We based the brand mark around the utilitarian typeface Trade Gothic Bold Condensed, an easy choice given Aberdeen's printing and paper manufacturing heritage. This was adjusted and customised before being letter pressed from hardwood ply to create this bespoke display typeface. These were printed at Peacock Visual Arts on various presses and specialist papers, we finally achieved the desired texture and character we needed. To support this bold typeface we created a series of delicate hand drawn illustrations, each one representing a story in Aberdeen's proud civic history - from founding the first registered business in Great Britain, to harbouring the famous clipper ships which first established the global tea trade, rope manufacturing, and tales of shipwrecks and smugglers during prohibition era. These illustrations became the backbone of the brand and have even been approved in the Scottish Court of Heraldry for the use of a leopard as a supporting beast - an age old feature of family coats of arms.
