Someone develops brand for solar energy company Homesun

Homesun, which is offering to install and maintain free solar panels in UK homes, launched at the end of last week with branding and digital design by Someone. Homesun claims to have received 27 000 requests for solar panels in its first few days of trading, more than twice what it expected in its first week.

’This has meant that we might be requesting Someone to produce some additional marketing collateral and help us to evolve our sales
literature to reflect this initial impact,’ says Homesun marketing director Sue Welland. Homesun appointed Someone in April on the strength of the consultancy’s previous work.

The company talked to four other unnamed design groups before selecting Someone. The solar energy company briefed Someone to create branding and marketing materials that would ’have broad appeal and attract as many people as possible’, says Someone founder Simon Manchipp.

’We are trying to make a complicated issue look really simple and approachable,’ Manchipp says. ’Most energy companies are faceless and corporate, so we decided to zig while they zag by giving a human touch to the company,’ he adds.

Someone appointed Kingston University graphics graduate Sarah Cupitt to create naive illustrations for the marketing materials and website. The group became aware of Cupitt’s work after she joined them as an intern.

’For a long time solar energy has been presented as very technical, but we are democratising this energy source and opening it up to a completely different audience, so the branding had to be about simplification,’ says Welland. ’The crucial, original branding element is the photographs with overlaid illustrations.’

A bespoke typeface was created by Someone designer Helen Altoungarian for the Homesun logo. Manchipp says the logo is not as important as the illustrations. ’This project follows our theory of the death of the logo.

The logo was designed to complement the illustrative approach, which is the key part of the branding’. Homesun is expecting competitors to enter the free renewables market around Christmas time.