Renowned Studio’s technical identity for SLR Consulting is guaranteed to stand the test of time

For nearly 30 years, SLR Consulting has supported organisations in navigating towards greater sustainability, advising them at every point of their project life cycle. They’re one of the world’s leading sustainability consultancies, having grown from humble beginnings in the UK to over 3,000 staff in 125 countries around the world. At a pivotal point in their journey, it was time to rediscover who they are and build an identity to match.

They were aided by London-based branding agency Renowned, who sought to reinvent SLR’s image. They started off by working closely with the global team to understand how they can represent them authentically, while further cementing their leading status. This arrives in the form of a new visual direction, tailored around the core idea of ‘Making Sustainability Happen.’

The team constructed the new logomark around three core ideas of the business: the bloom, which represents nature; the arrow, embodying innovation; and the octagon, which refers to the company’s technical prowess. Meanwhile, the logo’s typography was tweaked carefully to work with the new symbol.

“The wordmark was created using Forma DJR Display; then, we customised the radius and ascender widths to match the mark,” Renowned’s Founder Ben Paul tells us. “The mark had to feel like it was born from the logotype and vice versa.” Once the logo’s design was established, the studio then fleshed out the rest of the brand’s typography.

“We had a clear strategic direction, we needed to retain the essence of the company’s 30-year heritage in the brand,” Paul notes. According to him, Ultra Kuhl’s high-contrast serif family Albra had “a perfect classical feel, but with a modern twist.” The team used Albra Light for all headlines and statements, paired with Google’s opens-source geometric sans serif Figtree for body copy and long-form text.

Mirroring the studio’s typographic approach, SLR Consulting’s colour palette was crafted from the strategy’s extensive research and insights. “Once we completed an in-depth study of SLR Consulting’s competitor landscape, we noticed no one used green as a key brand colour,” Paul continues. “With the tone of the green set, we created a palette that felt light and complimentary. We also created a set of secondary colours inspired by nature to reaffirm the company's focus on a sustainable future,” he concludes.

Renowned

SLR Consulting