Calm Capital
Creating a refined brand for an atypical investment company
Background
Calm Capital buys and invests in good businesses. These companies possess immense durability, strong client relationships, capable staff, and profitable earnings. They work with selling-founders to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome, offering straightforward terms and a simple process.
Their primary business target is retiring business owners looking to sell to an entity that will provide peace-of-mind for them so they can enter the next chapter of their lives knowing what they built and who they employ and do business with will be taken care of.
Our Approach
The partners of Calm see their company as atypical and wanted a logo conveying quiet sophistication with a steady hand. They don’t buy companies to extract value and flip them. They work to streamline operations and discover untapped potential in employees.
The nested Cs provide an idea of a safe harbor for these retiring owners. The wave pattern is a nod to both the idea of calm waters and the print techniques traditionally used on financial documents to try to eliminate fraud. The blue hues are also a nod to the nautical nature of the name and the wave visual, while the use of a geometric sans serif typeface makes the company feel approachable and technologically adept.
The idea of a safe harbor for owners looking to sell their companies was front-and-center from the beginning, as was the idea of making the company feel more progressive and interesting to set Calm apart from other sellers the business owner may be considering. The wave pattern has been adapted for use on other materials as well, providing a secondary way to reinforce the brand without always having to use the logo.
The partners also like golf (one is a former touring golfer), so they have some golf-themed materials as well.
The company has fully embraced the logo, using it on items like hats and jackets as well as more traditional business correspondence like notecards. They are really into giveaways for their clients and will be using the mark more as opportunities (and ideas) present themselves.
Discipline
Graphic Design
Client
Calm Capital
Responsibilities
Art direction and design, printing oversight
Project Team
Elliot Strunk - Fifth Letter
David Horne - Calm Capital