Essen introduce warmth and individuality into Sage Homes’ personality-driven identity system

International creative studio Essen have worked comprehensively with Sage Homes, previously known as Sage Housing, to craft their rebrand, developing a renewed strategy, name and identity. Founded in 2017 to tackle the UK’s ongoing housing crisis, made all the more prominent by the cost of living crisis, Sage Homes look to make affordable housing a reality for those who previously thought it impossible. Tasked with finding a sensitive and compelling way in which to discuss and portray affordable housing, Essen approach the design similarly to how Sage Homes operate – by putting people first and centre – leading the strategy and identity with the notion of ‘homes to build lives in.’ Due to this focus on people and individual personalities, Essen allowed imperfection and humanity to influence the identity’s core elements, from the unconventional framing of photography and warm, welcoming colour palette to the hand-rendered illustration and mark-making. “The illustrations were developed in-house and in close collaboration with the Sage team,” Creative Director Anton Gårdsäter tells us, “just as with the photography concept, we wanted to celebrate imperfection and individuality,” hoping to portray the reality of life and not a fictionalised version. “All of this was to increase the feeling of relatable homes where people can thrive and build their lives,” he adds, noting the subsequent application of hand-drawn illustration. “We only used black lines and then coloured a couple of elements in each illustration,” Gårdsäter explains, “as if colouring a children’s book, not worrying too much about colouring outside the lines.”