BRAND IDENTITY & DESIGN SYSTEM
Rebuilding the foundation of a future-facing brand
The David Phillips identity needed to work more consistently across a growing business, but a full design system was not initially a formally commissioned project. I recognised the need, developed the direction and built stakeholder support over several months. As the value became clear, the work grew into a broader rollout. I led the system’s development and rollout, working with a junior designer to apply it across the company’s brand touchpoints.
My role
I led the visual development and day-to-day rollout of the rebrand, working with marketing and business stakeholders to translate the company’s proposition into a practical design system.
My contribution included typography, colour, imagery, layout principles, reusable components, audience-specific applications, templates and brand guidance. I also extended the identity into motion through the brand relaunch and Link platform launch films, and supported a junior designer in applying the system consistently and developing their motion skills.
Design System: Atomic Thinking
To make the identity consistent and easy to extend, I organised the system from foundational elements through reusable components and templates. Typography, colour, iconography and spacing informed logo lockups, cards, buttons and section patterns, which were then applied to decks, brochures, campaigns and digital pages.
The system was documented in Figma as a shared source for future creative work.
Core Identity Components
Logo Redesign & Usage Rules
I developed a more flexible application system for the refreshed David Phillips identity. This included logo variants, clear-space and placement rules, and lockups for brand statements, business areas and partner communications.
The resulting guidance gave internal teams and external suppliers a consistent reference across digital, print and motion.
Tagline System
The brand statement, “Designed for life, delivered for you.”, became a recurring device across the identity. I developed flexible lockups and guidance for pairing it with the logo, imagery and the pill graphic across digital, motion and print.
Layer-Based Colour System & Card Hierarchy
Drawing on material design principles, we developed an eight-layer colour system across light and dark modes. Each layer defines the background, typography, accent and elevation of reusable card components.
This creates a clear hierarchy for content-heavy layouts while allowing cards to sit within the grid or deliberately bleed beyond it.
Cards act as independent content frames with padding that mirrors the system-wide content margins. When visible, card corners are softly rounded. Cards can sit cleanly within a margin or bleed intentionally off the edge of a page — depending on purpose and emphasis.
This system establishes a visual hierarchy through depth, improving user comprehension and helping designers maintain clarity across complex layouts.
Colour Segmentation by Audience
Each key audience segment was assigned an accent colour within the same master palette. Applying these colours across presentations, brochures, iconography and UI made sector-specific communications easier to recognise without fragmenting the overall brand.
Dual Branding & Partner Systems
To support partnership work, we created co-branding lockups and application rules for “in partnership with” and “in collaboration with” communications. The framework defined spacing, hierarchy and segment-colour use so partner identities could sit alongside David Phillips consistently.
Brochure System – Pill-Based Visual Hierarchy
As part of the rebrand, we developed a structured brochure system that uses the pill graphic as a visual cue to indicate the scope and specificity of content. This system helps readers immediately understand whether they’re viewing a high-level overview or a focused service offer.
There are three tiers of brochures.
Top-level brochures present the company as a whole, covering the full range of services and sectors. These use a large pill, set against lifestyle imagery and the core brand colours, to reinforce their broad, introductory purpose.
Segment brochures focus on a single audience group such as Build to Rent, Student, or Estate Agents. These documents introduce the segment-specific colour and use a medium-sized pill. The content and structure are tailored to resonate with the selected audience while maintaining brand consistency.
Service brochures are the most specific tier. They dive into individual services — such as delivery, installation, or staging — and use the smallest pill to reflect this narrowed focus. These brochures inherit the segment colour from their parent category, ensuring visual continuity throughout the system.
Delivery & Rollout
Outcome
The completed system gave David Phillips a coherent visual language across its master brand, audience segments and digital platforms.
Shared components, templates and application rules gave marketing and sales teams a clearer foundation for producing consistent communications while leaving room for sector-specific messaging. The same visual language was extended across Link, Vamos and subsequent motion and campaign work.
