operator without any operational track record. A the same time it has to differentiate itself  from two parent companies whose combined heritage spans more than a century. And it has to resonate authentically with the broadest number of stakeholders. This includes the local Aberdonian community, government regulators, 1,300 transferring employees, and commercial partners in billion-pound negotiations.

 

“highly rigorous work that gives Adura a credible foundation”

 

Designhouse developed a rigorous naming methodology built around five criteria: authority, independence, regional connection, durability and flexibility.

The result “Adura” fuses Aberdeen with durability, embedding both geographical heritage and brand promise. A name that is a single, distinctive word that sits outside all the conventional naming conventions of the sector. Crucially, the phonetics were deliberate. Spoken with a Scottish accent, the hard D softens to produce a sound that carries regional warmth. At the same time, the visual identity system, with its granite-dense custom logotype and trapezium symmetry, reinforces the name’s qualities of permanence and structural integrity.

 

“super-strong concept with execution to match”

 

The judges responded with considerable enthusiasm. On the Gold for Best Naming Strategy, the panel described it as a “super-strong concept with execution to match”. They noted the brand name is “memorable and ownable, with great results.” The Bronze for Best Visual Identity acknowledged “highly rigorous work that gives Adura a credible foundation”.

 

“memorable and ownable, with great results”

 

You can read more about the Adura project here

Visit the Adura brand at adura.com

 

Celebrating with Clients

The evening was made all the more memorable by the warmth of our clients. Cruxy CEO Carrie Osman responded to the wins with genuine enthusiasm, “we love partnering with you, and appreciate the immense push to just DO GREAT WORK. Yeeeha!”

Cruxy Business Development Executive, Rosie Sugarman wrote. “Seeing it recognised like that really reinforces the quality, creativity and thought your team brings to everything we do together.”

 

“the quality, creativity and thought your team brings to everything we do together.”
Six awards at the Transform Awards Europe, including three Golds, is a result to be proud of. These awards are judged by a highly prestigious panel of experienced international Design Directors, brand and marketing leaders and industry creatives. The accolades reflect the quality of the work. They also reflect the close relationships we build with the clients who trust us with genuinely high-stakes briefs.

This is how great brand design actually works. Close, sustained collaboration between creative teams and client leadership. Relationships built on mutual trust and a shared commitment to ambitious outcomes.

For 55 years, that has been the Designhouse way. Last night was a fine reminder of why it matters.

 

 

Designhouse has partnered with FTSE 250 companies and global enterprises for over 50 years. We also work with start ups and scale ups to create brand identities that can grow with their business.  If you’d like to discuss your brand challenges, we’d be glad to talk.

Contact us

136% ROI – the AI brand strategy remix

Posted on by Matthew Gillman

Getting To The Crux

Cruxy are a specialist data-led growth consultancy. They needed to position themselves as the authoritative voice in growth intelligence for tech sector private equity.

Our work on the Cruxy brand evolution is already getting noticed, with four nods from the 2026 Transform Awards – shortlisted for Best Creative Strategy, Best Brand Evolution, Best Visual Identity (in two categories, Finance and Professional Services). More importantly, the immediate business impact shows Cruxy is already a winner.

Six months post-launch, the revitalised brand strategy is delivering strong ROI results:

  • 136% revenue increase.
  • 20+ media features including Financial Times, Raconteur, Investment Week.
  • 240% web traffic spike.
  • £250 billion+ in additional Assets Under Management secured

These metrics are proof that comprehensive brand coherence delivers what visual identity alone cannot. Cruxy is now a strong brand presence that is visible and referenced across the information ecosystem.

Integrated Brand Design Systems

The Cruxy case study demonstrates three integrated brand design layers working as a system.

  • The visual layer creates recognition and trust. The Crux design device, two intersecting lines symbolising precision, provides distinctive visual signature. Dynamic motion design brings the brand alive. Thus the visual treatment immediately signals a rigorous, trustworthy, intellectually formidable brand.

 

  • The informational layer establishes authority that gets referenced. Working with the Cruxy team we developed a comprehensive brand proposition as “The Calculated Maverick”. As a result, there is a framework for structured knowledge architecture that is referenced, cited, validated.

 

  • The ecosystem layer ensures coherence across all contexts. Brand guidelines work across digital and physical touchpoints. Importantly, the asset suite is structured for cross-platform consistency, the digital rollout strategy ensures visual coherence and informational validation.

This coherent brand approach positions Cruxy as a source AI agents trust. And, it also maintains the brand’s strategic intent across both human-perceived visual and machine-perceived informational touchpoints.

  • Visual identity gets attention.
  • Information architecture gets citation.
  • Ecosystem coherence builds cumulative authority.

 

Read the full Cruxy case study here

 

We create strategic brand systems that maintain coherence across visual, digital, and informational touchpoints. We design for  humans and the AI agents increasingly shaping how expertise gets discovered.

Designhouse is where strategy takes shape.

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55 Years Building Brands That Last

Posted on by Matthew Gillman

This year marks Designhouse’s 55th anniversary. More than half a century partnering with organisations to create brand work that drives business performance.

Origin Story

We started in 1970, when brand design meant typesetting, paste-up boards, and physical craftsmanship.

Through five decades, we’ve navigated every major shift in how brands are built and delivered; from desktop publishing in the 80s to digital transformation in the 2000s to AI-enabled design today.

But technology has never been the point. The point is what survives the technology changes.

 

Built to Last

Fuller’s Brewery still uses the brand identity we created in the early 1990s, thirty-something years ago. Not because we predicted design trends, but because we built it on strategic foundations that transcend fashion. When Michael, the man who commissioned that work, recently retired, the brand was still going strong. That’s what happens when you invest in design built on business strategy rather than commercial trends.

We’ve seen agencies chase every new tool and trend. Watched big-name studios prioritise principal celebrity over client outcomes. Seen consultancies deliver strategy decks that never get implemented.

Designhouse is an experienced brand design agency. We have always taken a different path: understand the business problem first, apply 55 years of tested experience, deliver work that performs in real markets with real stakeholders.

This longevity isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about earning trust through consistency. With clients like Vodafone, Shell, Centrica, EMCOR UK, and Springer Nature who return because the work delivers measurable value.

 

Future Proof

As we enter our sixth decade, the questions remain the same: Does this brand support business objectives? Will it work under competitive pressure? Can sales actually use it? Does it command the pricing power you need?

The tools change. The wisdom doesn’t.

Here’s to 55 years of brands built to perform, not just to impress.

 

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

FP Live 2025: the Future of Financial Brands

Posted on by Matthew Gillman

FP Live, Financial Promoter’s annual conference, brought together senior figures from across asset management and financial services. The conversations oreflected a sector wrestling with some genuinely difficult questions about identity, differentiation and trust.

Designhouse Creative Director Peter Dobie joined Tom Lloyd, Ronjit Bose and Hannah Robinson on stage to discuss brand identity across audio, visual and emerging channels. It is a topic with real stakes in financial services. Brand recognition is hard-won and the pressure to modernise without alienating existing clients is constant.

The wider programme tackled the shifting dynamics of global asset management. As well as the growing tension between human-led creativity and automated content. And what it now takes to build a brand that can hold its own in a crowded market. None of these are abstract questions. For firms managing significant client relationships and long investment cycles, brand is increasingly a boardroom concern, not just a marketing one.

We understand the unique pressures the financial sector faces. Our work spans some of the most complex and regulated sectors in business. The themes at FP Live reinforced something we see with clients regularly. The firms that treat brand as a strategic asset rather than a communications afterthought are the ones better placed to compete. The conversation is evolving, and it is good to see the financial sector fully engaged in 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

Transform Awards Europe 2025

Posted on by Matthew Gillman

What a thrilling night to be a brand and design agency!

We’re incredibly proud to have taken home five awards at the Transform Awards Europe 2025:
🏆 Silver | Bring Energy and Designhouse – Best Implementation of a Brand Development Project
🏆 Silver | Bring Energy and Designhouse – Best Naming Strategy (New Name)
🏆 Bronze | Loan Market Association (LMA) and Designhouse – Horizons Quarterly Publication – Best Brand Experience
🏆 Bronze | SRE Ltd and Designhouse – Best Visual Identity from the Property, Construction & Facilities Management Sector
🏆 Highly Commended | Bring Energy and Designhouse – Best Visual Identity from the Energy & Utilities Sector

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

Designhouse shortlisted for Transform Awards 2025

Posted on by Matthew Gillman

Designhouse is shortlisted in 5 categories at the Transform Europe Brand Awards 2025.

Our nominations include:
🏠 Best Brand Experience for the Loan Market Association (LMA) Horizons Quarterly Sustainable Finance Publication
🖌️ Best Visual Identity for evolving SRE Ltd’s core identity
🖋️ Best Brand Development, Best Naming Strategy and Best Visual Identity for our work on Bring Energy

We are also incredibly proud to celebrate our Strategy Director, Marina Guirey, nominated in the Brand Strategist of the Year category.

 

 

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

X Marks The Spot for Cruxy rebrand

Posted on by Matthew Gillman

In fintech and deep tech, precision is everything. Your brand needs to work just as hard as your data. It must communicate authority and sharpness before a single word is read. That is a brief Designhouse knows well.

When Cruxy came to us, they had a powerful proposition. As deep tech specialists, they operate a proprietary data engine, Cortex. They map over two billion market data points to identify fast, precise opportunities for growth. The challenge is translating that rigour into a visual identity that senior executives would instantly trust and respect.

The answer came from the heart of the brand itself. We developed ‘The Crux’. This design device is built from two intersecting lines, expressing the pinpoint accuracy and absolute precision that defines how Cruxy works. Paired with an electric blue and acidic green palette, the identity carries genuine energy without sacrificing credibility. Bold, but disciplined. Distinctive, but purposeful.

The tone of voice followed the same logic. Cruxy speaks with authority while actively challenging convention. Black-and-white imagery set against vivid colour delivers a confident contrast. Cruxy is not just another data provider, but a sharp and exacting partner for leaders who demand more.

The result is a brand that looks and sounds exactly like what Cruxy is: incisive, rigorous, and built for the top of the market.

To see how the identity came together across every touchpoint, take a look at the full case study.

 

 

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

Design Agency of the Year 2024 Winners

Posted on by Matthew Gillman

Designhouse are delighted to announce that we were awarded Design Agency of the Year last night at the Financial Promoter Awards in London.

We were also awarded Highly Commended for Content Campaign of the Year for our quarterly online publication, Horizons, for the Loan Market Association (LMA), offering thought-provoking commentary on sustainable finance

We could not have won these awards without the dedicated support of our clients who make it all possible and of course, without the hugely talented team we have here at Designhouse.

Designhouse creates strategic brand systems that maintain coherence across visual, digital, and informational touchpoints. We design for  humans and the AI agents increasingly shaping how expertise gets discovered.

Designhouse is where strategy takes shape.

Read the case study here

Cruxy Brand Refresh

Posted on by Matthew Gillman

With a refreshed visual identity, Cruxy can now demonstrate how they operate, cutting through the noise to deliver real impact for B2B tech enterprises, with acidic green and electric blue colours to provide a striking and incisive visual experience.

Keep an eye out for our next update to discover how we approached the brand refresh to reflect Cruxy‘s positioning as growth intelligence specialists. Whilst you wait, discover their re-energised website

Designhouse creates strategic brand systems that maintain coherence across visual, digital, and informational touchpoints. We design for  humans and the AI agents increasingly shaping how expertise gets discovered.

Designhouse is where strategy takes shape.

Loan Market Association (LMA) annual conference in London

Posted on by Matthew Gillman

We are pleased to share our latest conference branding work for the Loan Market Association (LMA), which recently featured in their annual conference in London, the biggest of its kind in Europe.

This year, over 800 in-person & 500 virtual delegates had the opportunity to engage and network with industry-leading speakers and draw insights on the current & future projections of the Loan Market.

The goal was to create a concept that positioned The LMA as ‘Representing All The Loan Markets’.

The creative execution brought the vastness of the cosmos to life with a visually striking and all-encompassing design featuring a vibrant colour palette and dynamic graphic device.

The tagline “Further Together”, reinforced the industry’s collaborative, ever-expansive nature and positioned the LMA as a leading advocate for the collective growth of its partners.

It was amazing seeing the identity across various digital, animated and printed mediums within the QEII Centre and online through their streaming platform.

Read more here

Designhouse creates strategic brand systems that maintain coherence across visual, digital, and informational touchpoints. We design for  humans and the AI agents increasingly shaping how expertise gets discovered.

Designhouse is where strategy takes shape.

 

Financial Promoter Awards Shortlist

Posted on by Matthew Gillman

We are delighted to share that we have been shortlisted for not one but two Financial Promoter Awards for Design Agency of the Year and Content Campaign of the Year 👏 > https://financialpromoter.co.uk/fp-awards-shortlists/

Nominations included our work for the Loan Market Association (LMA) including their Horizons ESG publication > https://horizons.lma.eu.com/march2024/

LMA Horizons Publication

Posted on by Matthew Gillman

We are excited to showcase our latest work on the first issue of the LMA Horizons ESG for Spring 2024, to which you can now subscribe below:
https://lnkd.in/eE4FPaa7

Our team drew inspiration from the shifting tides of sustainable lending, wanting to incorporate elemental imagery and a flowing brand device which presents the natural beauty in vast landscapes and terrain, driving home the importance of large-scale change to help protect it.

In a sea of protocols and a rapidly evolving regulatory ecosystem, we are helping the Loan Market Association (LMA) communicate the bigger picture to their members by delivering a brand story worthy of its conservation mission.

 

Financial Promoter 2024

Posted on by Matthew Gillman

We attended Rhotic Media‘s Finance Promoter Live as a proud event sponsor. A huge thank you to the Rhotic Media team for organising such an engaging day, bringing together forward-thinking financial marketers.

With our sector experience, we recognise the importance of storytelling in building a strong brand narrative that cuts through crowded marketing communications.

Reboot’s bold new brand identity

Posted on by Matthew Gillman

Designhouse worked with Reboot, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to driving racial equality in the financial services sector. We created a vibrant new brand identity. The project was on a pro-bono basis, reflecting our commitment to using creative expertise in support of meaningful social change.

Background

 

Reboot’s mission is to educate business leaders in financial services; to provide a platform to build a more diverse and inclusive workplace. It does this by raising visibility of the challenges faced by ethnic minority professionals. Predominantly using the power of storytelling to bring individual experiences into the mainstream conversation.

Central to Reboot’s approach is its ambassador network. Support comes from senior figures from some of the most prominent names in the industry, including State Street, Numis, BlueBay Asset Management, Invesco, GIC and MFS Investment Management. These voices lend credibility and reach to Reboot’s campaigning, engaging business leaders who have the power to drive meaningful change.

Alongside this advocacy work, Reboot produces research to underpin its messaging. Its flagship annual Race to Equality report tracks and highlights trends around discrimination in the UK workplace. It offers data-driven insight that sits alongside the personal stories at the heart of the organisation’s identity. By combining lived experience with robust evidence, Reboot is able to push for progressive change in a way that resonates both emotionally and professionally.

Attention-grabbing  Identity

 

 

The new visual identity created by Designhouse reflects the energy and ambition Reboot’s mission.

The brand mark symbolises positive change. Bold, punchy design choices capture attention and motivate action. At the centre of the identity is a clear call to action: “It’s time to switch the narrative”. This strapline  encapsulates Reboot’s determination to reshape the conversation around race and opportunity in financial services.

For Designhouse, the strategic thinking behind the identity is as important as the visual execution. The aim is to resonate with business leaders, encouraging active involvement rather than passive observation. Every element of the design is considered in terms of how it will inspire engagement; from the colour palette to the typography and overall tone of the brand.

The partnership is a strong example of how design and brand strategy can serve a purpose beyond commerce. The right brand identity adds weight and credibility to organisations working on issues that matter. For Reboot, a compelling and professional identity helps ensure that its message is heard at the right levels. It givesthe organisation the visual authority to sit alongside the major institutions it seeks to influence.

Designhouse continues to work with clients across sectors where brand strategy and design thinking can make a genuine difference.

 

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

Xceptor Campaign Creative

Posted on by Matthew Gillman

We’re proud to share that our Tax Campaign creative work for automated data solution provider Xceptor has gone live!

To highlight the benefits of Xceptor’s offer, the campaign uses simple illustration, engaging headlines, and human interaction, to create a unique narrative in a sector normally over-reliant on clichéd visuals.

 

Xceptor’s re-brand and positioning strategy helped drive 523% ROI in three years. Read the full case study

 

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