CASE STUDY - DELVE & STRATUM
Delve and Stratum is a Project Planning and Construction Project Control Management company.
They provide a unique range of services within the construction, civil and infrastructure industry across New Zealand.
We were asked to design a memorable and classy brand for their growing company.
Jon Tarr - Design Commentary
Delve & Stratum are sometimes abbreviated to D&S. So I decided to look to design a monogram symbol which incorporates both of those letterforms.
I sketched out various combinations of those letters looking for the right form.
It wasn't enough just to have a singular flat shape — I wanted it to be simple but also complex the more you look at it.
Their business is involves making complex things simple so a theme like that made sense to me. The cuts give the shape a looping, layered effect.
Next was the wordmark itself.
I wanted the main version to be vertically stacked so that it could sit beside the symbol without being too long.
The letter forms needed to be cohesive with the shape of the symbol. So I reshaped the D and the S to have some visual continuity with that.
i.e. the serifs of the D, the angle and the tail of the S.
The following letters received some similar treatment to the serifs, ends and angles to create something classy but not too complex.
I made some cuts to parts of the letters and particularly to the & which I wanted to be larger and more of a feature.
These cuts give the lettering some of the overlapping layering that the monogram has.
“This is outstanding work Jon. I am very happy with this!! Many Thanks Aaron Hooper”
Aaron Hooper, Director - Delve&Stratum