31 October, 2024

Design intelligence

- Discover how we bring design intelligence to global brand activation - blending creative vision with engineering expertise.

- Learn why major global brands trust us to implement and evolve their visual identity across complex, international rollouts.

- See how our collaborative approach supports design and branding agencies at every stage - from inception and concept through to installation and beyond.

- Understand how we add strategic value by helping national and international brands evolve intelligently.

- Explore how we’re leading the way with sustainable signage solutions, like our closed-loop material innovation for UK banking group NatWest.

- Find out why we’re keen to work with creative partners from the very beginning of brand activation projects.

Why we’re a natural partner for branding agencies with global activation projects.

From inception and design to activation and evolution, Pearce Signs is trusted by some of the world’s biggest companies to look after their brands.

But it’s so much more than just design, engineering and installation. We call it ‘design intelligence’ - our expert approach to understanding the science and art behind what makes a corporate brand work - visually, functionally and emotionally.

If you’re a brand or design agency, this blog explores why we should be working in collaboration with your brand partners.

At its most reductive, what we do is design corporate identity signage, make them and install them.

We’ve been doing this since 1791.

Today we’re entrusted by some of the world’s largest brands to look after these iconic visual assets - arguably the single most important point of engagement between a company and its customers, suppliers and employees.

The art and science of brand design

It’s as much a science as it is a form of art, and today what we do is so much more than just design and install corporate identity signage. In professional parlance, we do “global brand activation”.

What this means in practice is that we have an in-depth knowledge around the language of design; how critical details such as the composition of fonts and colour palette play an important role in conveying the values of a brand; and how our value engineering knowhow translates a logo design concept into a workable, cost-effective reality.

Most importantly, our professional in-house design team is well-versed in working alongside brand agencies, and the design teams of our clients. This is critical within the context of a global brand activation project where milestones and timeframes in different time zones determine every new rollout.

As a global brand activation partner, we have the agility to work at various levels within a project, either as design-lead, design collaborator, project manager, brand guardian or brand innovator.

“For a brand identity to survive, it has to evolve. The original intellectual capital behind its design has to be acknowledged and respected. And in many instances, we know that the brands we work with have a considerable heritage, and with that comes a sensitivity towards the past - but tempered by a future forward perspective on where a brand goes next”.

How we rebranded ourselves

In one of our earlier blogs Help! Has someone seen our brand? we explored that elusive moment in the evolution of a brand where it starts to become invisible, or the brand no longer reflects the ambition and new direction of a company.

This is exactly the process we went through ourselves with our marketing partners Applied Digital who helped us reposition Pearce as a design-led global brand activation business. By deploying external expertise we were able to see for ourselves the key attributes that we bring to corporate identity signage rollouts. Read our own case study here.

Critically, what emerged from our own rebranding is the wealth of design intelligence that we can bring to any brand activation project.

At its most basic level, we’re highly accomplished at implementing brand guidelines. But more importantly, we know from decades (and centuries) of experience, what makes a good sign - aesthetically, emotionally and practicably. Our recent Engineered by design blog explains this in more detail.

What makes a good sign - aesthetically, emotionally and practicably

Bringing added value to corporate identity signage

But where we can bring immense added value to any corporate identity signage is brand intelligence - the nuanced aspects of a brand that give those all-important cues on how and when to move it along through innovation.

Back in the 1930s we played an instrumental role devising the iconic Art Deco signage for the Odeon cinema brand, positioning it as a leading name in entertainment through the deployment of a then innovative lighting medium - neon.

Today, we remain at the forefront of innovation with brands that not only need to evolve their corporate identity but want intelligent design solutions that have sustainability at their heart.

Pioneering the use of closed loop materials for a sustainable rebrand

A sustainable new brand for NatWest

A great example of this is the major UK-wide rollout of the new brand identity for NatWest group, following its incorporation of the former Royal Bank of Scotland brand. Here we played a key role implementing a reworked version of their 1970s tricorn logo, giving it a 21st century treatment across their UK estate of offices, banks, call centres and ATM machines.

Here our design and engineering knowhow helped pioneer the use of closed loop materials as part of an ambitious remit to deliver a roll out where sustainability was a primary objective. Working within their brand guidelines, we created new prototypes to explore design characteristics such as visibility, illumination and durability - and cost, without compromising the integrity of the design. Read the NatWest case study here.

Intuitive design intelligence

Today, we’re retained by many of our clients because, aside from implementing their brands, we have an intuitive design intelligence around how to help them evolve. Take Majestic Signs, a UK brand that recently recommissioned us to rollout external and internal signage across 20 stores, following a subtle but distinctive evolution of its brand look.

Looking ahead to 2025 we want to forge even closer partnerships with the professional design community.

Installing and fixing signs is the culmination of a long journey of brand discovery that encompasses many aspects explored in this blog. Now, more than ever, we want to be working with design agencies right at the very start - at those touch points of inception.

So let’s talk.

If you’re a brand agency representing companies embarking on brand activation projects, we really want to be around your table.

Call Paul or Martin on 0115 940 9620.