How to disrupt the traditional digital consulting model, with Michele Verze’s branding for FORMM

Based in Australia, Chasm Digital were an established consultancy and venture studio looking to boost their business and scale up their services globally. However, they found that their name posed a small issue; not only was the pronunciation unclear, but it didn’t evoke the inspiring and aspirational spirit of their vision. To rethink how they could appeal to both the team and potential clients, they enlisted the help of Sydney-based design director Michele Verze. The task involved a complete relaunch with a new name – FORMM – as well a brand refresh and new tagline – ‘shape your digital future.’ The letter ‘O’ in the logo was the inspiration for the circle as a flexible brand element. This shape, along with a series of simple symbols, is used to capture ideas, frame images or highlight relevant content.

The typeface in use across all touch points of the identity is Florian Karsten’s Space Grotesk, which is available via Google Fonts. “The main reason for choosing an open source font was to guarantee consistency of look for the brand,” Verze explains. As FORMM is both a unique consultancy and start-up, it was important for the typography to be cohesive, straightforward and versatile. In addition to this, he adds, “it was essential for us to find a font that was quickly available to use for anyone in the company, that can work across different operating systems, platforms and software for a seamless experience.” Space Grotesk was therefore a perfect choice, not only as an aesthetically pleasing sans serif, but also thanks to the sharp, futuristic look of certain characters. 

As a reference to the company’s former name and logo, Verze introduced chasm-like shapes into the wordmark, designed to bring a sense of agility and fluidity. “The angle of the second ‘M’ has the purpose to remove the rigidity and provide a sense of flexibility and ease,” Verze notes. 

With a complimentary and energising pairing of orange and blue, the colour palette certainly makes an impact. “When we explored the colour palette we weren’t looking for something that just looked good but for a palette with purpose,” Verze explains, “by defining the major players and our closest competition we landed on a palette that was unique and could be owned.” As the leading colour, orange was the perfect choice to communicate the excitement and start-up mindset of the company. “The complimentary blue has the purpose of balancing the palette and references the digital and tech universe that FORMM operates in,” he concludes.

Michele Verze

FORMM