Freytag Anderson develops “human” brand for Culture Republic

Freytag Anderson has designed the brand identity for a Scottish arts and culture marketing company with aims of conveying a human, approachable message.

The Glasgow-based consultancy has helped to develop Culture Republic’s visual identity focused on a “hand-drawn” feel, says creative director Greig Anderson.

This builds on the company’s hand-drawn logo, which was designed as part of a separate project by Kerr Vernon Graphic Design (KVGD).

The new brand features a “suite of icon-based graphics” drawn in charcoal, which each act as visual representations for information, Greig Anderson says.

“We used to share an office with Culture Republic,” he says. “They’re a whiteboard company, always scribbling up lots of information.”

He adds: “The hand-drawn charcoal feels very loose. It’s nice to bring in broken elements – it’s not too polished or finished. The idea was to keep it really simple.”

The graphics include basic shapes such as arrows, circles, question marks and grids. “It’s about finding clarity in the conference space,” Anderson says. “We’ve created a bank of images they can use for certain topics.”

The new look also includes clear space, and the use of the two brand colours white and red, making the icons the centrepiece of the new design.

It also uses Proxima Nova font throughout, which Culture Republic had used in part before, but not consistently. Anderson says: “We hope the toolkit of assets will bring consistency to the brand, so that people come to recognise it.”

The new look has been rolled out across the company’s website, which was designed in collaboration with Bauholz, and a printed newspaper. “This is a commitment to the message and feels quite low-fi,” Anderson says. “It’s not a polished brochure.”

It has also been applied to brand guidelines, information graphics, templates, and other marketing material such as pop-up stands.