Brand identity refresh for a family-owned engineering firm

Hartmann makes precision gearboxes for packaging machines and medical robots, and 62% of its sales are exports. Its logo was drawn in 1978 and has been redrawn by printers and web agencies ever since, so there are now at least six versions in use. The website, catalogues, trucks and trade-fair stand all look different. The new managing director, the founder's granddaughter, has two problems. At the Hannover Messe and SPS fairs, younger buyers from new markets walk past the stand. And the company cannot fill engineering jobs: it has had 9 vacancies open for more than six months, and applicants say the company "looks old-fashioned".

She does not want to throw away 60 years of reputation. Long-standing customers trust the name, and the staff are proud of it. Her brief: - keep the Hartmann name and the recognisable shape of the "H" mark, but make it work at 16 px on a phone and 6 metres wide on a stand; - a clear, modern system that a 3-person marketing team can apply without an agency: logo, colours, type, grid, imagery rules and templates; - the identity must work in German and English, in print and on screen, and must meet contrast rules for accessibility; - show it on at least 6 real applications: business card, catalogue spread, website home page, LinkedIn job advert, truck livery and a trade-fair stand.

You will run short interviews with at least 5 people you can reach who work in or buy from engineering firms, or with engineering students, about how they see a company like this. Use them as stand-ins for staff and customers, and say so.

Done looks like research notes, a brand audit, a positioning statement, three logo routes, a chosen identity system, a brand guidelines PDF, application mock-ups and a short presentation for the family board.