Portfolio Category: Branding

Ensō Screen is an Australian production company, developing limited series and feature film projects.

The first step was conceiving and creating new identity, based on the Japanese Zen Buddhist ensō symbol, which represents a pursuit for perfection and an appreciation of the imperfection of nature.

Creating a new identity for a startup (or reinventing or refining the identity of an established enterprise), is a process we call ‘The birth of a brand’. Any brand identity is comprised of: a brand name (and domain name), logo, font, colour palette, ‘tone of voice’ and visual assets.

Simplicity in design is the goal. Good design is not about elaboration, but simplification .. until only the purest essence remains .. to convey the message most potently. However, achieving simplicity sometimes requires considerable thought and time.

A font was selected for its legibility and character.

Ensō Screen

Every year, thousands of Australian men are diagnosed with prostate cancer. The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) generates attention and funds for medical research and specialist prostate cancer nursing personnel.

PCFA is beneficiary of an annual fundraising event. For the 2022 Outback 4WD Adventure, logistics provider, Optim donated principal financial sponsorship for a vehicle. Brand Advocate contributed co-sponsorship for the car in this rally through the Australian Red Centre.

Starting in Bourke, the route traversed north-western NSW, into Queensland and South Australia in a Bourke to Barossa ‘bash’ via the Strzelecki Track, Simpson Desert, and down the iconic Birdsville Track. Heavy rain in previous weeks prevented a visit to Poeppels Corner (the junction of Queensland, Northern Territory and South Australian state borders).

Many memorable places were visited, including the ‘Dig Tree’ (sign to buried supplies for the 1861 Burke and Wills expedition), Innaminka (on Cooper Creek), ‘Big Red’ (a sand dune of 200 kilometres in length in the Simpson Desert), and Ikara (Wilpena Pound) in the northern Flinders Ranges. En route to the start line, the sponsored vehicle even visited the extraordinary Cobar Sound Chapel, a concrete audio installation designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect Glenn Murcutt, inside a rusty, former water storage tank.

The Dodge RAM 2500 Laramie crew cab vehicle, featured the Optim icon prominently on its bonnet, the logo on side doors and rear canopy, and the brandline “Moving Heaven and Earth” above the retractable running boards on each side. The Brand Advocate logo appeared on the sides and rear of the canopy.

The 39 vehicles encountered 130 kilometres of deep mud on the first day. With 23 bogged vehicle retrievals, a load of sticky clay was transferred onto undercarriages, shovels and boots! Once we escaped Birdsville across the swollen Diamantina River, the remainder of the trip was dry but remarkably green and lush, rather than the dusty red land anticipated by even those who had visited many times before.

When Optim required a rebrand in 2018, Digital Tsunami had delivered a contemporary brand identity; brandline; colour palette; fonts; new domain name; electronic document templates; business cards and a brand style guide, business cards, office signage, branded notepads, and a web presence and design of a ‘wrap’ for an Optim truck.

Brand Advocate is the provider of ‘in-house Creative Counsel’ to promote brands which do not have a Marketing Director or Creative Director on staff.

The rally raised $200,000 for prostate cancer research.

optim.global
brandadvocate.tv

Katoomba Christian Convention (KCC) is an Australian not-for-profit interdenominational Bible-preaching convention ministry, founded in 1903.

At its Blue Mountains property, KCC runs multiple conventions each year for Australian and international attendees, including the Basecamp, ​Easter, KYCK, NextGen, OneLove, Onward and Oxygen events.

In preparation for the launch of a smartphone app and multiple convention websites, KCC needed a brand name and identity to provide coherence for each new digital presence. Digital Tsunami was entrusted with shepherding this new identity development, in close collaboration with the KCC team.

Considerable research was conducted into other Christian organisations and Christian convention centres in Australia, the UK and the USA. Particularly powerful brand names, icons and logos were compiled for the dual purposes of inspiration and avoidance of conflict with any proposed identities.

The KCC brandline of “All One in Christ Jesus” prompted the concept of a unifying “one” as the sub-brand. In consultation with the KCC team, this was further consolidated by combining it with the established brand to become “KCC One”.

Further reinforcement was achieved with a consistent corporate colour and the brandline “a digital initiative of KCC”.

Marketplace research was revisited in the context of this new name, to ensure there was no conflict or perceived derivation in the identity design, and to ensure ‘cut-through’ in a congested environment.

Creating a new identity for a startup (or reinventing or refining the identity of an established enterprise), is a process we call ‘The birth of a brand’.

Any brand identity is comprised of: a brand name (and domain name), logo, brandline, font, colour palette, ‘tone of voice’ and visual assets.

In addition to the concentrated efforts of two Digital Tsunami designers, we maximised creative input by inserting a detailed brief into a crowd-sourcing platform. Two hundred logo submissions were received and shortlisted designers were engaged and guided to refine their designs.

Simplicity in design is the goal. Good design is not about elaboration, but simplification .. until only the purest essence remains .. to convey the message most potently.

However, achieving simplicity requires considerable time and consultation with a diversity of stakeholders! After hundreds of hours of collective application to the task, a new identity was adopted by KCC.

KCC

Black n Wright is a nascent Australian film and television production company.

Founded by lawyer Glenn Wright, the company needed a brand name and identity which would reflect both the past century of filmmaking and the contemporary world.

The founder’s interest in movies and his name suggested a play on early ‘black and white’ cinema. In order to personalise and make it memorable, current .. and able to be trademarked, “Black n Wright” was proposed.

Adopting the top level domain ‘.film‘, allowed us to reinforce the focus of the company.

When creating a new identity for a startup (or reinventing or refining the identity of an established enterprise), it is a process we like to call: ‘The birth of a brand’.

Any brand identity is comprised of: a brand name (and domain name), logo, brandline, font, colour palette, ‘tone of voice’ and visual assets.

To maximise creative input, a detailed brief was inserted into a crowd-sourcing platform. Scores of submissions were received, with a plethora of conventional imagery of cameras, celluloid and sprocket holes. Eventually, the undiluted strength of a simple wordmark and colour scheme became apparent.

Design is primarily not about what is added, but what is deleted .. until the purest essence remains.

This bold identity has been fundamental to the website and business card.

blacknwright.film

Optim is a dynamic Australian logistics solutions provider, with exceptionally personalised service, an agile approach and decades of expertise. Specialising in challenging and critically time-sensitive projects, Optim has built a reputation for delivering the seemingly impossible.

Founded in 1992, Optim was in need of an identity refresh, to reflect a 21st century brand.

Digital Tsunami was commissioned to manage the transition. Creative Director Andrew W Morse commenced the creative process with consideration of the components which contribute to the identity: the name, the nature of the business and the brand philosophy. The unique company name was to be retained.

An icon, logotype and brandline were presented.

For the icon, the focal point was the capital ‘O’ of Optim. The impact, strength and completeness of a circle became the inspiration for a series of icon concepts and a nexus for both the global scope of the solutions delivered and the wholistic and agile approach to problem solving.

The circle reflects both the globe (around which Optim ships freight) and the shape of wheels on the many vehicles which are a part of any shipment’s journey.

Three visual concepts were developed in a series of iterations for the client’s consideration. Then, in close collaboration, an icon based on the Zen symbol Ensō was selected and refined. This freely drawn circular brushstroke represents a strength and a wholistic philosophy of life, yet it’s open shape reflects agility and the search for perfection.

For the brand name, a robust type face with character was found and then individualised by the addition of two straight lines, representing the wheel tracks of an aircraft, container Porttainer and Transtainer, truck or train.

The brandline, which encapsulates the scope of operations, the scale of oversize shipments and the effort which Optim devotes to delivering a superlative service, is: “Moving Heaven and Earth”.

As the range of top level domain names expands beyond dot com, the opportunity arose to select an appropriate domain name: Optim dot global!

In collaboration with Sean and Dee at Design Davey, Digital Tsunami delivered: a contemporary brand identity; brandline; colour palette; fonts; new domain name; electronic document templates; business cards and a brand style guide.

This identity has now been implemented across multiple visual assets: business cards, office signage, branded notepads, and a web presence. Future applications extend to a fully ‘wrapped’ prime mover.

optim.global

Paths to Positiviti is a Sydney based practice offering Clinical Hypnotherapy, Strategic Psychotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

This enterprise needed a brand name and identity which represented the selection of appropriate pathways to improved behaviour and health.

After lengthy conversations, the founder’s philosophy of personal choices and multiple modalities, leading to renewal, became the core components, and “Paths to Positiviti” was born.

When creating a new identity for a startup or an established enterprise, it is always exciting to contribute to ‘The birth of a brand’.

Any brand identity is comprised of: a brand name (and domain name), logo, brandline, font, colour palette, ‘tone of voice’ and visual assets.

In close collaboration with the client, Digital Tsunami developed the brand name, including the distinctive, contemporary and ‘trademarkable’ spelling!

To maximise creative input and options, a crowd-sourcing platform was given a detailed brief (based on growth and a plus symbol). Designers of a plethora of submissions were encouraged and concepts curated until the client was satisfied with the icon, font and colour scheme.

Visual assets for Paths to Positiviti were initiated with commissioned photography of Australian native trees, supplemented with stock images of forest pathways.

The concept of renewal was articulated in a key photograph of peeling patchy eucalyptus bark revealing a clean, pristine tree trunk, an apt metaphor for ‘a blank slate’ or ‘turning a page’. This image became the main image for the website and was also featured on a business card and brochure.

pathstopositiviti.com

Craig International Ballistics is a leading supplier of body armour to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and Police Forces.

With an innovative approach to engineering, ISO:9001:2008 certification and a commitment to research and development, the company has earned a reputation for reliability, quality and performance in the supply of aircraft and marine armour panels, armoured vehicles, structural armour, covert and tactical body armour.

Craig International Ballistics is the leading Australian manufacturer of combat-proven body armour systems. After developing body armour for the ADF in East Timor, the DMO began purchasing body armour for troops in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Craig International has now supplied over 100,000 Soft Armour Inserts (SAI) and hard ballistic plates to both Defence and Local Police Forces and is the largest supplier of police body armour in Australia.

The company also specialises in manufacturing armoured Cash in Transit Vehicles and is a distributor of ballistic resistant glass for vehicles including the Bushmaster.

In the first step to delivering a new web presence for Craig International Ballistics, Digital Tsunami has developed a new bold identity.

Within the global environment of crowd-sourcing, Digital Tsunami managed the briefing and selection of logos from scores of graphic designers worldwide. The client’s selection was a bold, contemporary and meaningful icon and robust font, which reflects the stature of the company.

ballistics.com.au

Compass Capital sources investment properties and provides detailed research reports, enabling accountants, financial planners and other advisors to deliver real value to their clients.

The company founders have decades of experience in research & economics; finance & funding; financial planning & wealth creation; and the Australian property market.

Digital Tsunami was commissioned to design and develop a new web presence for Compass Capital, and as part of this visual refresh, proposed a new refined identity.

The core essence of the existing identity (the four compass points and circular motif) were retained, but simplified to reflect a professional and contemporary logo. A clean font was selected and new brandline (“Property Investment Consultants”) devised, to supplement the logo and create a fresh bold brand.

The new identity will soon be deployed in the new web presence.

Oyster Shell Systems manufactures permanent housing which can be shipped and constructed rapidly anywhere in the world.

Consisting of pre-fabricated concrete walls and steel roof trusses, the homes are compliant with the:

• Building Code of Australia (BCA)
• California Seismic Code
• Florida Hurricane Code
• Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS)

Digital Tsunami was commissioned to deliver a new web presence for Oyster Shell Systems to co-incide with their second phase of construction on a residential housing project in the Caribbean.

The existing identity was refined to reflect a more contemporary feel and integrate the new brandline: “All Steel. All Weather. All Standards.”

The components of the oyster shell and pearl reflect the protection of a valuable asset (the homeowners and residents), and the integrated single line brand name in a bold font reinforcing the product’s robust strength.

The First Thursday Curry Club (FTCC) is a rapidly expanding, international series of regular invitation-only events.  In multiple cities, monthly gatherings at bars are followed by casual prix fixe dining at an Indian, Nepalese, Pakistani or Sri Lankan curry restaurant. The executive, entrepreneur and expatriate attendees, experience a great camaraderie.

The initiative of a dynamic New Zealand businessman, the FTCC is preparing to expand the concept globally.

Digital Tsunami was commissioned to produce a powerful, unique and evocative identity. A logo was developed by a European designer, who is a former McCann Erickson Creative Director. His rationale:

“The mark of the First Thursday Curry Club is an elephant holding a curry leaf, portraying the social aspect of the curry club. Elephants are very social creatures as they travel in herds. The fact that the elephant is elevated, shows the status that curry club members hold in society, while the building represents both the origins of the curry and also a meeting place“.