Never the same: In Aton’s rebrand, a custom typeface and adaptable wordmark always keep things fresh

Things have been changing at Aton, a Reykjavík-based strategic communications and design agency. For example, the company welcomed former Jones Knowles Ritchie Design Director, Siggi Odds, as Creative Director. To ring in this change in leadership, the agency decided to reimagine its own brand. When the team began looking for a design route, they found an answer in a custom typeface designed by the agency’s own Type Designer, Hólmfríður Benediktsdóttir. A typographic direction made sense, as the identity had to be able to flex to talk about both their clients and the agency. “Most of a creative agency’s identity primarily focuses on talking about work for clients,” Odds tells us. “Sometimes it must take the back seat and let the work speak, but often we want our ideas to spark excitement, for our clients to feel driven to action by the words on the screen, and typography is a great tool to aid this experience.” The custom typeface, Nota, does just that – its boldness makes you take notice, but at the same time, it has the subtlety to move into the wings and let the work take centre stage. Its most notable character is its variable, expressive counterforms, “representing both the diverse voices the agency contains, as well as the multiple ways of speaking to different audiences.” And it’s fun too! The counterforms change from circles to squares, and there’s also a jagged one that looks a bit like a crocodile bite.