Establishing a strong visual identity and striking brand touchpoints for a full-service North Shore law firm.
Davenports Harbour Lawyers is a long-established and dynamic legal practice based on Auckland’s North Shore.
While the practice has grown significantly in recent years the directors felt that there was a disconnect with their current brand positioning and were not maximising opportunities in an evolving marketplace. We were tasked with researching their current brand and creating a strategic plan to better connect with their audience.
Our first step was to perform an extensive brand audit where we ran a series of workshops with key stakeholders to discover more about their business and their unique offering and ethos. These workshops were essential to establish the foundations of a new direction that resonated fully with their prospective client personas. From our research, it was clear that a name change from ‘Davenports Harbour Lawyers’ to a more succinct ‘Davenports Law’, would be the first move towards a more refined and simplified identity.
With the Davenports audience clearly defined it became clear that their visual identity required a major overhaul. Their identity is now conveyed through a minimalist treatment across all design elements, while the use of a traditional serif typeface conveys experience and wisdom – which speaks to their clients desired outcome state which is defined as – peace of mind.
A contemporary design twist was achieved by actually employing a traditional technique, a monogram and splitting the logo in chosen applications. This adds a definitive aesthetic point of difference to their identity and is representative of Davenports dynamic and progressive attitude. A supporting palette of complementary tones and imagery were also developed to be reflective of the core brand ethos and to engage with the desired audience.
As well as the visual aspects of the brand we guided Davenports through a comprehensive brand evolution process to position the company as the truly unique organisation that it is — one that every team member is proud to be part of and where their clients’ key outcome state is satisfied which in Davenports case was Crafted Legal Advice For Peace Of Mind.
Every aspect of the brand evokes the harmonious feeling that grows out of the Davenports team’s shared passion for crafted legal advice combined with an easygoing, friendly approach. The new brand strategy defined their strategic differentiators, essence and brand architecture which was previously haphazard. The new name is easier to remember, the tone of voice and copywriting is warm, welcoming and customer-centric. The visual language is brought to life through a dynamic brand identity system that brings a whole new audience into Davenports world.
