9th March 2020

New Corporate Identity (CI) from the perspective of the graphic designer

Raoul Loudvig, head of the “Graphic Design” division inside the Spuerkeess Marketing department, gives us an insight into the graphical design world of Spuerkeess's new Corporate Identity (CI).

Can you tell us more about your approach to the logo’s makeover?

Raoul: It’s important to remember that rebranding, or creating a new Corporate Identity, doesn’t necessarily mean that a whole new logo has to be created. Before starting this project, we analysed our present situation so that we were clear on where we currently stood, and where we wanted to go. The time had come for a bit of spring cleaning.

Although our corporate name will remain “Banque et Caisse d’Epargne de l’Etat, Luxembourg”, we’ve decided to move away from all those multiple identities and focus exclusively on our trade name, “Spuerkeess” and to drop the denomination “BCEE”.

Over the years, we had launched many products and services that had their own visual identities. Our brand universe had become far too diverse and complex. As a result, we needed to bring all those brands back in line with their mother brand: Spuerkeess.

Once we’d come to this conclusion, we carried out test after test to achieve the best results.

The changes are minimal, especially concerning the red square. Can you explain them to us?

Raoul: To standardise our visual identity and maximise recognition with our mother brand, we explored 3 key areas:

Graphics
Graphics
The logo still includes the Adolphe Bridge and the tower where our head office is located. To make it more modern, more balanced and to add depth, we’ve evened out the spacing between the bridge supports.
Typography
Typography
After trying out several different typefaces – including some that didn’t exist at the time our logo was originally created – we decided that our font was still in line. This means that using a completely different one would have been pointless, and all we needed was a small change in the letter spacing to freshen up the logo.
Colours
Colours
The third thing we looked at was colour. The bright red not only reflects our personality, but has regained its popularity, as we can see from major multinational brands. Given the undeniable value of people being able to recognise our logo, changing the colour would have been unwise. The old shade of blue we used was outdated: it lacked depth and class. Also the colour's composition was 100% cyan (blue) and 80% magenta (red), was problematic when it came to printing, given its tendency to look slightly purple. Nor did it contribute to creating a warm, welcoming environment in our branches.
The aim was to modernise our logo whilst building on the strong brand-recognition we have established over the past 30 years.
Raoul Loudvig

What are the other new aspects of the graphic charter?

The stricter, clearer guidelines for colours, logos and structures mean that our communication will be clearer and more direct. In the long term, we will be simplifying all our communication materials and reorganising them into universes that will support customers at every stage of their lives.

The new charter will also mean that each of the bank’s employees, as well as all our external partners, will be able to work with print and digital guidelines that have been updated to reflect modern-day needs.

This is even more vital with the growing importance of digital communication channels, including social media, digital displays in our branches and online advertising.

Curious? Watch the video for our new image campaign at www.spuerkeess.lu/yourbridgetolife. Maybe you’ll recognise one of our advisers. The production is 100% Made in Luxembourg.


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