Emotive Wants Its New Visual Identity To Push Both Ambition and Emotion

Emotive has launched a refreshed visual identity to mark a decade since its inception, with the goal of making people feel something.

Founder Simon Joyce told LBB the need for change came as the team had “well and truly outgrown our former brand identity.”

“If you think back to when it was created, that was 2017 and the business was in very different shape to what it is now, it's evolved a lot. We've got a very single minded purpose: ideas to change how people feel. We felt that our identity, including design, had to be the truest reflection of that, and we didn't think it was in its current shape.”

As well as the need for a refresh, Simon said reflecting the ambition of the agency was “equally important.”

“We ask our clients to really push the boundaries with the work we put forward, with the ideas to deliver on that purpose. So we said, hey, just like we're pushing the standards of those guys, we need to do the same thing with our own brand.”

There were a number of inspirations to draw from for the new visual identity. Coogee Beach is on the office doorstep, and a place that Simon said means “creatively, there are less rules around here.”

Daniel Mortensen, head of design, said while the “freedom from the beach” was an easy place to start, the most important aim was to make people feel something. 

“It's so easy to make good work where your brand purpose is to change the way people feel,” Daniel said. “In every touch point, I made sure that it had that feeling coming through. That was the most important thing for me.”

To test which designs resonated most, all the designs were put up on the on office wall, with the whole Emotive team brought in and asked which one made them feel.

For Darren Wright, group creative director, said “It was really interesting to see who responded to what, and what was working and what wasn't.”

“You can make people laugh, you can make people cry, you can tickle people. We really love the plasticine or the things blowing up, but even at times when we've got to be really serious, there are moments in the whole brand design that can turn to that. So it's really malleable, because when you're talking about feelings and emotions, it's such a wide spectrum and the parameters are huge.”

​Feeling is never just visual, and the team used Electric Sheep Music to do the sound design for the animations.

“It was amazing, because putting that extra level of creativity and emotion into it, it's another feeling. Adding that layer of complexity to everything, just really made it – it just lifts everything,” said Daniel. 

As part of the refreshed visual identity, the team now also has a custom typeface called Emotive Sands Semibold. 

When asked what, exactly, goes into creating a typeface, Daniel said “a lot of time work.”

“You need a base font, so I reached out to one of the best font foundries, I think, in the zone, Pangram Pangram. I said ‘I’d like a base font of yours to use and manipulate to anything I want’ – and it's a huge statement, I thought they were just going to say no, but they said ‘great, see what you can do with that’. So then I completely changed it and made it my own. 

“You have to do not just every letter, you have to do every glyph -- the hyphens, the full stops, you have to think about every letter from the whole alphabet, plus more. So that was a lot. And then you have to think about the kerning and leading, and how each letter works with each other. It was quite hard, but it's amazing. Building type is really, really fun, and it builds another stage in our in our brand identity.”

Ultimately, the message Darren hopes people get from the new visuals is that “Emotive is emotive, and we are in the business of changing the way that people feel.”

“When you've got a really strong purpose, it bleeds through everything. And then, of course, you want to be a bit cool. It's got to be fun, it's got to be functional of course, but it's got to be fun and bright. You want people to play with it,” he added. 

There is a lot of momentum behind the agency. The visual refresh follows the creation of a specialist AI unit, as well as the hiring of Jessica Cluff, head of earned, Michelle Lomas, head of partnerships, and Sarah Scott Paul, director of people and culture -- with Sarah’s hire marking the beginning of the formation of an advisory team.

Simon also mentioned “a new measurement system coming” and that the team “will be announcing someone on the creative side that will work with Darren and the team to elevate things.”

“This is not just a brand identity, it’s part of a reflection of the purpose,” said Simon. “It's a bigger statement, saying we're 10 years young, we've had a lot of success, and we're turning everything up louder. We're 10, and we're cranking everything up to 11. The brand identity gives you a lovely wrapping on that.”

“We’ve got 20 brands, we've got a really long average client tenure of 4.7 years. Our attitude of ‘never stop starting’ and ‘do not stand still for a second,’ now, more than ever, I'd argue that's important.”