Creative services agency 2c Artist Management launches new ID created by Christopher Holt

Sydney designer Christopher Holt has created a new brand and identity for long-running creative services agency, 2c.

The company, which represents top commercial photographers including Ross Honeysett and Michelle Holden, alongside stylists and hair and make-up artists, wanted a refreshed brand after 20 successful years and to maintain their market-leading position for the next decade and beyond.

2c first approached Holt (while he was then at Collider) with a remit to refresh the agency’s website. But after reviewing the brand and identity, Holt recommended a larger rebrand for the company, to contemporise the brand for a fashion-savvy market of business customers and to better communicate their new core offer of stills and motion.

The result was a rename, becoming 2c Artist Management from the former moniker of 2c Management, and a new identity befitting the impeccable creative standards set by the agency’s roster of top-tier talent.

The new mark crafted by Holt brings together the 2 and ‘c’ to create a single, elegant letterform. The numeral 2 sits inside the ‘c’, which takes a moment to reveal itself as a letter. Seeking to retain the equity of the original brand, this encircling is a nod to the ‘copyright symbol’ of the logo past and invites one to step within the circle of 2c Artist Management.

The new logo consciously combines sans serif and serif typography, customising the typeface Freight Text Book with a bespoke sans ‘c’. The core identity is designed to sit back and allow the photography of the company’s artists to take centre stage. When the logo appears without imagery, the use of colour is employed to create an adaptable and evolving identity. Holt aimed to create a classic, elegant mark with timeless appeal, and utilised embossing printing techniques and classic formats such as a post card series, in the applications across collateral.

Says Holt: “Business to business branding can be a challenge, because you are speaking to an educated audience, so the work needs to be spot on. And when you are working with a strongly established brand, a refresh must work hard to create more value. But remaining contemporary and relevant are essential to building a business with longevity and 2c recognise that.”

Tammy McLean, who co-founded 2c Artist Management with Julie Marshall, is thrilled with the work from Holt.

Says McLean: “Our business has been successful and our old identity had been with us since we started. Nonetheless, the decision to change it was easy, but getting the right person for the project was a complicated and important one. After seeing the work created, it made us certain the rebrand was the right thing. The new brand is an elegant and modern refresh and speaks to where we are now and where we want to go.”