Co-creator of Meaningful Change. Signal

Signal (part of ONY) is a research and strategy consulting agency. It is a team of brand consultants with thorough expertise in marketing communications and research focusing on current culture and human needs. Thanks to the work at the intersection of marketing, sociology and cultural studies, Signal can deeply and comprehensively study the context of their clients' companies. Thus, they can create brand strategies that are relevant now and for years to come.

On the eve of the Signal's fifth anniversary, they decided to rebrand themselves: To fit into the new market environment, which has changed a lot over the past few years. The rebranding did not imply radical changes and abandonment of the established heritage but rather an adjustment of the brand positioning, considering all the positive elements that Signal already had in its image. We have created a new visual identity based on the new strategy and brand platform that the Signal team has developed in-house.

Signal is a team of professional brand consultants and researchers. They know how to study and analyse the world and human culture in depth and from different angles. Once the team had identified their strengths, a vector of change in their positioning was set out. The brand DNA had to preserve expertise, depth and exclusivity. However, it had to express innovation, and openness and appear more audience-friendly. At the same time, the new positioning had to moderate the level of severity.

We used the glass, or prism, effect, which has become the main expressive technique that conveys the brand's essence. Photographs are distorted by a specially designed generator, multiplied and split, imitating the process of refraction of cultural phenomena under the magnifying glass of a researcher.

ONY One is now the brand typeface, which emphasises its ecosystem nature and its affiliation with ONY. We have paired the main font with several variants of accent fonts and also selected a set of emoticons. Their combination with ONY One and targeted use adds freshness and boldness to the brand's style.

We have also remastered the Signal logo and trademark –– we have softened the angularity of the shape and simplified it so they are more lightweight. In the writing of the logo now instead of capital letters, only lowercase letters are used.

Another pillar of Signal's visual language, responsible for the brand's openness, creative character and friendly tone, is the photographic style — the bright spot of the whole identity concept. Here we were inspired by the personal style of each of the agency's team members. These are specific people who, with their extensive expertise and versatile interdisciplinary experience, can approach projects thoughtfully, deeply and holistically, offer fresh solutions and maintain high quality in their work.

The effect of repetition, referring to the way modern culture is organised and works, is quite widely used in its style. It manifests itself not only in the graphics created by the generator but also in the literal repetition of images and typographic blocks.

We have put the concept of the new brand identity into practice both in digital and in the form of brand merchandising that was prepared for the agency's birthday party. We have developed the design of long-sleeved shirts with emoticon graphics, keyrings in the shape of the Signal sign made of recycled plastic, and a set of stickers with brand colours and compositions of branded fonts.