Wright Brothers sells a wide range of both French and British oysters, as well as a selection of shellfish and wet fish from Cornish day boats. The company supplies many of London’s finest restaurants and hotels, delivering across the UK.
When Wright Brothers got in touch with us wanting a fresh new approach to the way they represented themselves, we thought it would be a great opportunity to employ existing visual branding cues that surround the tradition of fishmongers.
Due to the wet nature of the business, mosaics have always been a medium that Fishmongers have found useful — they can brand surfaces, depict the product, and be washed down at the end of each day.
So mosaics were a central part of the brand world we created for Wright Brothers.
There’s no logo that everything hangs off here.
We have simply written the brand name out, but it’s made from a mosaic.
It’s simply informational, it says their name — my main problem with “logos” is that they are spurious shapes and symbols that bear no relation to the brands promise, service or product. Here, the offer is hard-wired into the brand.
One of the real success stories is the packaging, where the brand name isn’t even shown. The mosaic does all the work. It’s intriguing, unusual and gets people talking — there’s simply a little card inside that gives contact details (and that carries the mosaic too — so it all joins up).
Great visual brand identities should differentiate, explain, intrigue and invite further investigation. I think the packaging is a great example of ticking all of these boxes.
There’s an educative element to oysters, they freak some people out as they don’t know enough about them, so we created some bespoke info panels that we use on items where a conversation can begin — aprons for example — then customers can strike up a conversation.
Branding is traditionally a broadcast model — build and wait.
At SomeOne we believe brand worlds are all about building a conducive atmosphere for a conversation. The typographic panel both distinctively brands and invites conversation with customers about the product (we’ve seen it happen first hand in the restaurant).
So while the mosaic is great for those experiencing the brand from a distance (like those receiving orders in the packaging, or those looking up at a banner hanging in Borough Market), the closer you get, the more conversational, the more intimate the branding becomes. Old brand thinking relies on a “one size fits all” approach. We think there are times when a brand needs to be more able to flex and become more attuned to it’s surroundings.
Of course there are times where we need to be a little more candid, so we simply say the brand name in a distinctive way, and liberally apply the brand property.
SomeOne elsewhere on Identity Designed: D.Thomas.
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Comments
I love the identity; great idea, great execution. But, unless it’s a southern hemisphere branch, shouldn’t the apron say “months that occur during cold weather”?
I love this – I am such a fan of illustration and this evokes the imagination. I agree that ‘Great visual brand identities should differentiate, explain, intrigue and invite further investigation.’ The mosaic reminds me of the great mosaics in the East which we had to research and study in art so many years ago, many of which have now been destroyed but had so many intricate designs. Your design looks wonderful.
PS What is ‘porter’? Is that a beverage or food? Sorry, I know some of our words in Oz are different also.
Wow! Love the box. Is it corrugated? I am currently working on a getting a corrugated box printed it will look stunning if I can find the right printer! Been on the phone all week.
I love this branding but attention to detail is, as always, vital. The apron is a fantastic idea but months with an R in them (in London) are cooler.
I agree with Rob W – the verbage on the apron referring to “warm weather” is confusing… it should be “cold weather” right?
Other than that the design clearly communicates the historical component of the brand, but through an interesting modern perspective
Great pieces of work, and I love the packaging as well. I was talking to a professor on symbolism a few days ago and we agreed that many logos have shape with no connection to the brand, but some do use symbolism that has meaning in association with the product or company so that could be an interesting area to look into.
And of course, I love the “st” ligature! Ooo… and I just noticed the “ct” ligature.
Fantastic branding this evokes exactly the heritage and message of the company and the packaging makes me want to order the product just for the design, I believe the term porter refers to dark stout type drinks such as Guinness etc.
I love the tiling look on this project, mixed with the serifed fonts. It makes me think of an old 1800’s market, which is accurate to the subject. The attention to detail in this project is great.