A smart new identity for Penstripe planner printers

Penstripe, which produces bespoke planners, appointed Taxi Studio in August last year, and was looking to reinvigorate the brand for a national and international audience.

Olly Guise, Taxi Studio design director, says, ‘Leeds Booklet Printing company sounded quite colloquial, so we needed a name to help them think a bit bigger. We needed to create a brand that reflected them and their DNA’.

He adds, ‘We wanted to create something that was ownable, but also to differentiate them from their competitors’.

The consultancy initially undertook customer research and workshops with Penstripe staff to decide on a new name, which was formed as a ‘playful twist on the classic British pinstripe suit’, according to Taxi Studio.

Guise says, ‘They’ve got a very meticulous approach to what they do, so we needed the branding to show their personality’.

The new typographic marque references the pinstripe pattern, which is carried through all branding elements with a series of line-drawings.

These look to reflect ‘the order and smartness of both the product range and the company culture’, says the consultancy.

Taxi Studio also created a new strapline, ‘Think Smart Achieve More’, and a series of five posters, each representing a ‘personality trait’ of the business, decided in Taxi Studio’s initial research.

The posters were initially used to communicate the branding ideas to staff, but will now be used across stationery, online and business communications.

Among the posters are a maze, representing ‘straightforward’; a rabbit in a hat representing ‘resourceful’ and brain-like tree denoting the brand’s ‘expertise’.

Taxi Studio creative director Ryan Wills says, ‘We strived to create a brand that wasn’t just professional but approachable and, most importantly, perfectly tailored to the client’s personality.’