Sometimes branding is really about finding shapes. But it’s the least part. Most of the time the process is about understanding the client’s problem, observing his real needs and defining the task which is quite often different from the one given you in the very first encounter or original brief.

So I was surprised finding this older sketchbook picture on my hard disk which is obviously documenting the search for geometric shapes. Although this being a rare double-page spread unfortunately I cannot recall the organisation behind the acronym and therefore guess those sketches never led one to any visual solution.

In one of the recent projects with Thomas Manss & Company there was the necessity to create a visual identifier for the start-up of two media consultants.

While understanding a client’s business, there is always the quest for what is special or even peculiar about it and for a story worth to tell. During this process with the consultants of Kasper & Notbohm it became clear they are best at advising their clients which media to use and guiding them how to orchestrate all the different channels. The consultancy then helps balancing the volumes of those.

Having found such a narrative nub there are basically three ways to tell the story visually. The identifier can be whether a logotype, a initial or a symbol — plus the combinations of two of these. Turning up and down the diverse media channels was an image most forthrightly conveyed in a graphic mark and led to a very neat and appropriate symbol for Kasper & Notbohm’s practise.

The reason I do not remember the purpose of the recovered shapes is that geometric letters forming an acronym can barely tell you anything which consequently might direct to a completely different task in the wide field of branding …