We Launch swaps numbers and graphics for fluid CGI elements in a growing tech company’s rebrand

London-based brand strategy agency We Launch was challenged with bringing the Atech identity of “invisible” technology to life in the tech company’s rebrand. To tackle such a task, Matt Walpole, lead creative on the project, believes that We Launch created a “disruptive rebrand with compelling ownable assets that would enable Atech to rise to the strategic opportunity ahead.” Walpole continues that “every part of a brand toolkit is important” for We Launch, “and they all feed into one another, be it type style, colours, imagery, and design system.” For the fast-rising tech company, the design team knew how important the use of imagery was going to be. “Exploring its competitor landscape gave us a good insight into what was out there and it became clear,” expands the lead creative, “there was an opportunity to really visually stand apart.”

When researching for the rebranding process, the team found that “Atech’s ability to problem-solve,” claims Walpole, and the “team’s human-centric approach” were central to the company. So We Launch orbited its branding around the concept of Atech as problem solvers, “and the challenge became how to bring this to life in an engaging and dynamic way,” Walpole explains to It’s Nice That.

Walpole and his team not only faced a challenge themselves in the branding, but they wanted to challenge the client visually too. “The IT world is filled with generic icons and illustrations such as cogs and square boxes for servers,” he says, and this makes products feel intangible, flat, and at times outdated, so his team wanted to move this abstract mindset to a different visual space and created these CGI scenarios that were born out of Atech’s services. We had some common traits that ran through each one, like how data or a client is represented,” he continues, “But ultimately these visuals provide Atech with a way to communicate what it does simply and how it is set apart from its competitors.”

The creative team at We Launch hadn’t approached this kind of interpretive visual style before. Walpole explains once they had CGI artist Peter Crowther onboard, they were able to see how flat sketches could be realised in a 3D space. “Truly, nothing was off the table with the client, apart from keeping the Atech name,” says Walpole, when explaining what had to change about the brand. “Having worked with them back in 2013,” he continues, “they knew the original brand had served its purpose, but now was the time to make some more radical changes.” Atech wanted to be challenged and briefed We Launch to develop a brand that would, claims Walpole, “disrupt their market externally, whilst creating a brand the internal team would be proud of.”