Alpha teamed up with Martijn Rijven to produce this full-circle branding project for Ruffian, a new production company based in Los Angeles. At it's core, Ruffian is an unconventional type of company which aims to force open creative boundaries by providing talent and production services that go further than what's expected.
PRODUCED
Logo • Icons • Tone of voice • Stationery • Print layout • Website elements • Printing
Like all design, there's never only one solution - and in this case we explored many styles before agreeing on one direction.
Martijn's type and quick visualisation skills were invaluable in getting out many versions which were all highly developed.
TONE OF VOICE
Ruffian's personality can be described as "a charming troublemaker". Think James Bond. Founder and Exec Producer Robert Herman wanted a design that felt crafted and high-end but also delivered the message that Ruffians aren't afraid to get their hands dirty to get the job done.
DESIGN ELEMENTS
Knuckledusters have a harsh connotation but by making them gold, we felt they could create a good tension between unusual notions such as glamour and toughness, luxury and danger, regalness and brute force. Now they are often mistaken for a crown at first, which plays brilliantly along with Ruffian's enexpected persona.
Alongside the main logo, we extracted a set of icons that could be used for account profiles and other restricted circumstances where branding is needed.
STATIONERY
Business cards (each employee) • Compliment slip • Envelope • Letterhead
Alpha likes using independent suppliers and craftspeople so everything was printed here in Amsterdam by a local offset printer.
They used a gold foil for the knuckledusters and printed on a clean bright card for best contrast with the dark blue colour.
STAMP
For everyday use, we made a rubber stamp of the knuckledusters to be used with gold ink. A nice personal touch with a rough look that can be added to gifts or promotional materials from Ruffian.
WEB
On ruffian.co the logo acts as a bold introduction for the company and works with the images below to reinforce the unconventional attitude. The site uses the Slate platform to deliver video content and was built by Neverbland.com
As a simplified version, the knuckles were placed above each director's name to both claim them as being part of the company also as a symbol of pride.
Thanks to Robert Herman and the Ruffian team for the opportunity to be involved in this project.
