The business of beautiful
We revel in projects that stretch us – and there can be few things more challenging than bringing harmony to polar opposites, and then expressing this in an identity that is at once professional and visually powerful.
This was our brief for property solutions company, Zuri, meaning ‘beautiful’ in Swahili. If beauty is defined as something that appeals equally to the mind and the senses, then we needed to create a visual identity that was beautiful.
Zuri was founded on the merging of two very different property players: well-established Eris Properties, a corporate with ties to RMB, and black-owned start-up Origin Services. The result was an entirely new company that is more than the sum of these two parts – a truly neo-African property services company that is modern, locally-relevant and original.
Zuri’s offers turn-key tenant installation for offices, retail and industrial space, handling space planning, fittings, refurbishments, furniture and interior design and green building planning aspects for clients. It guides them on each aspect of a building’s interior from space requirements and future growth, to the commissioning of works of art – in other words, it creates beautiful spaces that are functional. Zuri operates at the point where the aesthetic meets the practical, where the artistic sense intersects with business sense. And Zuri can deliver both – therein lies its key differentiator. For its clients, Zuri contributes value to their businesses by delivering property solutions that make sense, both financially and aesthetically
We were inspired to provide a striking visual translation for the polar but complementary aspects of this company, and to craft an identity that could be described as neo-African and commercially relevant.
The logo solution was an ever-evolving piece of graphic art, a unique composite of colourful parts set in motion against a white but dimensional canvas. With every angle, there is a reminder of Zuri’s inherent ability to evolve, to approach every project with a new and creative outlook. And just like the customised property solutions that the company delivers, no single view of the logo is the same as that which came before it, or that which will come after.
It’s an identity that expresses a thousand words at one glance, that exists in a multitude of states while still remaining a single whole. And tying together this reflection of function harmonised with form, of beauty marrying business, is the positioning statement “Property with Poise.”
