case study, late 2022

Brand design and identity development

Brief

Helios is a new capital management firm located in Bethesda, Maryland, on the northwest border of Washington, D.C. Their business is venture capital real estate investment properties in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

The firm was looking for a brand identity and had no perceived creative ideas in mind except that they wanted to use the name of a Greek or Roman mythological God—but most were either trite or overused. Along with a new identity, they wanted a stationery package consisting of a letterhead and business card as well as a presentation, monthly summary, and a website.

Solution

I did my research and discovered that “Helios” was one of the least commonly used names in the financial industry so I proposed Helios with some logo options.

(Helios was the Greek Titan God of the Sun, a guardian of oaths, and the God of sight.)

With an approved logo, I was able to finalize the requested products. The work period for this entire project was from late April – June, 2022.

The design process

You have to start somewhere.

My design-thinking brain was focusing on images of the Sun. But, since the core definition of Helios also included sight, I felt obligated to present at least one design solution with that element as well.

I enjoy geometry and love using it in my logo designs. These are the starting points for the visual elements to be used on the brand identities I would present to the core stakeholders.

With every logo I create, I draw each from scratch based on what I see should be a starting point as a tenable design solution.

This allows me the freedom to explore a variety of design solutions rapidly and with a good sense of the design’s final outcome.

*From the initial concepts above, I chose the logos below for my presentation to the Helios team. Of course. not all made the cut to the logo development stage.*
*Of the dozens of possible logo design concepts I did, these are the six I was able to narrow down for concept presentation to the client.*

A second look at a previous design solution…

All along, I wanted the letter “O” to be the placeholder for the Sun. It was only when I was packaging the logos for presentation when it occurred to me that the Sun, or a portion of it (from another design) could be used to dot the letter “I” instead.

It worked!

This concept is the one that was chosen as the final design. However, I did modify it slightly, thinking it improved the final product.

The final logo design

I always present logo designs at a three inch width/height. This allows for the density for each design to be compared with the other designs at the same dimensions.

Plus, I always present logo designs at a one inch width. If a logo cannot be read at one inch, it fails.

And, I always present logo designs in black and white as well as reversed out of its own primary color—and reversed out of black. For the reversed out treatments, I included options that included color (not just white only) in case those could be used as options.

Color system

I used the colors within the Helios logo as the primary color palette, to be used only as accent colors or in diagrams in which Helios is highlighted as the champion among its competition or boost its high returns as a successor, as indicated below in the design system.

The secondary color palette is for emphasis on diagrams, typography or design accents. The tertiary color palette is only to be used as shading, or for images/duotones, et cetera.

Design system

The color palette allows for rich, colorful schematics and data visualization. These are used in presentations and the firm’s monthly summary reports or other marketing materials as needed.

Typography

The typefaces used in any design standard is the unsung hero of a brand design system. I wanted the Helios typography design to be free of Serif typefaces. To me, Serifs don’t look like an organic fit with such a clean logo design.

I chose Helvetica Neue Standard because you really can’t go wrong with any kind of Helvetica. Plus, the condensed typeface allows for more content on the marketing collateral.

Stationery package

Below are the stationery/letterhead and business card solutions. The idea was to use the yellow and orange bars as design elements and maximize the sunburst logo primary colors as design elements such that the brand identity remains cohesive across all of its marketing components.

Monthly reports

This is the nitty gritty on the firm. These summaries are almost always limited to two pages and the client can display any information they want. The investment strategy, terms, management and disclaimers all fit on the front and back of an 8.5”W x 11”H sheet of paper and rendered as a pdf for distribution.

Presentations

I create our presentations using Adobe InDesign and make pdf’s from them. Our presentations are storytelling and not the usual PowerPoint deck filled with bulleted statements and slugs. Those are atrocious.

The pdf’s are smaller, cleaner and they allow the reader to fully understand a firm’s business strategy, due diligence process, and financial statements when necessary. They are designed to be storytelling and make for a clean marketing piece to distribute to potential new clients.