New logo: Brandimage

Brandimage is a brand consultancy network with seven offices in the US, Europe and Asia. It was formed five years ago from the merger of Desgrippes Gobé and Laga and has designed the current brand expressions for the likes of Air France and Sunkist, and some others that have been featured on this blog. In 2011 it was bought by Schawk, Inc, who also own another branding firm called Anthem Worldwide.

In July, the firm took another evolutionary step forward with a new identity. The full name, which used to be “Brandimage – Desgrippes & Laga”, was shortened by removing the legacy names of the two firms that preceded it. The Chicago office took the creative lead in coming up with the new identity, although the other branches were also involved.

Most other large branding agencies tend to rely on the equity built up in their names with solid wordmarks as logos. Brandimage went in a more expressive direction with an identity built to communicate the agency's mission to link insight, strategy and design to make brands stand out and tell their stories.

Continues below.

Previous logo.

This is done with a new symbol dubbed the “Papillon” which is filled with different images meant to conjure up different associations. This includes a butterfly, a creative spark, a creative pattern and a Rorschach pattern. The logo is anchored by a loosely letter-spaced all-caps sans serif wordmark. The combination represents center-brained thinking, balancing "freedom and control, precision and expression, intelligence and creativity".

The purple pattern seen in the Papillon is dubbed the “Creative Canvas” and can also be used separately as a background or on stationary. Employees are encouraged to use the Papillon in different creative applications. Many of these seem to involve organizing butterflies into a regular pattern and combining it with the creative canvas.

The different elements that make up the symbol.

The Creative Canvas.