Branding a
people centric
tech company

The company

Kantech is a new tech company that helps companies transform their business processes through digitalization. Kantech is driven to make a difference through innovative digital solutions but also by empowering its people.

There’s a big and important emphasis on the human resource of Kantech as it’s seen as the most valuable asset of the company. This human centric approach is the main differentiator making it an out-of-the-ordinary tech company. We would even say Kantech is an extraordinary company.

- brand strategy
- brand identity
- logo design
- website design
- website implementation
- development website copywriting

kantechgroup.com

The situation

Kantech is a start-up, so when Ciprian came to us with his business plan and ideas we knew we had something great to work with. His whole business approach and vision for the Kantech brand aligned perfectly with the way we work and our discovery process.

Kantech was walking into a market full of tech companies, distinguishing itself and standing apart was a requirement. Fortunately, Kantech had all the right tools to do it.

The challenge

Ciprian came in with the experience and the knowledge to build an amazing company and wanted to play hard, one-on-one with the big players in the market. It was a question of fitting in at the big player tables and standing out, at the same time.

The most difficult part of building the Kantech brand was revolving the brand strategy and identity around the human component. Undoubtedly, an essential part of the company and brand, but one that is usually put behind the glamour of innovation. We needed to make it clear, Kantech is about humans first.

We took this element and laid it at the foundation of the brand, making it the core element of brand communication. Humans come first, technology second.

discovery

Uncovering and discovering

Our discovery workshops were incredibly rewarding as we spent time identifying the personality of the brand, the values of Ciprian as the creator of this company and how all of those will translate into the business.

It’s important for us to completely understand where the team behind the company comes from and what their goals are. It’s the only way we can tell their stories.

It was an amazing journey that allowed us to portray the future of this brand through brand strategy and design.

strategy

Strategy is about positioning

When we develop the brand strategy we think about positioning, differentiation and communication, so we had a lot of things to cover. Kantech was going to enter a very competitive market. It needed to stand out.

Developing positioning had to take into consideration the strongest differentiators, but also the place Kantech is targeting in the marketplace. Technology is part of the DNA of the company, but its activity revolves around people, so we had to take these two defining factors into consideration when building the strategy.

We defined the purpose, mission and vision of Kantech, to enable simplicity and inspire the digital transformation of business. We embedded the purpose of being a driver of business digitalization deep into brand strategy. As digitalization will not be able to take the place of human creativity or ingenuity, the focus of Kantech remains on developing human connections in the middle of digital transformation. Kantech’s brand culture is about the human side of technology.

identity

Creating identity

We explored design elements revolving around technology, played with shapes and fonts to build something that was part of the tech universe. The idea is to keep a strong connection to your environment and try to build a different aesthetics based on the core differentiators.

Kantech must feel like a tech company at all times, but have a twist, something different that makes it stand out and at the same time communicate about its human centric approach to business.

The visual direction features 3d elements that resemble bits and pieces of data from within a company. They are a direct connection to Kantech’s abilities to enable decision making based on the power of data analysis.

Moving away from shades of blue - widely used in this industry, the color palette features a bold yellow contrasting black or dark grey shades. The human centricity of the brand will be subtly suggested through the use of portrait photography.

our reward

What it
all came to

Kantech brakes boundaries not by differentiating at all costs, but by developing its business around a different set of values. We worked on making it stand out with subtlety, and make it a strong but discreet presence in the market.
Let me tell you how I felt working with Blackboard. I felt like a child, like someone who needed guidance and support every step of the way. And even that way was not known, as it was only in my head. All I could articulate in the beginning was an ending point, as where do I want to be, but the journey did not have even the first steps defined. But Florin and Razvan managed to penetrate my mind and unknot everything. They managed to put in words every thought I have and formulate it even before I could name it. Through the process, I felt like I had a much more clear mind, the vision about our company was way stronger with every session and yes, I felt grown up and unstoppable :D.

My advice is “trust the process”. The dots will connect in the future and your brain will be bombarded with epiphanies at one point. It will be like working on a fabric on its back and in the end, when turning it around, it will show a beautiful piece of artwork. But even that beauty  does not compare with the amount of knowledge and information you will learn in the process. Last, but not least, putting aside the science of branding and communication, they are very beautiful human beings and is a pleasure to work with them!

Thank you, Blackboard!
Ciprian Tolescu
CEO Kantech

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