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Draig Insurance Brokers is a family business that was established in 1976. The owners are proud of this long history as a company that was built on a foundation of personnel service.
They wanted their existing brand symbol, a dragon, updated and specified that the new brandmark reflect the company’s heritage and their passion for service.
Brand Symbol
The Draig brand symbol originates from the present Welsh flag that consists of a red dragon passant on a background of white and green horizontal stripes.
A dragon is a fabulous winged crocodile, usually very big, with a serpent's tail. Research established that the Greek word drakon comes from a verb meaning ''to see", to "look at" and more remotely, ''to watch'' and ''to flash''.
In classical legend the idea of watching is part of the story of the dragon who guards the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides and in the story of Cadmus. In medieval romance, captive ladies were often guarded by dragons.
Among the ancient Britons and the Welsh, the dragon was the national symbol on the war standard, hence the term Pendragon for the dux bellorum, or leader in war.
The red dragon was also the badge of the Parthians. It was introduced in Britain by the Romans and in the seventh century it became the standard of King Cadwaladr and later was one of the supporters of the Tudor arms.
Pendragon was a title conferred on several British chiefs in times of great danger when they were invested with supreme power, especially to Uther Pendragon, father of King Arthur.
The dragon as a brand symbol for an insurance broker is ideal as it is associated with guarding especially in times of danger or peril.
The existing artwork of the dragon was of poor quality as a result of numerous duplications and corruptions over a number of years. To correct this, the dragon was redrawn and in the process another wing was added and the perspective of the ears corrected.
Typography
Arrow, a serif font, was chosen as the primary font that will be used for the brandname, headlines and where emphasis is needed such as names on business cards.
Optima, a classic sans serif font family with certain serif face features that compliments Arrow, was chosen as the secondary font. The stems and crossbars are mildly tapered and cupped at the ends to facilitate the reading process. It can be used in lengthy texts without affecting readability.
Using the primary font, DRAIG was set with generous optical kearning. The individual spaces between letters are adjusted to visually appear the same and to increase legibility at a reduced size.
Next, the DRAIG text was redrawn as a bold face to help with legibility at a reduced size. The type was also converted to an outline and the crossbar of the A removed to further customise the type.
Slogan and Descriptor
You need to distil your war cry into one sentence (preferably in no more than the ideal maximum of seven words) what your brand is about and why your product or service offering is unique and better than that of your competitors.
Draig’s passion for service in the insurance arena is therefore well expressed in the slogan “Passionate about your perils” that also relates to the brand symbol – the dragon guarding in times of danger or peril.
The brand descriptor "Insurance brokers since 1976” is not just a concise summary of the company’s services but also reflects the company’s proud history and further reinforces the brand’s positive values.
When viewed with the complete brandmark a prospective client will know exactly what the company provides and that those services are backed by a reputation of many decades.
Ideal Visual Format
The Greeks said that all beauty is mathematics and there is a number that can describe visual beauty: phi that is also expressed as the proportion 1:1,618.
Humankind uses this same proportion to achieve balance, harmony and beauty in creations of art, architecture, colours, design, composition, space and even music.
The dragon was positioned behind “DRAIG” touching the letter G. In this arrangement the dragon faces the type and appears to literally look after and guard the brandname.
The descriptor placed below the brandname and symbol provides a base for these elements.
For a more dramatic effect, a rectangular background was added and some elements reversed in white and black.
To emphasize the slogan it was reversed in white and placed in a black rectangle that overlaps the rectangular background.
This black rectangle element was then adjusted and styled into the shape of a banner or standard to appear more animated. Speech marks were added to the slogan to give it a more personal touch.
Colour
The correct strategy is to choose a colour aligned with your brand and not used by your competition. This will also help make your brandmark unique and distinctive in its category.
The Pendragon appears on the Welsh flag in red and was the natural choice as the brand colour. Red is considered to be warm, signals danger, blood, action, excitement, energy, war, aggression and arousal. It also appears closer than it really is.
A red with some blue added was selected as the brand colour. This choice of red hue is more appropriate to the traditionally conservative financial services brand category.
It was also decided to print all corporate stationary on a pale yellow stock to add warmth. To reflect this in the brandmark a pale yellow tint was added as part of the Draig colour palette.
The brandmark was converted from monochrome to colour using the Draig red against a pale yellow background.
Finally the corporate stationery was designed with the new Draig brandmark and brand identity and rolled out on printed stationary and as electronic templates.
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