A kingly redesign for production house

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A new corporate identity was needed to reflect the company's current and future focus. As Olivier Schildt, co-founder and creative director at Rex, explains, “It was felt that there was a disconnect between the look and feel of the old Velocity Afrika brand and the contemporary cutting-edge work that the company was producing.”

Rex's aim was to uncover a new brand, characterised by quiet confidence and subtle yet sophisticated styling. Schildt explains, “Above all, we needed to ensure that Velocity's work became the main representative element of the brand. This was their brief to us - to put the work front and centre.”

Inspired by brands in the fashion industry such as Fendi, Tom Ford and Gucci, Rex pared the Velocity Afrika logo down to a simple, clean, typographical word-mark. “The neutral and restrained styling ensures that the logo is not ‘fronting' anything or attempting to represent what Velocity does, thereby allowing the work to come to the fore,” explains Schildt.

Stills from Velocity commercials are used on business cards and DVD covers, and the website design centres on examples of work from each of the company's directors.

The ivory, black and silver palette, combined with subtle embossing on business cards and stationery, is intended to carry through the essence of understated - yet undeniable - excellence.

Says Schildt, “Velocity's work is iconic and we didn't want the brand identity to compete with or detract from this work. For the primary identity we therefore focused on crafting a contemporary classic look and for the larger brand identity we invented a ‘gallery space' to house the work along with a neutral colour palette of whites, off-whites, ivory, silver and rich black.

“We like to compare this to a fine art gallery. People flock to the Guggenheim Museum not because The Guggenheim's identity is attractive, but rather because they know what the Guggenheim brand offers - the greatest names in the world of art, presented in an immaculate way.

He concludes: “In bringing together these elements, Rex gave rise to a new face for Velocity that captures all the poise, assurance and leadership of this creative powerhouse.”

To view the new website, go to www.velocityfilms.com.