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In the next 6 months, you will start discovering the new twists in our identity. For example, you will see our product catalogues in this line, or industry catalogues like this or these kind of posts in LinkedIn
We have gone for a gradual implementation. This will allow us all, to have time to understand it, embrace it and to incorporate it in our daily work. For local marketing departments to create new templates and to design promo materials with the freshen up look.
First will be catalogues, templates for Social Media posts, ... Then the web will a bit shaken, corporate materials, office templates and so on. So gradually, over the months you will start seeing, experiencing and using our tweaked identity.
Let us tell you a small story – The why
The current brand identity, as we know it, it was launched in October 2017. We based it in our 2 main strong points, our differentiating factors; our technical support and the human touch that splashes out everything we do at SMC (and these are our customer´s words).
For the last 2 years, the Corporation, has been launching different initiatives such as BCP, the SDGs project, Sustainable Management of CO2…. So we wanted to put that onboard in our identity so we can communicate it nicely and properly in Europe.
After conducting few internal and external interviews, an image competitor analysis, a media and social media listening, we have tweaked our identity, we have created an specific one for Corporate Social Responsibility ….and now, we just want to share it with you all.
All this has been done together with our corporate agency Marco
SMC Dark Blue is a Navy blue tonality. Navy blue was popularised in the 17th century as it was the chosen colour by the British Royal Navy. Ever since, navy blue has been strongly linked to the Navy worldwide. If one colour relates to trust and loyalty, this is Navy blue. Being trust one of our core messages and ultimate aims, makes sense to introduce it in our visual identity.
With the introduction of a darker aesthetic in our identity helps therefore to complement the main palette, feeding elegant sobriety, more technological and industrial sense to our visual proposal.
Lastly, Navy blue is a tonality amid black & blue and it´s a tone that works very well together with our SMC Blue.
However, Navy blue can never overshadow our SMC Blue. SMC Blue will always prevail as it is the essence itself of SMC.
Sustainable turquoise
We´ve gone for a pastel tonality, in the turquoise scale, so it blends perfectly with our SMC Blue and more importantly it does not eclipse it.
This colour can be used to promote sustainability, as well as the whole Corporate Social Responsibility / We care spectrum.
Social yellow
Secondary option integrated in the palette, mainly to align with the colour chosen by the Corporation to communicate towards social issues is the social yellow, in the yellow spectrum. Even though it is a light washed yellow, it could be bit predominant in a composition, therefore, it is set as secondary we care colour option.
BCP Grey-Blue
The most sober and restrained tone colour has been assigned for communicating our commitment with the future and with reliability overall. A colour in between grey and blue (always the blue is present). Between a more conservative and neutral grey tonality and our beloved SMC Blue.
We care colour palette is restricted to be used with Social Corporate Responsibility. With our “We care” messaging.
Promotional materials templates are an evolution of previous patterns, preserving the curves that evoke and derive from SMC´s Corporate Mark, being now more closed and sharper, attracting more the attention to the point of the promotion (being this a product, topic, industry, etc.)
This way, we place directly in the limelight the object of the communication tool.
Same typography as that used by the Corporation, Helvetica (arial for PC users), but applied in a more audacious way. Front covers and main communications broadcasted through bigger and bold fonts to just put our messages out there!
A visual identification to mark all our communications towards Corporate Social Responsibility, our “We care” messaging. An insinuation of our corporate mark (all derives and leads to SMC Corporate Mark) and the strong message that We care.
Usage restricted to Corporate Social Responsibility. It is not allowed to be used in any material containing commercial information.
Then again, in order to separate the “We care” communication, there is a new asset of imagery to convey our commitments. We bet for natural looking images in all senses: with no blue patina applied to them and then we opt for nature, for persons openly showing emotions.
Final aim is to link imagery in the Corporate Social Responsibility context, with our strong messages of “We care”, and for that we need imagery that conveys emotions.
SMC Dark Blue is a Navy blue tonality. Navy blue was popularised in the 17th century as it was the chosen colour by the British Royal Navy. Ever since, navy blue has been strongly linked to the Navy worldwide. If one colour relates to trust and loyalty, this is Navy blue. Being trust one of our core messages and ultimate aims, makes sense to introduce it in our visual identity.
With the introduction of a darker aesthetic in our identity helps therefore to complement the main palette, feeding elegant sobriety, more technological and industrial sense to our visual proposal.
Lastly, Navy blue is a tonality amid black & blue and it´s a tone that works very well together with our SMC Blue.
However, Navy blue can never overshadow our SMC Blue. SMC Blue will always prevail as it is the essence itself of SMC.
