Judge's comments:

Such design craft & quality. Sets a benchmark for how corporate brands should look & communicate around sustainability.

Description:

Meridian Energy required a new visual identity that was better equipped to represent its positioning as a 100% renewable energy retailer and generator. They needed their logo and broader visual system to be bolder, more self-assured, warmer, and capable of talking to both the existing customer base and the growing conscious consumer sector.

The design response for the primary logo combined two areas of investigation; the primary energy sources — wind, water, sun; and the ways energy is converted — via turbines and rotors. The resulting logo is a symbol that utilises cyclical and perpetual motion as a metaphor for renewable energy. The logo can also be deconstructed and used as a graphical brand device to house imagery and/or messaging.

Like many brands today, it exists mostly in the digital realm. The identity system moved from a print paradigm to a screen paradigm. This allowed the brand palette to be RGB first, creating colours that are more vibrant, energetic, and ‘plugged-in’. A unique pattern was created that is constructed from elements of the master symbol. The pattern references weather patterns and can be easily recognised as an extension of the Meridian brand.

The project was to design a graphic identity system that allowed the internal Meridian design team and partner agencies to implement future works. A comprehensive graphics standards manual was created to establish principles, rules, and templates. High-level consultancy and art direction of photographic assets continue.