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Brand, Karen’s Marketing Tips

What does the icon in the new PF brand actually mean?

Posted on March 3, 2017February 21, 2022 by Karen Reyburn

It’s amazing how much work goes into something very simple.

You may have noticed there’s a new PF logo on the horizon. I thought I’d share with you an insight into the back end of the branding process, and explain what the icon and the shapes and colours actually mean. Why did we go with this instead of all the other options that we could have chosen?

The answer is that we spent a lot of time reviewing and clarifying who we are as a business. This is ultimately where the brand comes from.

Here are some of the things we considered, and how they are reflected in the icon within our new brand:

  • Our pillars. We have four, and they are Creativity, Integrity, Generosity, and Rest.   If you look at the PF icon, you’ll see a square within the shape. That represents the four pillars, working together.

  • Our tone. We use a cheerful, positive, optimistic tone. We want to encourage accountants and help them see what’s possible.  (Plus, accountants do tend to lean towards the pessimistic or sceptical side, so we want to provide a fresh view.) This is the reason for the bright yellow in the logo. It’s cheerful, and positive, and bright, and fresh. It may put off those who feel it’s too bright – which is absolutely fine. If you’d rather something a bit more dull, we’re probably not for you.

  • We believe in innovation. Part of the rebrand involves helping people to understand that we’re first and foremost a creative agency. We’re not simply consultants, and we won’t keep harping on about old school marketing tactics for years and years simply because we always have done. We want you to stand out and look over the edge. This is what brought out the green-that’s-not-quite-a-green-or-a-blue colour. Our previous logo used two very typical, safe, conservative versions of blue. This one is a little edgy.

  • The global element. Because we’re a virtual company, our team members work from all over the world.  It allows us to hire the best, and they can stay with us no matter where they decide to live.  When you look at the outside of the PF icon, you’ll see 7 sides. As it happens there are only 7 continents in our world. So in a way, the PF icon reflects the whole world. (The team pointed out that breaking into the Antartica market might take a while, but we’re patient. One continent at a time.)

  • Client at the centre. You, the accountant or bookkeeper or accountancy firm, are the reason we’re here. There’s no point in having our agency or people or doing any work if you aren’t central to it.  This is the triangle at the heart of the icon. If we could have made it a love heart we might have…but then we do need to remember what was discussed in a previous branding post, that the logo is for our clients, after all. A love heart could be going a little too far. You reckon?

  • We love design. It’s important that we take time to craft well-designed work for our clients, and for ourselves. Good graphic design helps people engage with your content and trust your expertise more quickly. One of the comments the team made on reviewing the first draft of the logo was, “It reminds me of architecture, and blueprints.” Once they said that, we all saw that there was indeed a blueprint-style element to the logo, with the internal shapes fitting together. That’s a good reflection of the draft stage of our website builds, logo design, and other graphic design work.

  • We’re still exclusive to accountants. The name was the one thing we didn’t change. We spent a lot of time evaluating that, too, but in the end decided it still reflects who we are and (more importantly) our target audience. We work exclusively with accountancy firms, and you want that firm to be profitable. Your marketing is part of the mix which enables that profitability.

What I love about some of these things is that they weren’t all apparent right away.

When we began the process, Col advised us that his role in developing the brand was simply the beginning. “Over time,” he said, “clients begin to generate their own stories around their branding. All I really do is write the opening chapter.”

One of the ways you know you’re really engaging with your new brand is when you begin to see potential within it for more than the logo.

You see how you can use portions of the logo, colours, styles, cross-sections. And you’ll see things that no one thought about during the design process, but which are true about your business.

That’s what makes an excellent brand, and one that is well designed.

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@gilliancaughey always brightens up our day and th
@gilliancaughey always brightens up our day and this message was no different 👏

Check out @fearlessfinancials to see how #accountants can use Instagram well to connect with your ideal audience! 🔥

#client #stories #instaforaccountants #victories

Thanks to @millcreek_mom for sharing how she spent
Thanks to @millcreek_mom for sharing how she spent some recent #creativitypillar time 🎨 chalk painting!

As a team, we try to set aside time every couple of weeks to do something creative. 

That looks like something different for each one of us. For some it might be reading, drawing or sketching. For others, it's painting or baking or dancing 💃

Tell us in the comments how you enjoy being creative? 💛

#creativitypillar #values #space #fun

🎉Our team of creatives just keeps on growing an
🎉Our team of creatives just keeps on growing and last week we welcomed Kathy as our newest Assistant Graphic Designer! 🎉

Meaning we now we have a 5 person design team 🤩

Since graduating in Mixed Media and Photography, Kathy has helped several businesses with graphic design and digital marketing. She is passionate about understanding what it takes to create designs which are clear, simple and effective.

Kathy does her best work when surrounded by a talented and inspiring team who she can collaborate with in order to create the best and most powerful designs for our clients 🔥

When she's not designing, you'll find Kathy exploring the countryside with Dylan (her four-legged shadow) in Brighton, sea swimming or working on her latest pet portrait! 🐶

Kathy's personal pillars are:

#familypillar
#oceanpillar
#musicpillar
#dogspillar
#teapillar

and her two core values are: Kindness and Balance.

We're so excited to have you here!

#new #teammember #growth #creativestudio #graphic #designer

NOW HIRING: Operations Director!

In the past mont
NOW HIRING: Operations Director!

In the past month we've taken on three new team members, bringing our numbers up to 18. And a few more to come! 

Hiring more people feels (and is) exciting. It stirs up enthusiasm, reminds us how great our culture truly is, and brings in fresh ideas and perspective.(We tell our newbies their superpower is seeing things with new eyes, and to always share ideas and opinions, because we might be a little "stuck" in our ways!)

So we'll soon be a team of nearly 20 people. We’re creative, we’re collaborative, and we know we can be even more efficient and productive as a team. We need someone whose sole task is dedicated to efficiencies within the company, resource planning, project managing (from prospect to sale to client work), and people managing. 

For this role, the hiring process will be different. Normally the team does literally everything to identify the best candidate, and our MD Karen only comes in at the end for a final interview. This time, there will be more time with the MD, more one to one interviews, and a group interview at the end. 

We’re a remote company, so this role will primarily be remote (with travel to other team members, clients’ offices, and events). We’re starting in Edinburgh or Glasgow but you could be anywhere in the UK for this role. 

The first step is to send a 3 min introductory video, and the link is in our bio and story. There’s also a video from our MD giving a little history about the company. 

If this role is for you, we’d love to see your video. If you know someone who would be great at this role, share this with them or tag them to apply. 

We’re excited to meet our Ops Director! 

#team #creativeagency #nowhiring #operationsdirector #recruiting #jobalert #operations


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