Our work for Irish Stock Exchange

ISE suite of regulatory rulebooks

19 July 2010

 

As part of our re-branding of the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE), we redesigned their complete suite of regulatory rulebooks. These rulebooks are used by member companies as a daily reference to the legal trading rules of the ISE markets.

This suite of books forms an integral part of the new ISE branding system. Our use of bespoke visual patterns, strong clear typography, and distinctive colour-coding ensures that these complex documents are delivered in the most coherent and user-friendly manner.

Because these rulebooks are a constant reference source, they represent one of the key brand touchpoints for the ISE. We identified this significant fact and for that reason we worked closely with the printing company to significantly improve the printed quality, durability and utility of these rulebooks. These new rulebooks reaffirm the qualities of the ISE brand to its clients every time that they are used.

 

Irish Stock Exchange brand identity

10 May 2010

The Irish Stock Exchange's vision is to be the leading European specialist exchange business and the most agile market operator for, and in partnership with, Irish and international capital market participants. We have created a comprehensive brand identity system for the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) designed to support their key strategic objectives.

Daryl Byrne, Head of Strategy Planning & Brand at ISE says "BFK understood the complex strategic issues at the heart of our branding brief and distilled those into a powerful, consistent and flexible identity system that equips us to deliver greater consistency in all of our interactions with our customers and stakeholders, and facilitates our business development objectives."

The centrepiece of the new brand identity system is our updated brand mark which presents a modern face for an organisation with over one hundred years of history. We have given more emphasis to the ISE name and we have redefined the castle element from within the existing crest as the basis for the new modernised crest symbol.

Our new brand identity system also unites the previously disparate identities of the ISE's three markets under a unified brand architecture. The markets were renamed and rationalised as part of the branding project. Their new marks strongly associate them with ISE and better communicate the breadth of the exchange's offering.

In what is a rarity now, this new brand identity is not being rolled out on a phased basis. Everything is being switched over on Monday 10 May 2010. Our project management expertise and processes ensured that over 140 discrete rebranded instances (everything from signage to stationery) were completed on schedule.

All thirteen of the ISE's listing rule books have been redesigned and republished. Initially, they will be the most prominent examples of the new ISE brand patterns––a unique suite of visual iconography that forms an integral part of the new corporate identity system.

We have created a comprehensive suite of over eighty digital documents and forms. All of the various forms used by ISE clients now share common layout conventions, consistent structures and visual appearance. We enhanced the implementation of this suite of documents with on-site training for the relevant ISE personnel, giving them confident ownership of the digital assets they will be managing.

We also wrote and produced a detailed brand management publication that records all of the decisions taken to date and gives guidance on how to implement the ISE brand identity system in the future.

 

Report on Combined Code on Corporate Governance

08 March 2010

We have designed the recently published "Report on Compliance with the Combined Code on Corporate Governance by Irish Listed Companies", for the Irish Stock Exchange and the Irish Association of Investment Managers.

The ISE and IAIM commissioned an independent review of the level of compliance by Irish listed companies with the Combined Code. A Review Panel established by both organisations examined and commented on the findings of that review. This resulting report assesses those levels of compliance and provides observations and recommendations which may facilitate more meaningful disclosure of information in annual reports in the future.

This being quite a technical subject for a specific defined audience allowed us to craft a very refined design treatment for the report. Our aim was to define an appropriate typographic structure to best communicate the essence of this major report. It is a handsome, unique sized volume printed in two colours. Our understated publication design was enhanced with some special features and details in the print production, particularly front and back cover flaps and solid metallic ink interior covers. Our publication design was well-received with the relevant target audiences.

 

Update: Although this report was published two months before the introduction of our new brand identity system for the Irish Stock Exchange in May, we were able to preemptively incorporate many aspects of that system in this publication's design. It features one of the new ISE brand patterns on the cover and is typeset in their new corporate typeface.

ISE Corporate Governance Conference

29 January 2010

Recent economic and financial events have raised questions about corporate governance culture and practices throughout the world. We worked with the Irish Stock Exchange to brand their conference: 'Corporate Governance Challenges - 2010 and beyond', which took place in Dublin's Four Seasons Hotel on 29 January. This high-level forum centred on discussions by distinguished panellists and was attended by directors of public companies listed on the ISE.

We created a clear and effective visual system that reflected the Exchanges’ values of innovation, professionalism, collaboration and openness. We used strong typography, vibrant colours and created bespoke graphic patterns that were used on all visual elements, including on-screen presentations, promotional literature and display signage. This ensured a cohesive overall visual style for this conference.

Daryl Byrne, the Head of Strategy Planning and Brand at the Irish Stock Exchange, said that "the team at BFK exceeded our expectations, both with their design recommendations and with their ability to deliver on many requirements within our timeframe."

Tánaiste Mary Coughlan TD with ISE Chairman Padraic O’Connor and ISE Chief Executive Deirdre Somers at the Corporate Governance conference.