Silk Pearce's fresh identity welcomes a new chapter for the Colchester agency

The trio takes over from founders Peter Silk and Jack Pearce, who launched the Colchester-based firm in 1985, gaining a reputation in the industry for their strong ideas-based design across branding, print and digital. Clients thus far include Royal Mail, Favini, Mahogany Opera, Norfolk & Norwich Festival and Snape Maltings, amongst others.

In this new phase, Silk Pearce looks to draw from its strong heritage in print, design and branding and reposition its "craftsmanship within a "wider future-facing landscape," as the agency puts it.

To mark the brand takeover with a clear visual language, everything is new – the logo, typeface, colour, language, and illustration. "Yet, we also didn't want to forget where we'd come from," Rob Steer tells Creative Boom. "The concept was therefore inspired by both our long heritage in print and our new digital offering, a powerful mix of past and future. This comes across in our colour palette – an electric, modern version of the traditional CMYK. The three neon colours also represent the three new creative partners who are the collaborative minds behind the new Silk Pearce."

Apparently, the takeover was planned months before Covid-19 was even a thing. "It was pure coincidence that it was all completed a week before the first national lockdown," explains Rob. "We had lots of plans for 2020 that have had to be put on the backburner and naturally like most businesses the pandemic has affected our workflow.

"Yet, there are always positives. Recent downtime has given us time to really focus on our new identity and website, and also acted as a catalyst for changing how we work together. Flexible working was something we were keen to introduce pre-Covid and we now know we can work successfully as a creative studio from home. That's not to say there aren't challenges, and we're certainly chomping at the bit to all get around the same table again."

Silk Pearce is already looking to the future and has some exciting projects lined up for 2021. Rob, Ian and Anthony also plan to explore their studio arrangements: "Whether that's looking to downsize or repurpose our current space, which will give us a fresh impetus – change is always good for that," says Rob.

"Of course, we're mindful that things won't get back to normal anytime soon, but we're certainly feeling good about the steps we've already taken and are looking forward to what 2021 will throw at us. It can't be any harder than 2020, right?!"