We are excited to share with you all today, our new visual identity.

The first since our launch as Free the Birds back in 2018. As an independent brand elevation agency, we specialise in Beauty, Health, Homecare, and more. We deliver design, communications, content and strategy for major brands around the world, all powered by what sets us apart – Beautiful Thinking. Our refreshed design is a testament to the growing recognition of the award-winning, memorable and meaningful work we deliver to our clients.

Our new look and feel also celebrates our core value of Beautiful Thinking; our desire to elevate our clients’ businesses above the everyday, injecting soul into every element of a brand’s identity in order to help them create stronger connections with their customers.

This rebrand also aims to elevate the story behind our name, which our partners, Managing Partner Nick Vaus and Creative Strategy Director Paul Domenet, uphold upon every introduction to the business.

When famed artist Leonardo da Vinci would see a caged bird for sale in the Florentine markets, he would purchase them simply for the pleasure of liberating them. Half a millennium on, it is this – as well as the compassion which this story inspires – which influences the ideas and the work we produce for our clients every day.

This new identity follows a year which included a global rebrand of renowned heritage beauty brand, Avon, as well as the launch of our own award-winning product, Beautiful Thinking. This functional room fragrance, designed to work on a mental and olfactory level to enhance imagination and focus, donating all sales to Create, a charity that empowers young people via the creative arts.

Nick Vaus, our Managing Partner comments,

“It has been an incredible few years for the team, as we champion our ethos of bringing Beautiful Thinking to life in the work we create for our clients every day. It was only fitting that we welcome the new year and new possibilities of what we can achieve as a team, with a new look and feel that speaks to our desire to be bold.”

The refreshed visual identity comes at a pivotal time not just for us, but for creative industries as a whole. With developments such as AI on the minds of every agency across the globe, our team welcomes the potential of this new era with a clear focus on how our capabilities and the deliverables of the agency have grown. It marks an exciting period for us, as we champion the opportunity to boost our capabilities, and expedite the time in which we deliver work for our clients, both current and new.

Paul Domenet, Partner & Creative Strategy Director shares,

“The fast-paced world we live in, accelerated by generative AI, means our clients seek support in turning a project around, from start to finish, with greater speed - whilst losing none of the impact. This is a challenge we accept with open arms, an environment we thrive in. The value of the original idea cannot be diminished by the speed at which we can and should be working at today. We’re excited for this new chapter.”

The use of AI allows our team to explore new creative territories and visualise our client’s products and services in global locations with a fraction of the carbon footprint. However, what Paul and Nick feel passionately about is what the team can do that AI cannot – deliver fresh, unique ideas.

Paul continues,

“We are currently facing a time that presents a wealth of opportunities and challenges simultaneously. While many creatives feel the threat of AI looming, others advocate for its ability to visualise the response to a brief in ways previously not possible. What we stress to ourselves and our team is that AI is to be celebrated and utilised. However, it cannot replace the ability to conceptualise and deliver unique ideas. For this reason there will always be a place for the creative mind in the design process.”

Free The Birds’ identity has ideas at its core, a testament to our pursuit of ensuring every element of our work is fuelled by an idea, a beautiful thought. These refreshed visuals representing this identity include a new logo, which introduces a visual shorthand for our identity; a natural progression for the agency as it passes half a decade since it was born.

The shorthand logo, rather than replacing the business’ full name which continues on, is designed to speak to the confidence, authority and boldness with which the agency moves forward. The full stop adds further weighting to this, alongside the illustration of the bird eponymous to our identity.

Nick adds,

“Over the years, our growing relationships with our fantastic clients has seen the shorthand FTB become more regularly used, so it was a natural progression that our own visual identity brings this shorthand to life. Something succinct for our team and our clients to keep engaging with, without losing any of the authority, confidence or boldness that we infuse in our work. The design of our new logo reminds me of editorial, it is modern but with a traditional feel. Timeless.”

Our motto – attitude not age – also plays an important role in the new visuals. The bold type speaks to our confidence, but also our desire to make this attitude beautiful. To bring a smile to the mind. We have aimed to create something that feels conversational, informed – without arrogance. It is a conversation which you want to be a part of. It might be a bold sans serif, but it is softened to ensure it is approachable.

We are thrilled to share a look at what we have been pouring our heart and soul into over the last few months, and invite you to celebrate with us today as we release our new identity into the wild.