Systems Advisory Services
A heritage infused modern tech brand.
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Brand and positioning for Systems Advisory Services
It’s rare to see a business that has been around for half a century, let alone in the technology space. Systems Advisory Services got their start in 1974, and while the technology has dramatically changed, what they offer remains the same: expertly managed digital infrastructure. We wanted to create a category-leading brand that reflected their hard-won heritage, while positioning themselves smartly for the future.
The strategy was to build something that felt as at home in 1974 as it does today. Heritage as credibility, not nostalgia. And with a primary audience of senior decision makers, the brand needed to command respect.
We sought to create a contemporary look that had a feeling of establishment. Systems Advisory Services has a proud heritage that we wanted to highlight, but also show that the business is stepping into the future of digital infrastructure.
The logo is a dynamic monogram, its form feeling simultaneously established and contemporary. It is a mark that could have been set in the year of founding and still hold its own in the modern marketplace. The wordmark is built on Hermann Zapf’s Optima, with some of the more overt humanist characteristics refined out. It lends a precision that suits the technical nature of the business.
Symbol
The wider brand unfolds through considered layers. Muted gradients are drawn from a palette of glacial tones and carry a textural grain. Symbolic of the invisible role the business plays for their clients, the treatment is deliberately understated.
A connecting path graphic divides layouts with a dynamic technical energy that ties everything back to the mark. The typographic system pairs a refined serif with a clean condensed grotesk, old world and new world in quiet dialogue.
The New Zealand context is woven throughout. Imagery draws on the drama of local landscape as metaphor, a mountain for solid security, a tangled forest for the complexity they untangle. It grounds a global-feeling brand in something genuinely local.
After fifty years of building technical capability in this country, the brand System Advisory Servcies now carries is one the next generation of the business can grow into. A brand that carries fifty years of earned trust into the next fifty.
Likely Suspects:
Josh O’Neill
Collaborators:
Digital Design & Development help from Format Digital
Words by Steve Ogilvie
Visit Systems Advisory Services’ website