We bring brand environments to life.

From complete multi-floor offices to dynamic spaces and transition areas, we have helped to bring brand powerfully to life in all kinds of environments, using everything from elegantly simple graphics to a huge hand-crafted “wonder walls”. For example…

Branding by Neon - UK Sport - Performance Pathway Team graphic athlete silhouettes designed by Dana Robertson

UK Sport Performance Pathway Team
Giving Team GB an edge

By Dana Robertson Creative Director and Founder of Neon. Nabarro 125 London Wall interiors branding black and white styling stair detail. A chance to create a total branded environment. We’ve worked with international commercial law firm Nabarro LLP for nearly 10 years. Over that period, we’ve helped them develop a distinctive positioning (reflected in their strapline Clarity Matters), and a a powerful monochrome-based visual identity. So when they told us they were moving their London headquarters to a prestigious new address in the heart of the City, we saw a fantastic opportunity to create a total branded environment; a new home that would bring the firm’s values and personality to life, at every level. Making full use of a flexible brand system. Working closely with interior design specialists TP bennett, we worked with them to create a scheme for the entire building. An early concern was that our black-and-white brand identity could look a bit stark, on such a big scale. But the brand system developed by Neon proved up to the challenge, enabling us to introduce a number of other elements to soften and “humanise” the look and feel of the new building. For example, we saw the impressive double height walls as the perfect place for dazzling flocks of birds, in Nabarro’s origami visual style. And the lift lobbies – where employees and visitors would have a little time to linger and enjoy the view – presented us with an even more enticing creative opportunity. For one, we created a gallery of great buildings of the world, also in origami. For another, we laid every image from our extensive brand library on a powerful black background. For yet another, we challenged lift-users with our campaign of brain-teasing typographic conundrums. While, on the fourteenth floor, we conducted a fascinating in-depth investigation into the number 14… Brand achitecture, in a literal sense. Architecturally, without a doubt the most impressive feature of Nabarro’s new home was the stunning – and strongly branded – steel and marble spiral staircase, to accommodate which it was necessary to remodel the building, drilling through 15 floors. Worth it, though, we think you’ll agree? One other rather lovely feature deserving a mention; the 25 foot wall in the canteen and break-out area. Our idea: to use it, in keeping with the black and white theme, with a giant blackboard highlighting to Nabarros staff the facts and figures of the work require to create their amazing new office spaces – and a competition inviting the firm’s people to submit ideas for us to bring to visually to life in chalk. We’re pleased to say that Nabarro love their new home. And their clients have also responded very positively indeed. Since we started working with the firm, their commitment to establishing a clearly defined positioning and identity has given them a clear edge over their competitors. Now they’ve raised the bar again; this time, not by building a brand, but by branding a building. Idea, art direction and design by Neon Design & Branding Consultancy www.neon-creative.com

Nabarro LLP
125 London Wall

Branding by Neon- Nabarro Law Firm - Law sector branding - 125 London Wall - Welcome Wall designed by Dana Robertson

Nabarro LLP
'Wonder-wall'

By Dana Robertson Creative Director and Founder of Neon. Nabarro brand visual style refresh paper models dragon. They say the solution to any creative brief is right there on the page in front of you. On this occasion, that was literally true. Long time client Nabarro LLP needed a powerful new lead image style for use across all their communications, to help make their brand even more distinctive within the legal sector. We thought long and hard about what the brand stands for - simplicity, clarity of thought, elegant economy of expression; and then we thought about the firm’s goal of always being able, when advising their clients, to sum up the essence of the issue - or the solution - on a single page. And suddenly, that notion of the single page became our inspiration. How could we use it, we wondered, to create a simple, infinitely flexible and unique visual theme that would work within the brand’s black and white style? And as soon as we started folding that piece of paper we knew we were on the right page… Iconic paper models became the cornerstone of the Nabarro brand visual style refresh. And we didn’t just create a few of them, we came up with a veritable plethora - an entire (and on-going) image library of simple, clear and engaging visual metaphors representing different aspects of the firm’s services, expertise and sector focus which would be equally as memorable on-line as they were in print. Of course, that wasn’t the end of the story. To create a whole new visual style for the firm, we also developed a number of other elements, including stylish cut-out imagery, infographics and refreshed typography - and put it all together in a user-friendly new set of guidelines. It was also rolled out through the a printed literature scheme and digital materials including the forms .com website.– Idea, art direction and design by Neon Design & Branding Consultancy www.neon-creative.com

Nabarro LLP
Brand visual style refresh

By Dana Robertson Creative Director and Founder of Neon. The Goldsmiths' Centre Creativity Craftsmanship Community workshop reportage 'bench from above'. The Goldsmiths' Centre, Creativity, Craftsmanship, Community. Three words encapsulate the values of The Goldsmiths’ Centre. Creativity encompasses Centre’s commitment to encouraging and inspiring creativity in the design and making of beautiful objects. Craftsmanship refers to the Centre’s important role as a repository of knowledge, building on centuries of experience. Community expresses an important aspiration of the Centre; to create a centre of excellence, a hub where like-minded people and businesses come together to share ideas, collaborate and build relationships, and to become a place of inspiration. These values are married with a brand identity which reflects the Centre’s heritage, with the use of a monochromatic coat of arms of The Goldsmiths’ Company. A strong yellow - the common heraldic substitution for gold – helps create a vibrant, contemporary look and feel, positioning the Centre as a new future-facing organisation, distinctly separate from the more traditional Goldsmiths’ Company. The yellow appears as a crafted information plate on all materials – helping to clearly state the purpose of each piece of comms with the main headline elegantly stencilled into the plate. The new identity was rolled out across all manner of media, including literature, signage and website. – Idea, art direction and design by Neon Design & Branding Consultancy www.neon-creative.com

The Goldsmiths' Centre
Brand positioning & identity

By Dana Robertson Creative Director and Founder of Neon. Nabarro Clarity Matters Typographic Conundrums – Blind Eye – Broken Contract poster/advert. Communicating clarity by… er, confusing people. Well, not exactly confusing them – let’s say, giving them something to enjoy puzzling over. That was the idea behind this little series of typographical conundrums we produced for long time client Nabarro LLP, all intended to bring to life the firm’s well established brand promise, Clarity matters. The concept was originally devised to appear on display screens in the firm’s new offices. But it quickly became clear that fine legal minds were enjoying the challenge of decoding our hidden messages. At which point, the argument for running the Nabarro Clarity Matters Typographic Conundrums as an ad campaign in the trade press became - well, an open and shut case. Idea, art direction and design by Neon Design & Branding Consultancy www.neon-creative.com

Nabarro LLP
'Clarity Matters' typographic conundrums

By Dana Robertson Creative Director and Founder of Neon. The Goldsmiths' Company New Designers exhibition stand. Helping young talent get noticed. For up-and-coming jewellers, The Goldsmiths’ Company’s annual New Designers exhibition is a fantastic opportunity to showcase their talents. With a very tight turn-around time, we were asked to create a simple yet elegant “welcome” stand to introduce the new designers, and direct visitors to each individual jeweller’s exhibit. We were rather pleased with the outcome, particularly the dot-screen frames, which looked convincingly three-dimensional, while also giving visual coherence to a disparate collection of supplied images. Idea, art direction and design by Neon Design & Branding Consultancy www.neon-creative.com

The Goldsmiths' Company
New Designers exhibition stand