Freshfields Brand Identity

Freshfields Brand Identity
Brand Design

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is one of the largest multinational law firms in the world. Headquartered in London, it is a member of the 'Magic Circle' of elite British law firms. Freshfields is the oldest firm within the Magic Circle, and is the oldest international law firm in the world Its origins lie in the early 18th century.

Freshfields appointed Landor to reposition their brand and update their visual identity.

Year
2014

Studio
Landor Associates

My role
Senior Designer

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Craft

We took the opportunity to apply a new typographic approach to the brand. I selected Swift, contemporary serifed typeface that could fulfil many functions – from high level advertising campaigns through to the rigorous typographic detailing and annotations required for legal documents.

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I typeset the Freshfields wordmark, crafting the letterforms to reference the styling of the angel mark.
(Top: previous logo, bottom: updated logo)

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We redrew the angel mark to give it a bolder, more confident feel. The mark is derived from the crest of John Freshfield of Norwich, first used by James William Freshfield (1775–1864). It represents St Michael, depicted as an angel with a spear.

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I designed a typographic structure and document format for Freshfield briefings – documents on key topics which are circulated throughout the firm. I designed the documents to be printed on a blue paper stock, allowing the briefings to be easily identified amongst the stacks of white paper documents that fill lawyers' desks.

Process

The process of redrawing the angel mark was iterative, with many hundreds of variants and approaches explored. The wordmark was crafted in parallel to ensure a visual harmony between the two.