Rolling out the identity

Hofmann's is an elite company serving the luxury end of the car market, restoring, brokering and race preparing exclusive marks including, Rolls Royce, Bentley and Jaguar cars.

Uniquely, Hofmann's manufactures components in-house from an extensive library of orginal working drawings, to provide bespoke parts for its vintage customers.

In early 2007 the company wanted a new look, to coincide with a management restructuring, and French Jones was selected to design its new corporate identity.

We started by looking at what the company represents and who its customers are. They have varying backgrounds and lifestyles, but all are brought together through a passion for luxurious, prestige cars.

The company can be broken down into three elements, vintage, contemporary and racing. French Jones came up with the concept of an image representing each element; Rolls Royce Phantom for vintage, Bentley GT Continental  for contemporary and a Nissan Group C car for racing. The subjects were shot in-house in a stylistic way, emphasising the shape and lines of the cars.

They then formed the basis of the corporate identity through branding, stationery and advertising. The design communicates the messages of elegance, classical and high quality products and service.

Matt Smith, head of design at French Jones, was the key client handler and was pleased with the end result, 'Hofmann's was a step away from our usual client base, but it was a particularly interesting subject matter and it shows French Jones's potential for design and communication'.