Some projects are harder than others

With unexpected challenges or elusive ideas, the project journey always has something new to teach us. Rebranding Lloyd’s of London in 1997 was no different. It had its fair share of challenges, but with a history so rich there was no shortage of inspiration. In fact, there was so much it became a challenge in of itself!

A blast from the past

I decided to write this story after a thought-provoking and long overdue phone call with an old friend, Dennis Furniss who was our head of production at Springpoint in the 1990s. On leaving Springpoint Dennis had ‘gone client side’ and ended up as VP of design for Unilever and then Pepsi Co in the USA. As we reminisced about old projects, Dennis spoke of his admiration for our Lloyd’s of London concepts “but it was a shame the client had opted for a simple evolution”. This got me thinking...

• When is the desire for evolution based on objective reasons, or is it anxiety about change? 
• When is revolution appropriate and how far should you go?
• How, as designers objectively judge our own creativity?
• How should we face challenges?

In an attempt to answer these questions I decided to revisit the challenges we faced with Lloyd’s and how as a team we overcame them.

Improving a tarnished reputation

Following the “Lloyd’s Names Scandal” and a number of insurance disasters, Lloyd’s of London had accrued losses of £8 Billion and a somewhat tarnished reputation.

Our goal was to create a new strategy and brand identity which would revitalise their reputation. With a focus on trust, we had to promote Lloyd’s as a contemporary insurance market built on solid historical foundations.

An old and trusted institution

Lloyd’s was founded in 1688 by Edward Lloyd in his coffeehouse on Tower Street in the City of London. It soon became a meeting place for all concerned with shipping; including captains, merchants and ship owners. Lloyd understood the importance of information to these people and regularly published what became know as the Lloyd’s List, which contained intelligence on ships, cargo and foreign events gathered by a network of correspondents he established in ports across Europe.

Not a breeze can blow in any latitude, not a storm can burst, not a fog can rise, in any part of the world, without recording its history here. A journalist describing the Lloyd’s Underwriting Room in 1859.

Over 300 years Lloyd’s became a famous (at times, infamous) institution. A film was even produced in 1936 (albeit with a largely fictional story) titled “Lloyd’s of London” starring Tyrone Power. Over the years Lloyd’s grew and expanded beyond shipping. In 1986 Lloyd’s moved to its current address at 1 Lime Street – known as the “Inside-Out Building” it was an iconic 1980s structure designed by Richard Rogers & Partners (now called RSHP).

Exploring the Chatham Archives

With a history as long as Lloyd’s, our work naturally began by exploring The Chatham Archives in the London Docklands. We spent three weeks sifting through hundreds of dusty boxes filled with all manner of extraordinary documents and historical gems; from tales of adventure in exotic places, to correspondence with Lloyd’s from Napoleonic War widows thanking them for paying out on policies taken out on those who had perished at Trafalgar and Waterloo.

The archive was packed with over 300 years of long-forgotten visual material; including logos, heraldic crests, shields, medals, typographic styles and all manner of printed material and memorabilia. Our research presented us with an enormous breadth of potential visual equities which could inspire design concepts.

Embracing classicism

The most obvious visual equity was the logo designed in 1984 by the famous Alan Fletcher (who was a co-founder of Pentagram). His work successfully united the organisation behind a single identity with classical typography as if cut in stone. It was understated, assured and respectable, but it was also considered to be “spidery”, “recessive” and lacking “personality” — the classicism was misconstrued as “old-fashioned” and by 1996 it was time for a brand refresh.

Exploratory Design Concepts

We exploited every visual opportunity we had found from within the Lloyd’s archives; including typography, symbols, monograms and the coat-of-arms. Some of our ideas were more successful than others.

A winning concept?

So far, the front running concept (albeit with some persuasion from us) was the “Double L”. As an abstract evolution of the Lloyd’s anchor, the monogram expressed stability, security and integrity. It could also be repurposed for use within the coat-of-arms. But, there was a concern it was too connected to the maritime heritage of Lloyd’s and did not convey Lloyd’s breadth of interests. We said this would be true if it was a literal anchor but as abstract monogram, it would not be an issue.

Now, take a step back

All was progressing well; everyone was happy and we were developing finished artwork and brand guidelines. However, following a meeting with the Lloyd’s board and a selection of partners (including Underwriters and Brokers) we were asked to reconsider the work. Surprisingly, the concern with the new icon was not the maritime connection, but that “the icon had too much personality”. Whilst it was universally liked, the issue was with how Lloyd’s operated in partnership with underwriting and insurance broker businesses — Lloyd’s had to appear as an endorsement with partner logos and the concern was that the new monogram would overshadow the partners. This was a fair point. There were two considerations:

1. Any two independently designed logo icons will clash when used alongside each other
2. Control over the design and application of partner logos was restricted. Partners are affiliated with, but not owned by Lloyd’s

A simpler identity was required to work with partners. The answer was to avoid using complicated icons or symbols within the new Lloyd’s logo. Whilst this was unsettling to our creative egos, it was the right thing to do.

We considered alternative logo ideas from our original typographic exploration. The solution was the “Solid Foundations” idea which redrew Alan Fletcher’s logotype underpinned with a solid, thick bar. It was a no-nonsense, ‘no-icon’ approach which was sympathetic with partner logos.

Partner relationships

Within the guidelines we developed a Partner relationship system. This simple lock-up dictated how the new Lloyd’s logo could be used alongside partner logos sympathetically, without overpowering them.

Built on “Solid Foundations”

The new Lloyd’s logotype was specially drawn, meaning it is not available as an off-the-shelf font. The relationship with the bold underline was considered to be optically symmetrical and work as a single unit. In other words, the typographic component could never be used separated from the underline. On the other hand, the underline could be used without the Lloyd’s typography and manipulated in expressive and creative ways.

Anticipating the future of Lloyd’s

All good things come to an end and in 2010, Lloyd’s commissioned UK design firm, Addison to redesign the logo. Now, whilst I’m certainly not suggesting Addison copied, or even saw our conceptual work at Springpoint, I was fascinated by how, within our initial concept exploration we accidentally anticipated the evolution of the Lloyd’s logo. See for yourself below! 

Challenges are opportunities in disguise

When we see challenges as opportunities. When we remove attachment to our work and listen to our clients and each other without ego or prejudice, we can create more powerful and persuasive ideas.

As designers, it can be easy to allow our creative ego and attachment to our work interfere with what is actually the right answer for our client. My experience with Lloyd’s taught me some valuable lessons which I continue use today to give me distance and clarity:

• Remember, a challenge is an opportunity in disguise
• Consider all challenges objectively, from the point-of-view of clients and customers
• Judge the creative as if another designer did it
• Listen carefully and think deeply before responding
• Avoid emotional bias (e.g. likes or dislikes)
• Finally, remember the journey is more important than the destination

I hope you find these tips helpful.

Thank you!

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank the wonderful and talented people I had the pleasure of working with on this (and many other) projects at Springpoint. We always aimed high, always together! The Lloyd’s project team consisted of: Fiona Gilmore, Mark Pearce, Gary Broadbent, Dennis Furniss, Laurence Lassalle, Oonagh Connolly and Kathy Miller. And not forgetting our client, Sir David Rowland and his marketing team.

Please forgive any omission of people or errors within this article (the project was back in 1997!). If you wish to make any corrections please send an email here along with your comments so I can update this post.

Online resources

The history of Lloyd’s of London is a fascinating read. It is as much a record of the commerce, expansion and end of the British Empire as it was the story of an insurance institution. There are many great sources of information which go into far more depth than was possible in this post and I highly recommend the following websites: 

The History of Lloyd’s of London - © Lloyd’s of London website

The Chatham Archive - © The World Ship Society website