Our brand carried us through more than a decade of growth. It shaped how we showed up through reinventions, refinements, and the evolution of our work. By 2025, we recognised it was time to elevate it. We’d grown. Our ambition had grown and this raised our own standards with it. So, we did what we always do – we questioned all we do from the ground up, starting with our very foundations.

Just as we do with our clients, we started with a structured diagnostic: the 20-point analysis. While we’ve never formally scored ourselves, the framework is ingrained in how we think. We knew where the gaps were, and the model brought both our strengths and areas for improvement into focus. In particular, it highlighted:

That’s what the 20-point analysis is designed to do: shine a light on strengths and weaknesses in the business so you can take deliberate and strategic actions, proactively.

The updates weren’t sweeping, but they were significant, tightening what was already strong and aligning it with where we’re heading. Most importantly, we shaped them to hold ourselves to the same standards we set for our clients.

Because the team was already aligned in direction and spirit, the refinements felt less like reinvention and more like re-articulation. A clearer way of expressing who we already were.

The core of what we stand for hasn’t changed. But we’ve learned more about ourselves as we grew, and we made sure this is respected in the way we articulate our values and the promise we make to our clients. The relevance was further amplified as we shifted our target audience to suit the areas in which we specialised along the way.

The work we did on our underpinnings will also be reflected in the way we express ourselves. Our visual identity and tone of voice have also received the care they deserved.

Shedding almost all of our visual legacy was a deliberate choice, which was also a strategic choice for the team, where we would see ourselves deliberately ‘wear the new clothes’ that align with our purpose and promise. Our goal was singular: design a visual identity that champions the idea of building better business through Clarity.

The design process was a merging of minds and hands. We bounced ideas off each other, explored different interpretations of the brief, and collectively paved the path forward. We passed on sketches back and forth for constant refinement, often leaving behind ideas and concepts we loved in service of what worked. Every choice was made with brutal honesty. When things clicked, we collectively knew it, and it did not happen by accident. The intangible “this feels right” was a result of truly internalising and experiencing the full extent of Switch’s purpose and promise.

Everything in the new Switch Visual Identity stems from the new wordmark, a typographic representation of who Switch is. Built from letterforms that balance strategy and structure, that represent the calculated work we do, with humanistic curves and flairs, that celebrate the natural human essence of the Switch team.

A nod to our legacy came through the use of the core green hue, albeit muted, and paired with an approachable purple tint. Graphic elements were extracted from the new wordmark and were then formalised to serve as building blocks to build every piece of design collateral. Be it for static layouts or motion graphics, every visual narrative we created was anchored to the idea of delivering clarity. The same core solid shapes take a complete life of their own through the illustration suite we developed, cementing the brand kits’ flexibility of use.

We built in opportunities to design across a spectrum of intended outcomes, where changing the use and scale of the same core elements tweaks the tone of the creative collateral. This left us with a brand kit that is defined to the point that every piece feels unmistakably Switch, but invites creativity and experimentation – allowing the brand to be alive.

This new identity feels like a true representation of who Switch is today, and where we are going tomorrow. It reflects the maturity of our ideas, the clarity of our purpose, and the confidence of our presence.

When you are your own client, it’s too easy to deprioritise your own needs. But we knew that deferring the work would eventually cost us more in alignment, messaging, and opportunities.

So we made the time, and we were strict about protecting it. We treated ourselves like we treat our clients: with care, discipline, and respect.

The most common reason not to start a process like this is timing. “We are too busy.” “It’s not the right moment.” “We’ll do it next quarter.”

The scenario: Great work, but stagnant growth.

Brett Turner, CEO, and Austin Gregg, COO, have built something remarkable at Kalon. Since 2013, their consultancy has grown steadily to a team of 23, earning respect for their thoughtful approach to helping businesses design better ways of operating. They had a defined mission statement, clear core values, and a track record of delivering exceptional results for their clients.

But they quickly realized what got them here wouldn’t get them there.

“We were experiencing a growth plateau despite doing good work,” Brett explains.

After years of relying on word-of-mouth referrals, Kalon found themselves at a crucial juncture. They needed a more sustainable and strategic approach to sales and marketing that would help them transcend to their next phase of growth.

What they lacked wasn’t talent or capability: it was a cohesive strategy that could amplify their existing strengths and translate their values into compelling communications both inside and out of their organization..

The beginning: A personalized assessment that built trust

The partnership between Switch and Kalon began in the most human way possible: with genuine insight and personal connection.

Austin discovered a LinkedIn post by Switch’s Rik Muscat Azzopardi, which offered a free assessment, no strings attached. What followed revealed instant synergy between the two teams.

Both Brett and Austin knew where their strengths lay and what their resources allowed… and they knew they needed help marketing themselves. But they also knew they wanted more than a traditional agency to outsource work to.

“This wasn’t just about finding a marketing agency for us,” he insists. “It was about finding partners who understood our values and could handle the various aspects of marketing we lacked in-house expertise for.”

The approach: Deeper discovery

Switch’s approach began with their comprehensive 20-point analysis, designed to identify specific areas for improvement. But the real breakthrough came during a two-day in-person discovery session with Ed and Rik in Georgia, in the southeastern United States. (Much to Austin and Brett’s delight, Rik and Ed flew out to meet them mere days after their initial virtual meetings, turning into students of a new geography and culture upon arrival.) “We had a great time showing them around town and, of course, enjoying some authentic southern BBQ,” Brett laughed.

The methodology of the two-day intensive wound up offering unexpected gems, thanks to its excavation and eventual establishment of an in-depth brand foundationask. The aim was to move beyond surface-level communication issues and delve into Kalon’s core identity — who they are and why they exist.

This process helped Kalon gain clarity on their identity, which in turn informed who they should engage with, pursue, and advocate for.

A curated Catalyst engagement

Following the analysis, Kalon moved into a focused Catalyst engagement with Switch: a proven transformative journey designed to bring clarity, purpose, and sustainable growth for businesses. The Switch Catalyst process typically has four flexible, bespoke phases that can take anywhere from a few weeks up to a year. Switch adapted their Catalyst protocol to meet Kalon’s immediate needs and budget considerations, creating a two-month process focused on the most urgent priorities:

The collaborative nature of this work was crucial. “The identity work forms the foundation for subsequent strategies,” Ed notes. “The initial output was a brand document outlining Kalon’s purpose, values, personality, and tone of voice.”

The breakthrough: Discovering purpose

Despite Kalon’s early investment in building their brand, foundational work with Switch revealed something they had always felt but never clearly expressed: their core purpose as “designing a better way of doing business.”

“This realization came from discussing our inherent desire to improve processes and identify better solutions for clients,” Brett reflects. It was a simple statement that unlocked everything else, from messaging to audience targeting to internal culture.

But the impact went beyond marketing. “Reflecting on Kalon’s purpose led to insights about our team and creating a positive work environment,” Brett explains. “This introspection influenced our leadership approach…. In everything we do, we aim for Kalon to be a transformative and positive experience for employees — maybe even the brightest spot on their resume.”

The Results: Clarity as a growth catalyst

The work with Switch created both immediate wins and lasting transformation for Kalon.

Qualitative wins: Confidence and support

“I feel well-supported and confident in Switch’s work quality and understanding of our business,” Brett shares. “With Switch, we get consistency, high standards,  and high-quality content delivery that aligns with our values. Even when Austin and I had a two-week absence, work moved along without a hitch.”

A key example of this is the newly implemented, synergistic design process between Kalon’s internal teams and Switch’s design studio. Due to Kalon’s limited in-house resources, Switch supplements Kalon’s creative capacity without introducing process friction (an example of this looks like a direct chat group between Switch and Kalon’s in-house designer to share progress, resources, and new communication assets (both internal and external). 

The clarity gained through the discovery process also led to concrete changes in how Kalon operates:

• Austin increased his engagement in sharing leadership insights on LinkedIn
•  Implementation of a ‘team leads forum’ to create space for, and develop resources to help managers at the company lead their teams well
• Formalized internal leadership discussions and practical guidance for team leaders
• A more authentic voice in marketing efforts, even for team members less comfortable with social platforms

Quantitative results: Early indicators of success

While the partnership is still relatively new, early quantitative wins are already emerging. Kalon has seen:

• A significant increase in webinar registrations attributed to Switch’s proactive outreach
• A strategic identification of promotional opportunities leading to higher engagement
• Improved content performance across channels

The bigger picture: A sustainable growth foundation

Perhaps most importantly, Kalon now has what they came looking for: a sustainable foundation for growth. Ed summarizes their key outcome as “clarity leading to sustainable business growth.”

The comprehensive communication strategy developed by Rik and the Switch marketing team creates a framework for all future communications: talent acquisition, business development, PR, and internal communication.

Looking forward: A foundation for continued success

Sometimes the most successful businesses don’t need to be rebuilt from scratch. They need partners who can help them articulate what they already know to be true, then create strategies that amplify those existing strengths.

For other businesses facing similar challenges like steady growth that has plateaued  or strong values that need clearer expression, Kalon’s journey with Switch offers a roadmap: a clear identity, strategic communication framework, and ongoing, collaborative partnership are keys to building a crucial foundation to business growth. 

Kalon’s way isn’t just a better way. It’s theirs.

Switch works with purpose-driven businesses to tell better stories that drive real results. If your business has hit a growth plateau despite doing good work, we’d love to explore how clarity and strategic communication can unlock your next phase of growth.

The brand

Bluestream is a global leader in urban outdoor furniture. Their range of modular products gives unprecedented access to urban planners and designers in the form of hard-wearing and sustainable products – from street furniture to play equipment and from smart city installations to expert waste management.

Having added such a remarkable spread of products in place over the past few years, it was time to revisit the way the brand was presented.

The brief

The project started with a very defined and business-driven brief. The brand and product positioning was excellent while the visual identity and assets could do with a refresh to support the excellent positioning.

Our task was to reimagine the Bluestream visual architecture in a way that narrowed this gap. Additional concerns were with the spread of visual assets that the brand required – these had been added as the brand grew and could benefit from being more coherent.

Our mandate was to create a visually cohesive brand architecture and to document it in a way that would future-proof development of all new assets.

Our process

We promised a very complete brand manual, one that is an exhaustive guide for all present and future brand applications. And we promised it on time and on budget. This is where sprints come to the rescue.

We work in sprints. Each sprint delivers a pre-determined set of deliverables within a specified timeframe and to a defined budget. This keeps the work flowing and the cost predictable. It also allows for judicious expansion of the project scope and scale should the client require it.

The identity

The logo itself was initially excluded from the scope of works. We worked with the client to allow a gentle reworking of the logo to keep it visually familiar while giving it the polish it needed to form the centrepiece of the identity.

For even more flexibility, we introduced modularity that would permit the identity to work in banner, stacked, and identifier-only contexts. Having an updated foundation to work with, we moved outwards to explore all other aspects such as colour palettes, typography, iconography, and application to 2D and 3D assets.

Colour consideration

Primary and secondary colour palettes form the mainstay of the brand and product hierarchies. We were true to the heritage palette for all parent brand applications while adding a beautiful secondary palette for all of the brand’s product stream communication.

This preserves the familiarity of the brand with its stakeholders while adding a new way of telling the brand stories in a palette that’s consistent with the brand’s personality – a connection with nature and respect for its complementary colours.

Constructing the context

The core brand identifier formed the basis for all graphical elements. Containers, used for anything from photography to data visualisation, use the gentle curves inherited from the identifier. Iconography follows the same visual language.

Building from the ground up allowed us to create a deliberate and consistent design language upon which current and future elements can be built. This goes beyond the immediate need to present a full suite of visual assets. It gives the client a solid basis for development of their brand in a way that’s independent of their relationship with Switch.

Any type of text

The brand is based in the UAE so, while latin script carries most of their communications, we needed visual consistency with anything written in Arabic.

With an intriguing blend of serif and sans serif typefaces established for the brand, we found typefaces that would work perfectly when Arabic language would be used. Typefaces from one type of script to another need not be identical but they should bear the same characteristics. The resulting collection does just that, creating visual consistency while allowing for the nuance of each form of text to shine.

Practical photography

Professional photography is beautiful. And costly. We created photography guidelines that can be followed by installers and delivery persons so that the brand can have a library that looks great without costing too much.

For each photography need, we carefully described angles, time of day, framing, crops, etc in a way that anyone with a smartphone can produce shots that work for the brand. They might not be perfect every time but they will allow the brand to build a large library from which to choose the best shots.

Laying it all out

The next piece of the puzzle was creating a set of grids and layouts that could work for all possible applications.

We explored all assets that the brand used and created extensive sample layouts for:

• Product look book
• Editorial publication
• Product catalogues
• Stationery
• Event branding
• Website

• Social media profiles
• Social media posts
• Email newsletters
• Presentation slides
• Technical documents
• And more

The Brief

iPaymix has an active role in supporting and helping the local community thrive and their part in this is offering a frictionless path to a very convenient e-Wallet account. And because they offer this to everyone in Malta, whether or not they had a traditional bank account, they asked us to speak to as broad an audience as possible. 

The Work

A big aspect of the campaign was the idea that iPaymix made it a lot easier to access your hard-earned money immediately. With the local element featuring so heavily in the iPaymix strategy, a focus on recognizable landmarks was key.

Similarly, we wanted to show iPaymix being used for daily necessities, not necessarily as a travel wallet or a payment method only to be used on holiday. The audience that iPaymix is targeting is a mix of foreigners and locals who live in Malta, all of which need a reliable, safe, and secure way of paying or getting paid, and an eWallet account that they could access with ease.

To keep with the spirit of Malta’s multicultural society, we focused on highlighting a mix of ethnicities and circumstances to the forefront. 

The locations chosen are locations both locals and visitors will recognise, but with a nod to local culture: the flower seller in Valletta, the Marsaskala promenade, the Triton Fountain, Tigne Point, and Ghajn Tuffieha are all places that feature heavily in ads around travelling to Malta, but hold a different significance for locals, who call it home.

The Outcome

A total of six different shots were produced and published over the course of six days, with images taking over bus shelters and billboards in prominent locations all around the island, elevating the public’s awareness of iPaymix significantly around the island. Additionally, the reaction from locals at seeing familiar faces on the billboards helped drive iPaymix’s reputation as being the brand of choice for people living in Malta.

How did it go? Well, they said it better than we could have:

“When we started out the firm in 2006 we engaged Switch to design our logo. At the time, the concept of ‘brand’ was of little relevance to us as a Corporate Service Provider. In 2006 alone, the team at Switch gave us so much more than a logo. The years went by and in the past 15 years we collaborated with Switch to design our brand guidelines and we went through several brand refresh and brand update processes.

Every opportunity to engage with Switch as consultants is so much more than a one sided communication. It is a dialogue which ensures that as clients, at the end of the process we are fully immersed in our own identity.

In 2022, our brief with Switch was more than a ‘brand refresh’. We realised that Credence had gone from being a CSP to a fully-fledged Management Consultancy Firm, offering our clients services which go beyond the corporate and accounting remit.

This was when we approached Switch to work their magic, and while I have only words of praise in relation to the outcome, it is the process which truly sets Switch apart.

It is the process which transformed the way we think about ourselves. The concept of brand is so ingrained in our mind as a result of the “process” that there is nothing we do today which does not keep the brand values as our guiding light – from the service we offer to clients, to the tone of voice, the style of management, to the characteristics we seek out of potential employees in the recruitment process. The difference between a plain vanilla marketing agency and an agency like Switch is that Switch ensured that their work is chiselled around Credence values, culture and mindset and that their work captured the essence of the Credence soul. If Credence was a band, Switch would be our producer. You won’t see them on stage however they are behind every note we play.’

We have nothing left to add other than it being an absolute pleasure to work with a firm that understands the value of knowing oneself as the key to creating a sustainable business.”

The Strategy

The strategy for Tepia was simple: put out good, relevant content that would help showcase their skills as both a company and a set of individuals. Although they already had the connections necessary from years of networking, and more added to the list, nurturing and building those relationships was a much harder task.

Part of the problem is that B2B communication is considered in a different lens to marketing: it has to be restrained, sales-focused, and brief, none of which were words in Tepia’s brand book. What we wanted was to showcase the Tepia personality. We started by helping Tepia curate a LinkedIn content calendar that showcased their personal ethos on everything tech. From the ‘Honest Abe’ stream to links gathered from all around the internet, Tepia’s LinkedIn page became a reservoir for tech-related topics explained in a way that even non-technical people can understand.

We also created a newsletter that went out to Tepia’s mailing list, sharing news and the latest blog posts, as well as thoughts from Abe, Tepia’s founder.

The Results

Nurturing B2B relationships is a key aspect of B2B marketing, and with a new content calendar and a LinkedIn stream dedicated to honest and ethical technology-related information, Tepia managed to boost their business, create new partnerships with old leads, and generate new connections.

In our client’s own words, “You help keep us relevant with content. I was making a lot of connections and we had a huge data set of old leads that we weren’t nurturing. You help me nurture these leads and relationships.”

The Corsa identifier was inspired by the merging of a footprint and a graphic interpretation of Malta. This mark marries Corsa’s two primary visual cues; Physical Activity and the Maltese Islands.

The topological visual hints both at the pressure one makes when running, and also indicates that the events happen on all forms of terrain around the islands.

Alongside the identifier, the Corsa name is visualised using a strong, bold modern sans serif face, pitching Corsa at the same level as other top-tier sport event brands. The no-nonsense typography is clear and legible at extreme sizes.

Corsa is alway moving. The topographic elements from the identity come to life in all communication.

Corsa relies heavily on beautiful and inspiring photography, supported by a short motivating written message. Visuals take a lifestyle approach. Corsa is not a physical product but an event that brings with it multiple emotions. The heroes seen in the imagery are fit but never look like their physique is unattainable. They wear technical clothing that most of us own; the images inspire but never alienate.

​​​​​​​The Corsa website is built to house all Corsa and Corsa-powered events.

Every bit of Corsa collateral prioritises brand awareness and visual familiarity.

As a brand that had eschewed the Silicon Valley way of doing business, Tepia focused on their hyperlocal element. As part of the Orange County community, the boutique app developers wanted a sound that represented their ethos.

Bright and early for them, and after office hours for us, we met and spoke with Tepia’s founder to initiate the discovery phase of the project. Tepia had already worked with consultants on their side of the planet to work on the brand’s culture and we used this as a springboard to start by articulating the brand’s fundamentals.

Once we were aligned at such a foundational level, we worked up from there, developing a personality and persona for the brand, codifying all we’d worked on so far into a defined set of characteristics and traits that would inform communication but also form the foundation for the sound of the brand.

Inspired by the fantastic team at Tepia and their disarming charm, bolstered by their deep technical prowess, and sprinkled with the actual sounds of Orange County itself, we built a document that articulates the magic formula to write anything in a way that will sound unmistakably Tepia.

Switch started set up the Beewits site for an internal project (see more below), but with the work and effort put into it, beewits became a site that generates hundreds of B2B leads every month, has an email list of over 45,000 people in it, and keeps on giving Switch a steady stream of income on the side.

Can we replicate it for your business?
Hell yes.

How did we do it? Well, read on.

Getting into the niche for Beewits’ audience was never going to be an easy one. The market is incredibly saturated with excellent solutions, and most of those solutions have VC funding and millions of dollars in marketing budgets. We only had our guile and will to put in a lot of hard work.

The good thing about working on SEO the proper way is that it also benefits you from a human point of view, so our first port of call was to think about the steps we could take to get other people to talk about us because they wanted to. Begging for links is not our style, so we knew that we had to earn our links in an honest fashion. And what better way than to give people valuable tools?

In the first few months of growing the Beewits site we built a host of tools that people were finding incredibly useful, and we were giving them away for free. We spoke to some contacts in the press and got covered on some top international sites (such as lifehacker, designtaxi etc). These were then copied ad infinitum, meaning that we got ourselves a bunch of good incoming links before we even started figuring out what content to build.

From then on we worked on a series of long-tail content around the intent of our audiences and worked hard on creating valuable content and resources for the people in our target niche.

Nowadays we still publish long-form content that usually ranks well relatively quickly, allowing us to still drive traffic, grow our email list and then market affiliate links to the audience successfully. Beewits also acts as a great lead generation tool for some of our own efforts at Switch and as a great case study to show off our Digital PR, content and SEO skills.

It shows that with patience and perseverance, long-term thinking benefits your brand by delivering excellent ROI, especially for B2B brands.