Branding Services – Toop Studio

Toop Studio has over 20 years of experience in brand identity design. We have worked on identities and brand guidelines for local clients in Brighton & Hove and across the South East as well as for national and global clients via contracts with larger agencies.

Some of our branding projects for local clients include:

• Varndean School – rebrand for one of Brighton & Hove’s most established & successful secondary schools
• Brighton Orpheus Choir – rebranding a Brighton classical choir with over 80 years of history
• Berts Homestore – a brand refresh for Brighton & Hove’s most popular cookware & home accessories shop
• Georganics – product branding for East Sussex manufacturer of natural care products with a global market
• Seawhite – product branding for this West Sussex manufacturer and supplier of art & design materials to education and retail worldwide.
• Imago – brand identity for a Glyndebourne opera production
• Trading Boundaries – rebrand for an award-winning wedding venue, shop, café, and gallery situated in East Sussex

Our branding service covers everything from naming and logo design to the development of detailed brand guidelines documents that cover the use of colour, typography, imagery and packaging.

Brand Naming

From business startups to new products, we can help come up with the perfect brand name.

Working with marketing and SEO colleagues, we combine verbal and written aesthetics with practical marketing considerations for the best naming solution.

An example of Toop Studio’s brand naming is Zerolla, a British manufacturer of solid shampoos and moisturisers. Zerolla, a unique word with its own dot com URL, was created by combining the word zero with the Latin word olla (meaning ‘pot’).

Zerolla is the perfect name for a beauty brand that does not use plastic containers.

Logo design

A logo is the primary visual identifier for all businesses, schools, products and events.

At Toop Studio we aim for the sweet spot between form and function. A good logo is legible, memorable, appropriate for the market yet distinguished from its competitors, relatively timeless and of course beautifully formed.

The logo shown was commissioned by Varndean School in Brighton. It is the mark that represents the Lennox school, a smaller school within the five school system at Varndean. Varndean School was founded in 1884 and has always had a logo based on a dolphin. We rebranded the school in 2012. At this time the school was divided into four small schools. The fifth School, Lennox, was added in 2020.

See the Varndean rebrand project here.

Typography

Distinctive typography is one of the key ingredients to a recognisable brand.

We go to great lengths to select and customise the right typeface for each project.

We understand the different functional requirements of a logotype, straplines, titles and body copy for print and screen.

The project shown is part of the art pad range for Seawhite of Brighton. Seawhite is a leading supplier of art materials to education and retail in the UK.

See more of the project here.

Colour palette design

Another important component of any brand identity is the colour palette.

We are meticulous about selecting and testing colours, so that a brand identity is distinctive when it comes to colour combinations, yet has enough capacity for versatility and variation.

The colour palette shown was designed as part of an identity for a dance-related performance art event called Audition Project.

See more of the project here.

Custom-made imagery

The use of custom-made imagery is essential if a company wants to communicate uniqueness or creativity.

At Toop Studio we aim to be both artistic and well-researched when it comes to designing imagery so that the brands we work on are as visually fresh, engaging and memorable as possible for any given budget.

Shadric Toop is an experienced image creator and illustrator and has designed and created images for Glyndebourne, Grange Park Opera, BBC and Penguin Books.

The image shown is an illustration by Shadric Toop for Grange Park Opera’s 2022 season.

Find out more about Toop Studio’s illustration service.

Brand guidelines

Once all the elements of a new or refreshed brand identity have been established, they need to be documented clearly. This will ensure all applications, either produced in-house or commissioned in the future, use the identity correctly.

We have worked on guidelines documents for global brands (such as Arup, Boots and Unilever) as well as for small businesses and schools.

The example shown is a page from our guidelines for Springfield School.

View the full project here.

Branding for schools

Toop Studio has over 18 years’ experience in branding and design for schools, academies, colleges and universities. Our work for schools includes:

• Brand strategy
• Logo design
• Prospectus design
• Stationery design
• Website design
• Signage design
• Uniform design
• Photography art direction
• Illustration
• Video production (visit our video page)
• Wall graphics (visit our wall design page)

Shadric Toop has teaching and school governing experience, which informs his expertise in this area.

This video documents our rebrand of Varndean School in Brighton.
(see the full project here).