Design Case Study: Tru-Bilt Fabrications
Commenced Project: 2013
Major areas of design completed: Print Design, Web Design and Branding
Transforming a brick-and-mortar company into something special
Tru-Bilt Fabrications is the perfect example of a small business who was stuck in a pre-web era. Like so many companies, the jump from a traditional brick and mortar business, to one that could also incorporate more print media and a mobile ready website, was daunting.
I began with Tru-Bilt by discussing their existing brand, and what their logo meant to them. Their logo and brand image at the time was very old fashioned. Their brand had a lot of inconsistencies, no real direction and lacked the depth and quality that their product and workmanship certainly did have. The big thing for Tru-Bilt was the fear of change – something we can all relate to even in our day to day lives.
A shift in mindset, guts and determination. That's what it took for Tru-Bilt to be an old-fashioned business, to beautifully designed, print and web powerhouse.
Rebranding a Melbourne company with their existing logo and transforming their company image
I can remember the first bit of branding I did for Tru-Bilt, which was working on the brand image of their existing website (shown in the first image on this page). It was, even at the time, old fashioned and only allowed for minimal changes.
Tru-Bilt made a massive change, and I think could realise their potential, when they decided to hire me to work on their product brochure. Approximately 28 pages in length, the aim was to cover all their different sheds and garages, explain who and what Tru-Bilt was and what they stand for. But, what was most important for Tru-Bilt, was to finally have their brand image reflect the quality of their product.
As part of the brochure design, I went around parts of Melbourne and Victoria taking photos of their products on site. This included visiting their customers homes and taking photos of completed sheds, visiting work sites where they were being built, and also taking photos of their product at their warehouse in Braeside. They now have a large database of photography, both raw and edited, to show prospective clients and customers. They have photos of completed sheds, custom sheds, joins and brackets, materials, construction methods, and so on.
Tru-Bilt retain the heritage of their brand, but also portray the strength and modern use of technology in their product. They feel like the quality brand they are.
The quality of their product now matched the quality of their collateral
I integrated these photos, created illustrations and gave the company as a whole some significant brand direction with the brochure. Printed on a high gsm, glossy white stock, the brochure now reflects the quality of their product.
From this point, I’ve created signage, banners, document wallets and business cards for Tru-Bilt further completing their printed brand image.
I then built Tru-Bilt a Wordpress website to further enhance their brand image as a whole. The website is solid, modern, structured and uses a lot of beautiful visual design cues targeting the demographic they want to sell to. But what has to be acknowledged is the Tru-Bilt of old – a company who was stuck in the 90s. They’re now visually a progressive, modern company, with a website and printed image better than a lot of their competition. Their material oozes confidence and the premium touch they so thoroughly deserve to portray to their customers.
Tru-Bilt gave me a lot of freedom to create what I felt what was the best representation of their company. The style I've integrated into their corporate material, the colour palette and use of type all now are very identifiable as the Tru-Bilt brand.
For the website, I’ve modelled 3D renders in Cinema 4D using their AutoCad files. This has a huge range of versatility allowing them to show exactly what they want. Each product is visually represented with the right amount of visual and textual information. The continued growth in the website, with easy to use (but in depth) forms, has been a huge benefit for Tru-Bilt.
Renders of the Tru-Bilt product allow us to demonstrate joints and features of the products they manufacture. This allows us to be extremely accurate with what we want to show and how.
I just love what Tru-Bilt has allowed me to do. I have so much respect for how they went out of their comfort zone and allowed me to brand them, with a substantial amount of creative freedom. I think what this has resulted in is an extremely stable visual base, a clear target demographic and on-going success with their design image.
Time to reinvent your brand?
Hopefully this insight has allowed you to see the depth and consideration that I put into branding. I'd love to work together to ensure your brand has the same.