Creating powerful communications
Ardent are market leaders in the provision of land and consents advice to support the promotion and delivery of major projects in the UK and Ireland. With a network of six offices, they are trusted by many of the leading developers and contractors to advise on many of the UK’s biggest and most important projects across their core sectors of Regeneration, Renewable Energy, Utilities and Transport. Ardent are a purpose-led business and a team that is passionate about delivering life-improving change for communities and future generations.
When Ardent contacted us their previous brand had remained unchanged for 15+ years, and, although it had served them well, their business was unrecognisable in 2023 to what it was in the mid noughties.... The world has changed, and Ardent has changed too. They have grown from a small firm of specialist Chartered Surveyors and land referencers, to a consultancy of almost 150 people, incorporating some of the country’s leading land and property experts, consent managers and stakeholder engagement experts.
Under the leadership of the returning Jonathan Stott, there was no better time to develop the Ardent brand and prepare for the next phase of growth.
Developing the new Ardent brand was an inclusive journey that involved a large number of the Ardent team. The first phase was to run an interactive discovery session which involved people from across the Ardent business. Here we delved into who Ardent is, what they stand for, their values, tone of voice, core audience profiles, key messages and core proposition. This was supported by a company wide questionnaire which allowed the whole business to provide key insight into how the Ardent brand needed to evolve and coupled with the insights taken from the discovery session allowed us to create the new Ardent brand proposition and strategy.
The company's reputation is built on the trust of its existing clients which has been formed through the quality of the service Ardent provides. However, their old brand failed to connect with potential new clients and was widely regarded as dated and ineffective in communicating what Ardent did. Ardent needed a new strong and confident visual that would support its clearly defined brand message.
To build upon their existing reputation, we retained the colour blue which was widely associated with Ardent, but refined it and made it part of an extended colour palette that now includes multiple shades of blue and the introduction of green for a bold and vibrant feel.
Focusing on Ardent’s unique proposition of being the only company that can take you from concept to completion, we used the line detail within the old Ardent logo to create a new visual journey.
Not a linear straight line from A to B, but the twisting and turning journey that represents the way Ardent takes the time to understand each client's individual needs and create custom solutions through knowledge, experience, and innovation.
This bold and confident styling is replicated in the logo which is a strong typographic mark with a custom 'A'. This bespoke letter, with its curved crossbar, works as part of the name or as a stand alone icon that can be used with the journey graphic growing from the crossbar to create striking brand visuals.
The typeface was carefully selected for its varying stroke widths to complement the movement of the journey graphic. This character and variety of font weights help to strengthen the impact of the brand.
Elevate your brand and grow your bottom line
Let’s create your growth
.jpg)
