Focus on your business

We often have new clients come to We Are Ghost with a great business idea that they know will work, but they’re just not sure how to communicate that business to potential clients. Focus was one of those businesses that had a totally clear idea of their proposition, but needed help in processing how that proposition should be expressed visually and verbally throughout their communications.

In our first meeting with them, we needed to find out what sort of business they wanted to be and then find a visual language that worked for them. We also needed to give their new business a name; since at that point they didn’t have one.

The main objectives for Focus was to attract companies that ‘aren’t doing badly, in fact quite the opposite’. They wanted to attract businesses that have done so well and grown so fast, but now no longer think this organic approach works for them. They wanted to look at their business as a whole, reevaluate and make that business grow; but without the hang-overs of ‘old ways to do things’. This usually means things such as the founder/owner doing more than he needs to and key members of staff, who also grew with the business, not necessarily being used to their full potential.

This is where Focus comes in to play.

Many successful companies lack focus on where they’re going because the objective from the start were to push their business forward and take it to wherever it needed to go. Focus can give an insight into those businesses, with helpful advice and a focus on key directions to take that business to the next level.

With all this in our minds, Jonathan started to look at the design style for Focus.

Working closely with Ant, I felt the design approach needed to be modern, but still have a elements of a corporate style. I wanted to look at a more editorial approach to the design. I knew that black could be a key colour for an editorial feel. Then add a strong complimentary colour so I tried the yellow first and then started to look at alternative colours. For me though, the primary colour kept bringing it back to the yellow. I’m normally against yellow and black together, but for this project it seemed to work well give the Focus business model and the types of businesses they wanted to attract.

The company focuses on businesses to help them develop and grow, so I wanted to create a identity that could change with every step of that process.

So the main logo is the one with the ‘focus’ type and the ‘on’ in a triangle, which represents a directional arrow pointing forward. For me, it’s about people moving forward and more importantly moving companies forward. It has a strapline of ‘your business’, so the logo reads ‘Focus on your business’.

Once Focus is working for their new client, the logo adapts to the needs of the process they’re going through. At each stage of the Focus process, the logo changes to ‘Focus on Sales’, ‘Focus on Finance’, Focus on People’; it becomes a much more adaptable identity and amplifies the idea that now is the time to Focus on your business.

This is very early days for Focus, but we feel that with their new brand, passion to help and skills for their business – they’ll make it a great success.