Fieldwork: design for European financial services firm Veld Capital Partners

I began this year spending a few weeks working remotely in Cape Town. Since discovering it was possible to work anywhere, I’d been wondering if I could continue doing this, but on my own terms. Turns out, you can. Even better, distance and travel lends inspiration, context and language. Veld in Afrikaans (and Dutch) means field, and while I was away I was often thinking of a new client of ours with that name. I’d hear the word used in everyday conversation and it would provide a memory jog to evolve what we’d been doing for them. The project in question was the brand and web design for European financial services Veld Capital – a piece of work that has ended up being deeply satisfying. The logo looks crisp and tight, the rendering of type is elegant. Moreover, it’s all backed up by a loose series of hand-made paint strokes we did here in the office, inspired by the flow of crops in a field.

Out of left field

The identity design for Veld and its subsidiaries began life with a series of sketches of pieces of grass blowing in the wind. The idea was to somehow evoke the idea of a field in an abstract way and capture the letter V. I’ve looked back at the initial idea on this theme and the idea is right but our first concepts they are trying harder to be something you might see in nature than strictly evoke a letterform. Yet the idea of combining the name and the place are there from the start.

In the event, the idea of combining a field (or at least leaves of grass) with the letters V and C was fully realised in our second round of ideas for Veld. There was something about that initial sketch we did that the team decided they liked and asked us to pursue that a little further. In the event – as is sometimes the way – the second stab at an idea gets it right. The simplest graphic shape was drawn in such a way that it now seems impossible this logo could have been anything else.

Particularly in our brand design for financial services firms, we look at ways to ensure these identity schemes have a deep visual appeal beyond the logo. I had an idea of creating a series of shapes which echoed the concept of the field, albeit in more painterly fashion. The idea was to create texture and depth without interrupting the content; to make a set of brand elements which the content sat on and framed them. To achieve this, we spent time working on a series of hand-drawn paint strokes that subtly frame the content, sitting behind the pages as brand visuals.

Play the field

The second iteration of the Veld website, which has just gone live, captures the ambition we had for the corporate identity when we completed the brand design.

Back in Autumn 2022, we created a small initial site when the legal deal to carve out the firm was agreed. It was a regulatory requirement to have a site live on that day; but with the firm moving office and the team being finalised, it was decided to launch in two stages. This months-long pause has served the firm well, giving them time to settle, and has meant we could really take our time to fully realise the next creative steps.

We had always liked the idea of bringing the fields to life on the website, using video in an almost abstract way when visitors landed on the site. To achieve this, we graded a piece of film of gently swaying corn with the Veld green colour we’d been using across the brand design. This set the tone, quite literally, for the other images on the site which we sourced, of iconic fields and open spaces.

One element of the prior site we retained was the images of the different iconic city centres that Veld have offices, giving us free rein to use black and white photography of the ancient streets of those places, from Lisbon to Mumbai.

Field of vision

With the core visual elements of the Veld brand in place, we devised a really engaging website that covers every aspect of the team, business, its history, successes and expansion including being carved out into a standalone company.

The end result is a smart, corporate site that fits the bill. We’re pleased in particular that the project has used modern typefaces we’ve bought specially for the project. They give the work a subtlety and modernity we’re really happy with.

The Veld project has also been realised across stationery, PowerPoint templating and signage at the firm’s offices on Wigmore Street in central London. The end result is strong project, and one rather satisfyingly was developed far away, in a place where everyone knows what Veld really means…

We specialise in design for European financial services firms

Working in the boutique financial services side of the City, modern, distinctive branding is vital. Perhaps you’re building a new team, leaving the big outfits behind to start a new consultancy and need to sort the visual side of things? Get in touch to discuss a range of different approaches.

Whether you’re in the UK or work across Europe, we can work on designs from the creative to the corporate, depending on your brief and budget.

Call us on 020 7351 4083 or email us direct.

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