"With such an exciting approach to hosting and cloud services, we needed to create a brand identity that was simply unlike anything else in the sector."
David Newton, AHOYs Creative Director
Multi-award winning branding and digital agency AHOY have today formally launched Steamhaus’ brand website, the final touchpoint in their comprehensive, contemporary brand identity for the ambitious new entrant in Manchester’s cloud services arena.
AHOY’s identity draws upon a ‘steampunk’ aesthetic, with a central airship illustration created by illustrator Rick Jones. This illustration not only serves as Steamhaus’ marque, but also as a nod to the company’s commitment to the cloud, with their brand airship literally being embedded within clouds on the Steamhaus homepage.
Outside of Jones’ illustration, AHOY’s challenge was conveying ‘steampunk’ in a wholly contemporary way, distancing the brand from steampunk’s cult, enthusiast following by using clean, art deco-inspired lines, and avoiding pastiches typically associated with the aesthetic (e.g. cogs and rivets). As well as determining fonts, brand colour palettes, appropriate photography styles, determining the brand’s tone of voice and so on, the agency created several bespoke brand badges and text lock-ups, using them to add emphasis or flourishes to sections of body copy within their fully responsive, Wordpress-powered website intended to serve as the central location for all things Steamhaus.
David Newton, AHOY’s creative director, said: “With such an exciting approach to hosting and cloud services, we needed to create a brand identity that was simply unlike anything else in the sector, and I think we’ve more than succeeded in delivering that for Steamhaus. Daniel and Dennis have been great to work with, and we will be watching their moves from here onwards very closely!”
Daniel Keighron-Foster, Steamhaus’ managing director, said: “We’ve been blown away by the reception that Steamhaus has got, even on a purely visual level. We’ve made the exact kind of splash that we were hoping to make, and it’s hard not to give AHOY’s branding at least some of the credit for the waves that we’ve been able to make at such an early stage. Though I’ve been impressed with AHOY when I’ve worked with them in the past, this time they have delivered in a way that has completely surpassed my expectations.”
