How do you bring one of NSW’s oldest and most-respected concrete manufacturers into the modern landscape while still paying respect to their heritage? That’s the challenge we faced when Structural Concrete Industries approached us for a rebrand. Applying the same precision and care that SCI put into all their projects, we laid down an identity that speaks to the brand’s history and forms the foundation of its future.
- Brand strategy •
- Verbal identity •
- Visual identity •
- Art direction •
- Photography •
- Website design & build
Awards
What’s all this then?
Structural Concrete Industries is NSW’s leading precast and prestressed concrete manufacturer for civil, marine and building infrastructure. Established in 1979 by founder Godfrey Smith, they’ve spent the last four decades shaping Sydney’s infrastructure — from tunnels and roads to iconic sites like the Sydney Opera House, Barangaroo Cutaway, ABC Concert Hall, and ICC Sydney.
Any insights?
In recent years, more and more international competitors have stepped into the Australian market. Despite being highly revered in the industry, SCI’s strong reputation and relationships aren’t always enough when tender decisions are made away from the boardroom.
And what seems to be the problem?
With an unclear visual brand and outdated website, SCI needed an identity and online presence that would reflect both their long-respected history and their modern, adaptive ability to create custom, enduring concrete components with the utmost precision and detail.
So how’d you go about it?
Before hitting the tools ourselves, we worked alongside MamaTray to develop a brand strategy and tone of voice that would bring the business forward from their yesteryear foundations to leaders in the modern industry.
Then came the visual identity. Each project SCI works on is backed with experienced thinking, precise engineering and seamless craftsmanship. A solid foundation is the only way to ensure each step that follows can be secure and correct. This idea informed the logomark, which expresses the multitudes of complexity that can exist within a simple, elegant system built on a strong foundation.
The identity’s modularity and scalability reflects SCI’s ability to create solutions that are both bespoke yet able to be standardised and repeatedly implemented for decades to come. The palette and design were both chosen with regard to the company’s conservative audience, who want to see an outfit that’s able to adapt to a changing market while remaining professional and grounded.
Casting a light on precast
Photography presented an opportunity to showcase the unique processes of SCI. Working with Photographer Tim Jones, we captured moments around the site as well as final structures. The photography direction utilises interesting angles and strong, sharp shadows to emphasise the precise lines afforded by precast concrete manufacturing.
Concreting a place in the digital space
Wanting to carry the essence of the identity throughout every touchpoint of the rebrand, we developed a visually-rich website that aligned with the level of precision and detail that SCI deliver in all their projects. While it brings the brand into a modern space digitally, we were also sure to highlight the rich history of the organisation, with a visual timeline dating all the way back to their inception in 1979. Industry leaders today and forty years ago? Get you a structural concrete company who can do both.
And the end result?
For a company that came to us with a murky brand presence, one thing is now definitely clear: they’re a business that imbues into their work a sense of precision and robustness so strong it could only come from a long and respectable heritage. SCI now has an identity built with the same rigor of carefully considered detail that their team put into every project they do.
Collaborators
- Photography • Tim Jones
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