Horizon Financial was founded in 1993 as the Horizon Group. For 30 years, the company has helped Rochester, New York, families manage and preserve wealth. The company prides itself on tradition, caring for its clients, hard work and a personal touch.
The company’s first office was in a Rochester office park. The office was sufficient for the business, but its aesthetic didn’t align with the business’s ethos and attitude. In 2004, Horizon Financial purchased and renovated an historic 1832 Federalist style cobblestone house. Shortly thereafter, a drawing of the renovated house became the company’s de facto logo. Images of the house appeared on the company website and on screens welcoming clients to the office. The house is a point of pride.
BRanding Project Overview
In 2015, a financial industry-wide change resulted in the formation of second company: Horizon Advisory Services. For six years, the two company names and logos existed in tandem. The Horizon Group remained the name visible to the public, while Horizon Advisory Services was used for the company’s financial work and reporting. Even after the company’s assets moved to Horizon Advisory Services, the company remained known as the Horizon Group. The company’s primary logo continued to bear the Horizon Group name, as did its website address, website copy, business cards, letterhead and outdoor signs.
In 2021, Horizon leadership approached Insomniac Studios with the goal of unifying the two companies under one name, one logo, one tagline and one consistent brand identity. The project’s goal was to establish consistent branding and visual identity. Leadership offered a list of provisions which guided the logo design and brand identity project. Insomniac Studios was tasked with following:
Merge two companies under one name
Develop consistent and recognizable branding
Create a new tagline and messaging
Design a new company logo or flexible logo system
Develop a new print branding (business cards and letterhead)
Develop a comprehensive and consistent branding style guide
Company Values
Horizon Financial’s core values are the cornerstone of the company’s ethos and ethics. These positive qualities provide a compass by which the company navigates. Each client, vendor and employment decision is guided by the following tenets: caring, accountability, professionalism, honesty, transparency, awake (or vigilance) and awareness. These emotional values distinguish Horizon Financial from its competitors and serve as the foundation for the company’s brand.
These emotional values distinguish Horizon Financial from its competitors and serve as the foundation for the company’s brand.
Great care was taken to update the Horizon Financial brand. The company spent 30 years building client and community trust. Any decision that might tarnish or contradict that reputation was immediately discarded.
Branding Deliverables
The first branding project was to identify a new company name. The new name would inform the taglines and messaging, which would then inspire the logo design. The logo design process influenced the business card and letterhead graphic design. Choices made in these projects were used to develop the branding style guide.
New Company Name
Per firm leadership, the company was to retain the word ‘Horizon’ as part of the name. With that criterion established, Insomniac Studios developed options for a new name to replace the company’s previous two names: Horizon Group and Horizon Advisory Services.
Tagline and Messaging
Insomniac Studios wrote several new taglines to position the company and its financial services.
Logo Design
The new logo was designed with considerations for use on Horizon’s print identity materials, website, social media accounts and signs. Insomniac Studios presented Horizon leadership with three logo design concepts. Each logo design concept included a business card and letterhead mock up to illustrate how the proposed logo design may appear in real-world applications.
Print Identity
With the name, tagline and logo established, Insomniac Studios designed the financial planning company’s print identity. This included company business cards, letterhead and mailing envelopes.
Brand Style Guide
Insomniac Studios wrote and designed the Horizon Financial corporate identity or branding style guide. The 44-page document secured every aspect of the company’s new look. The branding style guide identified logos, proper logo use, fonts, colors and color formulas.
New Company Name
Client leadership asked Insomniac Studios to develop a new company name with the caveat it retain the word ‘Horizon.’ The new name replaced the company’s two names: Horizon Group and Horizon Advisory Services.
One of the project’s objectives was to attract new clients to the company. To accomplish this, Insomniac Studios’ strategy was to focus on creating a descriptive or recognizable name that could aid the company’s search results. Insomniac Studios considered the company’s current brand identity and values and determined the new name should be traditional and industry specific. Overly contrived or clever names would either not show up in an online search or contradict the Horizon Group’s traditional values and company culture.
Insomniac Studios proposed the new name Horizon Financial. The two-word name is as short, simple and memorable as Horizon Group and it provided a smooth transition between the two names. This minimized confusion. The change from ‘Group’ to ‘Financial’ quickly and easily identified the organization as a financial company and removes the ambiguity of the word ‘Group,’ which denotes quantity, not industry.
Tag LIne
In its 30-year history, the financial planning company used several taglines or promotional marketing phrases. Insomniac Studios evaluated these taglines and presented new options to position company leadership.
Taglines too heavily focused on finance, profit or wealth were quickly eliminated. There exists too much value in Horizon Financial’s more commendable brand attributes to focus solely on money.
Horizon Financial’s new tagline is ‘Look to the Horizon.’ It is friendly, approachable, catchy, memorable, colloquial, aspirational, optimistic, promotional, flexible and references the company name in four short words. The tagline can be paired with any service and target almost any demographic. It says, ‘If you need financial services, look no further than Horizon Financial. We can help you.’
It says, ‘If you need financial services, look no further than Horizon Financial. We can help you.’
The tagline’s voice provides flexibility. Some taglines, by virtue of how they are written and the words used, carry a certain sound or tone. Some can’t help but be read seriously, while others, sound inherently friendly or playful. ‘Look to the Horizon,’ while a command, can sound sympathetic and comforting or it can read matter of fact.
There is an aspirational element to the tagline. Looking to the physical horizon conjures images of daybreak and new beginnings. The horizon embodies hope and accomplishment, change and improvement. That sense of optimism is imparted to Horizon Financial by virtue of the company’s name. The tagline ‘Look to the Horizon’ leverages the feelings of hope and optimism in word ‘horizon.’
Daybreak images may be appropriate for advertisements and marketing materials. These may focus on change or new beginnings, for example the birth of child, planning for college tuition, a work promotion or saving for a new home. Conversely, images of sunsets can represent tranquility and rest. Sunset images are used to promote retirement planning, estate planning or establishing a trust.
Logo Design Brief
Horizon leadership asked Insomniac Studios to create three logo design concepts. The team would then select one for final production. Each of the three logo designs Insomniac Studios created explored a unique theme, expanded on branding concepts both familiar and foreign, and further pushed the boundaries and expectations of what the Horizon Financial brand can be.
Logo Design Process
Horizon Financial is a financial planning company. It it advises people in financial decisions and helps people to plan for retirement. This is a statement of fact. Each of Horizon Financial’s clients is on a journey, lasting years or decades. From day they start saving, Horizon Financial stewards client wealth and expectations. Without the company, the task could be daunting and formidable.
Who Horizon Financial is, however, is a statement of perception and emotion. Horizon Financial is a a trusted member of the Rochester community. It values people and relationships more than profit.
Horizon Financial is a a trusted member of the Rochester community. It values people and relationships more than profit.
Horizon Financial provides direction. It offers clarity, guidance and peace of mind. Horizon Financial provides those who are unsure or unable the means to get from point A to point B. It is a compass, guided by strong values and a deep personal connection to its clients’ wellbeing. To look to the horizon is to chart a course—to make bold plans.
Slowly, the idea for a new logo design emerged that included a wide, optimistic horizon of possibility combined with a directional compass.
The final logo design combines a compass with the letter H at its center. The compass is a symbol of direction and wayfinding. Below the compass, an arching horizon line lends weight and perspective the mark. Together, the compass and horizon line form a stylized sunrise representing the future and limitless possibility.
Horizon Financial provides direction. It offers clarity, guidance and peace of mind.
The new logo design represents a shift in the company’s brand identity from the tangible elements of the historic cobble stone house to the thematic direction the company provides its clients.
Insomniac Studios created three main logos as part of a flexible logo system. The primary logo design features the compass rising over the words Horizon Financial horizontally stretching below. The secondary logo design stacks the company name beneath the logo mark. The auxiliary logo design comprises a full compass and letter H without the horizon arch. As part of the flexible logo system, Insomniac Studios also delivered a series of alternate logo designs. The alternate logos have solid compass points rather than the dimensional compass points on the main logos. Because they have less detail, these alternate logos are for small-scale applications, like social media avatars.
Navigate: Logo Design | Secondary Logo Design | Auxiliary Logo Design | Alternate Logo Designs | Company Branding | Marketing
Logo Design
Navigate: Logo Design | Secondary Logo Design | Auxiliary Logo Design | Alternate Logo Designs | Company Branding | Marketing
Secondary Logo Design
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Auxiliary Logo Design
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Alternate Logo Designs
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Company Branding
Navigate: Logo Design | Secondary Logo Design | Auxiliary Logo Design | Alternate Logo Designs | Company Branding | Marketing
Marketing
Navigate: Logo Design | Secondary Logo Design | Auxiliary Logo Design | Alternate Logo Designs | Company Branding | Marketing
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