Project
AM (formally Adam Matthew) create digitised primary sources for education – historical artefacts, documents or photos, in carefully curated collections. Using original primary sources gives students the freedom to think critically about history, rather than relying on existing interpretations. Their brand had never been seriously considered in their 30-year history, until now.
“How are our customers ever going to know our name if we can’t quite decide what we’re going to be called?”
Visit
Process
We started by interviewing across the business, not just senior management, to define the key goals of a rebrand. Their name Adam Matthew unhelpfully sounded like a person (there is no Adam Matthew) and multiple names were in use with little logic. And rapid company growth and increasing digital sophistication wasn’t coming across through an analogue-era brand.
Identity
AM present amazing historical collections, expertly curated and in very high resolution. They go deeper and much more hands-on than their competitors. The new AM logo reveals this content in the space between the A and M. The images are shown up close and focusing on a key area – like peeking into an archive box. The logo uses the strong triangular rhythm of the two letters and has a sense of interior space with two shades of yellow.
Strategy
Brand architecture
Naming
Brand identity
Graphic design
Website design
AM
Amazing archives, revealed
Flaunting the unmatched quality of a primary source specialist
They say
”Limber created a visual identity that perfectly encapsulated our mission and values as a company. It brings together everything we currently do and supercharges what’s coming next. ”
Andrew Hunter, Head of Marketing
Naming
We proposed changing the company name from Adam Matthew to AM. It removes the problem of ‘who’s Adam?’. It’s extendable for sub-brands, which we also re-named with an AM prefix. And there are no negative associations, or famous brands called AM.
Typography
The brand uses a custom version of Klarheit by Extraset for headlines. It contains vertical cuts or shadows in certain letters that mirror the reveal effect used in imagery.
Brand architecture
Five sub-branded offerings had grown organically with no coherence. Each sub-brand offering puts the emphasis on the master brand but adapts the colourway, to create one clear family. They are all combined into one website for the first time, organised in sections based on the customer’s needs – Discover, Learn and Create.