Taking A Birds-Eye View
Though Osprey had previously put thought into their brand identity, which itself had earned some equity, it had the potential for much more.
We started by taking an overview of the brand, reviewing, interrogating and dissecting the existing brand materials and architecture. Through these findings and discussions with the Osprey team, we went on to develop a fully defined Brand Strategy and positioning framework.
Respectfully navigating our way through the brand elements that had come to define Osprey, we engaged with those that needed reviewing, updating or creating from scratch.
Re-defining Osprey’s Brand Strategy meant we then had the platform from which to develop their vivid new look.
Nurturing A Fledgling
As well-practised as we are at AndAnotherDay in creating brands from scratch, we are equally at home helping to reveal, develop and refine an existing brands’ identity.
Osprey’s previous efforts on their Brand Strategy and the existence of a number of visual elements meant that the fundamental pieces were in place for a great brand experience. So we prioritised protecting the defining elements such as the base colour palette and existing logo as we worked to better understand their fundamental purpose, identifying the gaps in the Brand Strategy.
This process was to be all about digging in to who Osprey were to uncover and nurture their real identity. If a visual update was also to be part of this project, and a truly great visual language feeds directly from a well-defined Brand Strategy, the ‘who’ was our logical place to begin.
Revealing The Real Osprey
In our early discussions, we learned that Osprey had a number of materials that between them had attempted to define a coherent brand personality.
However, these differed in their level of detail, their messages, structure, syntax and overall approach.
Osprey’s endeavours at Brand Strategy provided us with a sound base and many of the foundational elements upon which to build. However, there were major holes and plenty of scope to more truthfully express their true identity.
Where Innovators And Pioneers Take Flight
Osprey started life as Engenie Electric Vehicle Rapid Charging, founded in London in 2016.
The founding principle was to pioneer super-fast EV charging with zero hassle for the customer and the landlord, thus accelerating the transition to electric vehicles.
Following a pilot of six rapid chargers with Cheshire East council, innovating the use of built-in bank card readers – the first in the UK – Engenie secured funding for the development of their network.
As the network of chargers grew, so did the positive reputation of the brand, and a simpler, more relatable name was needed. Osprey Charging was chosen to represent speed, power and, most importantly, openness and ease of use for all drivers.
For The Future of Transport
Osprey understood their brand was lacking but were struggling to know exactly where. They also appreciate that as they begin to compete beyond the boundaries of their industry, properly defined brand and visual identities will be crucial in supporting their growth.
Starting With The Who
When building (or re-building) a brand, we always go right back to the start, asking the fundamental questions to the reasons behind its existence; Who are you? What’s your passion? Why are you doing this? What makes you different? and so on.
The answers to these (and several more) questions, produce the raw materials with which to construct (or re-construct) a brand from the ground up.
After our discussions we conducted a brand audit, mapping Osprey’s existing brand system to our own, identifying gaps and filling the smaller ones by drafting statements and beginning to connect the dots.
Through this process, we’re able to piece together these building blocks, creating a connected narrative that forges a coherent and honest brand story.
With this story in place, everyone in the organisation understands the drivers and the purpose behind why they are there, and can share in the collective vision.
Workshopping, Collaborating And Refining
Where the gaps were too big for us to fill alone, we got together with the Osprey team, conducting a workshop to ask the right questions, providing us with the answers we needed to assemble the Osprey brand story.
We created a Brand Strategy Workspace online which both teams had edit access to, where we could meet, discuss ideas and collaborate on concepts.
Once all the rough pieces are in place, it’s a simple case of creating a smooth feedback loop, discussing, refining and tweaking until everyone is happy with the final result.
Visualising The Brand Strategy
We now had all we needed to create an authentic visual language for Osprey. Going back through our brand materials, workshops and strategy workspace, we identified key words and feelings that represented strong visual interpretations, such as boldness, friendliness, speed or warmth.
We moodboarded some ideas before translating these words into three different Stylescapes – an exercise in which create a visual that sits somewhere between a moodboard and a design concept, but which gives the general look and feel of a brand’s eventual overall visual identity.
We discussed these, comparing them for pros and cons and were able, from there, to follow and refine the preferred route until we arrived at a visual interpretation of the brand to support the new strategy.
Warm, Bright And Friendly
With our attention now turned to the visual identity, our task was to creatively translate the nature of the Osprey we’d just revealed.
So we researched modern, successful consumer brands, competitor companies and some of the more recent trends in brand creation, before stripping back, reducing visual clutter, softening corners, adding some bright new colours, bold typefaces and warmer imagery that serves a purpose.
Out Into The Open
We explored, tested and discussed colour, introducing a fresh secondary palette as well as adding a bold ‘action’ colour, specifically with digital use in mind. This allowed Osprey’s heritage brand colours to sit at the top of the hierarchy, only to be used for primary purposes and not to be diluted with their use in links or buttons.
We chose a modern, rounded typeface which gives a feeling of warmth and accessibility, and is perfect for creating striking, modern typographic compositions and headlines.
We looked carefully at imagery and image themes, considering the end experience that the Osprey service provides to its customers. We also worked together to develop a graphical ‘brand identifier’ to support brand recognition and provide designers with tools to create eye-catching communications materials.
Roots And Wings
Our brief was to stay faithful to the roots of Osprey, keeping the elements of the brand which worked and had come to identify them to their audiences. But it needed a boost and a lift, so we gave it the means to fly.
As well as applying the new brand to all the real world uses it would eventually be required to be put to work on, we also delivered a custom-built online Brand Portal directly to Osprey, giving them permanent access to a single source of truth to who they are, their new Brand Guidelines, a guide to their Visual identity – in short every element which makes up their newly uncovered brand story.
Flying The Coop
The road ahead for Osprey is varied and exciting. We are straight into the development of a new website and the application of the new visual language to the Osprey Charging drivers App.
Work has begun on Osprey’s new digital presence and a complete overhaul of the current website continues. It’s not our place to reveal dates or timelines, but before long, the Osprey will land online.
