For this brief we were required to rebrand the betting group 'Coral' by making a logotype using one of Vignelli's six essential typefaces (below):
As a group we started our initial research by looking generally at other existing betting shops. Collectively the impression we found these betting shops to have was negative, and we compiled a list of words that we associated with them, included things like tacky, unwelcoming and financially insecure.
Our next step was to analyse the existing Coral logo. In order to deduce where the branding was failing and what we wanted to change during the rebrand we examined the font they were using and found it to inappropriate to the brand, as the logo could have easily been misconstrued as another type of business, such as an airline company or even a fish a chip shop. The colours, and the business as a whole, was very male centred and the use of heavy, dark blues and garish yellows and greens gave an outdated and tacky feel to the brand (below).
In order to rebrand the company successfully we undertook research into the history of Coral. We found that it was founded in 1926 by Joseph Coral, a bookmaker from Poland, and has grown to be the third largest retail bookmaking business in the UK, which also provides services in over 100 countries world wide. Immediately we knew we wanted the rebrand to reflect the heritage of the company. We wanted to transform Coral into a trustworthy brand that reflected their 80+ years of experience and their continued honesty to customers, as the company makes a point of stating that they do not have any hidden fees or additional taxes. We wanted a fresh, modern logo that would give a more positive face to betting as a whole, and muted colours in order to make the brand more gender neutral and accessible to a wider audience.
After researching all six of Vignelli's typefaces and analysing their aesthetic appeals, the influence they would have on the 'Coral' brand, and their existing uses within branding and marketing we settled on two: Futura and Bodoni. Between these two we initially selected Futura because it is a sleek font that gave the same 'high-end' feel as Helvetica did, but is not as overused in branding. Some of our initial ideas included:
A simple re-writing of the brand's name and slogan gave
us the crisp edge we had initially envisioned for the brand
The name with the slogan removed and the kerning tightened, in both roman and
italic form gave a more impactful appearance, but looked too bold and cluttered
Very wide kerning and smaller letters, with the addition of small gaps in the letter
stems and bowls in order to emulate the black and white markings on the outer edge
of a poker chip. However it was pointed out that this looked very similar to the text
used on many film posters, and therefore gave the wrong impression
The use of multiple 'O's to replicate the 'falling' of slot machines, but this required
an extension above and below the normal height of the letters, and so drew the eye
in multiple directions, making it difficult to gather the company name from the logo
Two extensions of the slot machine motif, this time with the dividing lines removed
and the letters cropped to be a consistent height. The first has the bottom of the letter
1 'falling' into place as the machine moves round, and the second has what appears
to be the bottom section of the letter 'O' falling round into the top of the word.
After this initial period of experimentation we decided as a group that the Futura font did not successfully reflect the heritage element of the brand that we were so keen to portray, and we didn't want the brand to be so modern that it might alienate the older target audiences. So as a group we made the decision to rework the logos using the Bodoni Font, and after taking inspiration from 'The Men of Letters' documentary about traditional sign writers, we knew we wanted to hand render the font into something more bespoke to the brand
We discussed how we wanted the letters to be 'classy' and 'flowing' and 'extended', but we knew the logo still had to be simple enough to work across multiple media platforms (including websites, a mobile app, shop fronts and the physically printed adverts and betting slips) and so we came up with the sketch below:
This was then digitalised into the final rendering of the new Coral logo:
For the colour palette we wanted to focus on toned down shades of the brand's blue and green. We wanted the brand to appear gender neutral, but not appear too appealing as to encourage a younger audience to be actively involved in betting. We decided on pastel versions of the existing colours as they were classier, friendlier and more appealing to the eye.
The final rebranded coral logo in the new muted blue
An example of the final logo on our own reworked version of the Coral website
An example of the final logo on our own imagined version of the Coral app
An example of the final logo on a billboard advertisement
Feedback for the rebrand was largely positive. There was much appreciation for the attempt at bringing the heritage of the company into the foreground as it exuded a classier, more upmarket feel. It was agreed that despite the embellishments to the 'O' and the 'R', the name was still legible on smaller scales and would work within apps and websites. However it was stated that as an alternative to 'Est. 1926' it would have been simpler to just include the word 'bookmakers' as a way of bi-line. The addiction of the establishing date could cause potential confusion with existing customers of the brand, whereas stating that the company is a bookmakers makes it immediately clear that this is still the Coral betting group.
It was also suggested that although the new logo successfully fills the criteria of the brief, one of the earlier experimental logos (below) would have been better suited in giving the company a more impactful rebrand. This logo is simple and sleek with minimal detail and it's subtle but effective play on the movement of a slot machine is all-representative of the Coral group, both as a betting company in itself and in terms of the brand constantly looking to move forward and invest in new, innovative betting technology.