Chorus Brand Design

Client: Chorus
Project: Branding & Design


For the first six months, Chorus SmartSecure didn’t even have a name. So, that’s where we started. Together with the owners, we created a name and strategy for the brand prior to the public launch. The President and part-owner of the company is a big music lover. He approached us with the idea of naming the company "Chorus,” which we instantly loved. This opened up a great opportunity to use musical terms in branding and marketing. As a security, smart home, and high-end entertainment system provider, the possibilities were endless. "Everyone should feel Safe & Sound in their home." 

"When everything in your home works together in perfect harmony, it's music to our ears." 

When these ideas were presented to the owner, the company tagline was born.

"We bring harmony to life."

We love those kinds of moments in the creative process. When multiple people are collaborating with each other to create great work, it's something that's hard to beat!


THE CHALLENGE:

There are a lot of established security companies and even more startups. When investigating the competitors’ branding strategies, there was a great deal of similarity in many of the logos, colors, and design strategies. For example, there were endless primary blues and reds and bold fonts with hard corners. We understood the design psychology that led these brands in that direction, but sometimes going against the grain can have the most impact. 

Chorus is more than a security company -- it's a technology company. Who do people think of when they think of cutting-edge tech? Most frequently, they think about the younger generations. We wanted the design for Chorus to fully embrace a strategy around that market


LOGO:

We chose fonts that were thin-medium and rounded. They are friendly and "smart" without the attitude of a bolder, squared-off font. The colors chosen were to develop on creating a more personable brand, whale being in line with the phrases such as, "We bring harmony to life." We wanted to have a graphical secondary mark that visually represented the company. We created a simple lock with a wifi symbol which worked perfectly as the replacement for the "o" in Chorus.

UNIFORMS:

We also designed the uniform around a casual untucked shirt in the bright teal used as the main brand color, to be professional without being "stuffy" and was more inviting, youthful, and modern. With this, we pitched the idea of incorporating a youthful, tech-savvy feel into everything they branded.

MARKETING LANGUAGE:

We wrote a lot of messaging and possible product and security package names around musical terms. We presented ideas like calling a base package the "Melody", and a slightly more complex system the "Duet,” and the top-of-the-line system the "Symphony.” Outside of product names, there were even more ways to build the company voice around those terms. The headline of the website currently uses one of those lines.

"Are your most precious assets Safe & Sound?"

FLEET:

It is expensive to paint and/or wrap vehicles. But as a strategy to build brand awareness, it is more than worth the expense. Because of the bold teal color, a Chorus vehicle can be spotted from a mile down the interstate. It’s eye-catching and unique, there aren’t other vehicles this color on the road. The color strategy is even more pronounced in a neighborhood. The vans are moving billboards that can't be missed.

PRINT COLLATERAL:

We wanted to use the lock icon in as many creative ways as possible. One of those ways was designing envelopes that have to be "unlocked" as you open them. Even though it may seem like a small detail, people enjoy thoughtful design elements like this. When something is clever and done often, it builds trust and causes more interaction with your marketing materials, because people want to know what you're going to do next.

CONCLUSION:

We thoroughly enjoyed the challenges and end result of this branding project. It gives us joy to see that Chorus teal when I am on my way to work, or the store, or out around town. We look forward to seeing continued growth for the team at Chorus SmartSecure and we are honored they trusted us with their brand!