LOD Animated Brand Stop Motion Video from Design Friendship on Vimeo.
We first met Jonathan Brenner and Simon Harper, founders of LOD (Lawyers On Demand) back in 2011. At the time they were 3 years into their venture, Simon was still a partner at BLP and they had just brought on their first member of staff.
It’s not often that you hear the word ‘innovation’ associated with the legal industry, but in our initial conversations it became clear that innovation played a key role in Jonathan and Simon’s vision and of course the brand’s DNA.
In late 2014, seven years after the launch of Lawyers On Demand, LOD had successfully disrupted the legal landscape and carved out a new approach to practising law in the UK and beyond.
For several years there had been numerous discussions about the future of the brand, as Lawyers On Demand was now commonly referred to as LOD both by the internal teams and by its external clients. It was felt that LOD was a far better fit for the brand moving forward.
The new LOD mark (above) was chosen for it’s bold, iconic, symmetry that focused on the capitalised initials of the original brand name. Aesthetically we centred the mark around a customised letter ‘O’ to form two brackets which are widely use throughout the legal profession. The two halves of the ‘O’ icon represent the central role LOD plays in bringing two parties together… Lawyer & Client.
As we explored how the various branding elements would work together we began experimenting with different layout grids.
The idea was to marry the interconnecting lines of the Icon and grid system with the geometric blocks they created, resulting in an adaptable alphabet of unique shapes, patterns and graphics. This concept was a perfect way to show the creative and innovative nature of the LOD approach, the varied personalities and skill sets of the LOD lawyers, and the structured landscape of law.
We extended the grid system concept to the whole LOD mark as shown above, flat graphics and intersecting lines create personality, tactile shapes result in a rich, varied and exciting visual brand language.
One hundred individually hand cut blocks were crafted to form the next chapter of the LOD brand identity. After experimenting with materials in the prototype stage it was decided that the natural finish of red cedar wood, set against the brands existing grey background, struck the right balance between the previous identity and the potential of the new.
The individually shaped pieces represent the diverse roster of highly motivated and experienced freelance lawyers LOD offers to its growing client base.
LOD rebranded website, mobile & social media look & feel
LOD brand stationery & collateral
LOD brand press advertising
“At LOD we wanted to put good visual design at the heart of a new type of legal service. It has been a crucial part of our growth and for more than 3 years, Design Friendship have been great partners in developing our business vision from a design perspective”.
– Simon Harper, LOD Co-Founder
If you have a project that you’d like to discuss with Design Friendship please email us at: hello@designfriendship.com
