Lafarge Aggregates Corporate Communications
Lafarge are one of the World's largest providers of building materials, supplying to over 78 countries. With a significant presence in much of the quarrying throughout the UK, their huge lorries and massive trains are hard to ignore and have become a familiar sight on roads and railways across the country.
The Brief
Lafarge already had an existing identity, and a sructure for how it should be used on signage and stationery etc., but we were approached by the UK Aggregates division to establish and maintain a set of guidelines for them that would give a distinctive style to the UK arm, and specifically deliver a consistent style across their communications.
Our Solution
One of the key challenges was the sheer range of activities Lafarge were concerned with, and we tackled this head-on by creating a coloured band that would feature on all literature, but which would change in colour for each group of activities. This gave the overall range of literature a distinct syle that united the group, whilst also helping customers and staff alike differentiate each separate disipline.
These strips were generated as artwork elements of the identity, and treated in the same way as logos. Each was created large enough to accomodate any width of cover, exhibition or advert, and were designed to be used either against a black background for some Corporate communications, or against a white cover for general or product communications.
We combiined them with a strong use of photography, and a flexible approach that allowed strong single images to be used as the top half of a cover, but also allowed for multiple images to be used against the coloured strip where more complex services required more than one image.
To accomodate this and to maintain consistency, we created a series of grids for use when designing cover and text pages on brochures and other literature. Designed to offer a simple and flexible structure for information, these grids helped the designers cope with a broad range of demands from the different parts of the business.
Having experienced the discomfort of working with other people's too-rigid guidelines in the past, we were determined that our's would not become a straight jacket. At every turn, therefore, our focus was to create a structured and effective range of practical tools that would help focus and express the brand – rather than rigid rules that would inhibit and restrict it.
