Auckland Ad Agency Launches Bold Rebrand with New Font, Slightly Thicker Line
AUCKLAND — In a radical move expected to ripple through the nation’s design sensibilities like a pebble in a tepid font pool, boutique advertising agency Lemon & Voss announced its full-scale rebrand today. The centrepiece? A new showcase font that looks almost exactly like Helvetica, except the lowercase 'a' now has a bit more panache. And the lines – or ‘visual conductors of mood’, as the press release calls them – are now 0.75pt thicker.
"We felt it was time for a brave evolution," said Head of Design Zara Tana, who wore tortoiseshell glasses and a barely-ironic Rage Against The Machine T-shirt to the launch. "We explored over 3,000 font families, consulted three different moon calendars, and settled on something that reflects who we are now – which, essentially, is Helvetica but louder."
The rebrand reportedly cost $312,000, a sum partially justified by a four-month internal workshop sequence called 'Lines of Feeling', where staff drew increasingly aggressive gestures until someone accidentally invented the new logo. The final identity system includes a monochromatic color palette, a micro-animated favicon shaped like a potato wedge, and a brand arc positioned 2 degrees left-of-centre on all digital assets, to 'honour our disruptive spirit'.
“We really wanted to own the space between precision and mystery,” said Senior Strategist Troy Bell, before unpacking a 42-slide deck entitled ‘Perceptual Shifts & Urban Shadows’. Early client feedback has been described as “lukewarm but compliant”. The rebrand rolls out this month across all touchpoints, including reusable coffee cups, staff keycards, and an internal-grade Slack emoji channel that so far has six approved reactions.
"We felt it was time for a brave evolution," said Head of Design Zara Tana, who wore tortoiseshell glasses and a barely-ironic Rage Against The Machine T-shirt to the launch. "We explored over 3,000 font families, consulted three different moon calendars, and settled on something that reflects who we are now – which, essentially, is Helvetica but louder."
The rebrand reportedly cost $312,000, a sum partially justified by a four-month internal workshop sequence called 'Lines of Feeling', where staff drew increasingly aggressive gestures until someone accidentally invented the new logo. The final identity system includes a monochromatic color palette, a micro-animated favicon shaped like a potato wedge, and a brand arc positioned 2 degrees left-of-centre on all digital assets, to 'honour our disruptive spirit'.
“We really wanted to own the space between precision and mystery,” said Senior Strategist Troy Bell, before unpacking a 42-slide deck entitled ‘Perceptual Shifts & Urban Shadows’. Early client feedback has been described as “lukewarm but compliant”. The rebrand rolls out this month across all touchpoints, including reusable coffee cups, staff keycards, and an internal-grade Slack emoji channel that so far has six approved reactions.