Proud to Present: a bold new name, brand identity and website for Ascend

Bill Lawry is incredible. He possesses that rare blend of empathy and intuition combined with laser sharp commercial focus and the ability to spot precisely what's needed to help his clients to achieve more. Something I really enjoyed when working with Bill is the way that he makes a real point of providing sincere feedback, and telling you exactly what he values and appreciates. It makes you realise just how much impact a positive mindset can have.

I'm not the only one who loves Bill's direct and honest approach. A leading expert in the field of performance and behavioural change, Bill has spent his entire career working with high flyers across the globe, working with people who are ambitious, driven and ready for what's next. He passionately believes that by working with the top people within a business, he can have the greatest impact on culture, performance and the overall success of the businesses he works with, and his rack record shows that he's not wrong.

Bill came to us with a 'nice to have' dilemma - his business was incredibly busy - too busy, almost - but wasn't creating the right perception. At the time, he was trading under the name Nurturing Winners, which we all agreed had run out of steam and badly needed to be refreshed. Clients were queuing up to work with him, but the perception was that Bill is the only person within his business, making it hard to fully utilise the brilliant team he has. The goal of our work together was to completely shake up the business, reframing the perception that others hold of what Nurturing Winners is all about, and welcoming in the next phase for this business. 

Colour Psychology Season Personality

Nurturing Winners is a winter brand through and through. Driven, ambitious and high achieving, Winter personalities are decisive, self assured and strong. They're successful people who set their sights high and have the tenacity to achieve whatever they set their minds to. They're grounded, focussed and realistic which gives them an undeniable strength, and their credibility is immediately evident from the way that they conduct themselves. 

Naming

We started by coming up with a new business name. Having already established that the business was firmly within the Winter season personality, we knew that the name needed to be clear, confidant, unfussy and put the business in a class of its own. We knew we wanted to capture the sense of movement, of being more than you are now and inject a sense of positivity into the brand from the outset. And so when we landed on Ascend, we just knew that it was right!

The brand

With the new name in place, we could get started on the visuals. Strong, minimal design is consistent with the Winter personality; solid colour, unfussy typography and bold images make a statement and create a feeling of strength and certainty. Typography includes bold, san serifs for a contemporary feel contrasted with modern serifs for substance. Light, thin san serifs bring a sense of clarity.

We love the solid blocks of colour which really pack a punch. The colour palette is deliberately minimal, with the colours chosen not only for the way they play together but their individual characteristics too. Black is a colour that only Winter brands can pull off; safe, strong and powerful, it’s the ideal colour for businesses on a mission. Burgundy is visionary, purposeful, honest and authentic. Often associated with quality, it adds a warmth and depth to the brand. Aqua is inspirational, uplifting and energetic, with a clarity that provides a welcome pop to the palette. Silver has the glint and sparkle you’d associate with a premium brand – it’s reflective, illuminating and high end. 

Centring around an A monogram, the Ascend logo has plenty to keep the eye interested. We love monograms for the fact they create such a versatile brand element and certainly this one is distinctive enough to be used on its own. Imagine how stunning it would look either embossed or in silver foil on a business card! The monogram looks as if a small A has grown into a larger one, creating a sense of evolution and reaching a peak which is very symbolic of the work Ascend do. The lettering is set into a light san serif, in upper case for an authoritative and confident feel that doesn’t overpower the monogram. I'm so pleased with the strap line, ‘performance catalysts’. It really sums up the essence of what Bill and his team do.

You can see the website we created for Ascend right here. A big thank you to Bill and Christina for putting yourselves in our hands and trusting the process. You're ace.