Techwaves were in a very typical position after its first year of trading as a specialist engineering recruitment agency - the initial temptation to get any kind of graphics in order to have something to show to prospective clients is a hard one to resist. But, like most businesses in their first year, Techwaves could see the disproportionate difference in the quality service and standards they produced as a business, in comparison to the quality their original branding was alluding to to potential clients.

They approached me and several other agencies with a very clear brief - reflect the quality of our work both visually and in our communications - As part of my pitch I made it clear that the only way to properly create a brand around the processes and values of the business is through a discovery dive into who their target and existing clients are - then aligning their requirements with the assets Techwaves have.

In answer to the visual side of the brief, the theme was 'A step up the recruitment wave'. Recruitment waves for clients; a step-up the career path for candidates. The concept is a stylised 'T' and taking it just far enough from a typographic character to also serve as a mark, but close enough so that the shape and arrangement isn't uncomfortably random.

Most recruitment agencies concentrate solely on their clients and don't look after the interests of their candidates - Techwaves see this as two sides of the same coin, so the needs of client and candidate are equally represented conceptually in the icon.
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The brand identity was applied consistently through to print and digital touchpoints, with the website going through extensive wireframe development and sign-off before arriving at the final design and configuration of content.

When we first started out, we just needed a website up and ready quickly and a logo made to ensure we had a name from day one with clients we were working with. Fast forward a year later and we decided to re-brand to improve our voice our services and our website. We worked with our clients and asked them questions to get a real insight into what they thought of our services to date.

Trying to find an agency to help support my vision for the company and website design was tough and stressful. I spoke with over 15 agencies as well as trying to do my day job. Like recruitment, there are so many agencies out there and you assume they all will do the same job. WRONG!

‍My brand is so important! It was necessary that I found someone who had the same values as me as a person and as a business:
1) Understands my business and what I wanted without really telling them
2) Being honest about what they could do with examples of work
3) Provides a detailed proposal (I am all about the detail)

Only David got this right. Typically one person agencies like his are avoided because the belief is that they won't be able to support the client. David's work experience, tenacity, knowledge and basically being damn good at what he does made it clear this assumption is wrong.

Taking time to understand what my business does and why I do what I do meant a lot. If you want a job done to a high standard, you find someone who is willing to put the time and effort in to understand what you want and is not afraid to question you about what it is you want. David guided me through the process effortlessly and the whole experience was really exciting. I couldn't be happier with the choice I made.

Sharn Lalkiya - Director