Dustin

Redefining IT for the 2020s

Business design

Brand platform & strategy
Service offering architecture & packaging
Design strategy
Employer brand strategy
Communication strategy
Brand tracking strategy

Brand design

Brand identity
Concept development
Brand implementation & management
Bespoke type

Experience design

Digital product design
Communication design

In the cloud based reality of the 2020s global organizations need new kinds of partners to maintain their software and hardware. Dustin, a leading IT partner in the Nordics and the Netherlands, has risen to the challenge. After intense work together with Kurppa Hosk, Dustin’s brand now reflects their ambition; to help clients stay at the forefront of their business.

The big shift

Dustin’s core business has traditionally been transactional hardware sales. However, new ways of working powered by recent technology advancements has provided an opportunity to get closer to customers and their IT needs. To deliver on this opportunity, Dustin has adopted a new business strategy moving from hardware sales to becoming a service provider offering a complete suite of products and services.

Making sense of data

The new reality of Dustin’s business requires a brand which can span a wide suite of products and services across multiple markets while staying true to the core of the company – providing customers leading IT solutions. To uncover needs and drivers among a disparate group of stakeholders, Kurppa Hosk collected a large amount of data through quantitative and qualitative studies.

A new Dustin revealed

Based on these insights, a new brand platform was developed with a brand promise as one of the principal elements: “We keep things moving”.

To further clarify Dustin’s intent this was complemented by a mission statement: ”To provide the right IT solution, to the right customer and user. At the right time. And the right price.”

By delivering on the brand promise and mission, Dustin can make a new vision come true: “To help our customers stay in the forefront”.

To emphasize Dustin’s unrelenting focus on sustainability in all business practices, a new guiding direction was also defined: “Enabling the circularity movement”.

“Repositioning and transforming a strong and classic brand as Dustin is both challenging and exciting. Together with Kurppa Hosk we made a thorough work with a scientific approach based on deep insights from workshops with our customers, employees and shareholders. This gave us an updated brand platform as well as an updated visual identity, building on our strong heritage as well as pointing out our future direction. Kurppa Hosk’s pragmatic way of working combined with high competence and long experience was really a key success factor in this work.”

“Kurppa Hosk’s pragmatic way of working combined with high competence and long experience was really a key success factor in this work.”
— Thomas Ekman, CEO Dustin Group

A new brand identity

To articulate the new direction of the company and the brand Kurppa Hosk proceeded with the development of a new visual identity including logotype, typography, colors, imagery and iconography. The design elements share a visual DNA ensuring a coherent, yet dynamic, expression across all touch points. The result is a forward looking take on the IT industry, optimized for a digital future.

Digital design system

Dustins e-commerce platform is a critical part of their business. Working in sprints with the in-house design team a digital design system was created to cater to the needs of today, and tomorrow. In the process, UX “issues/challenges” such as interaction patterns and the navigation framework were iterated and evaluated to ensure consistency and ease of use.

In parallel, core visual digital design concepts were developed as well as an extensive UI kit with an atomic design approach. The resulting design system extends the visual identity treatment into all digital touch points presenting a more intuitive and modern interface to Dustins customers.

A new brand reality

As a consequence of the updated brand platform and identity, a number of additional processes were initiated to develop external and internal tools and assets:

Communication platform

  • Main messages to key audiences to support Dustin’s brand position
  • Key target groups and channels
  • A communication concept which translates the brand platform into core idea for communication
  • A verbal identity which defines Dustin’s tonality in writing

Service offering

Based on Dustin’s new brand platform, this process determined how the service offering should be packaged and communicated to guide and inform customers. This also included new user experience concepts that could emulate the customer interaction typically found in physical sales, but in an online environment.

Employer branding

The employer brand should share the DNA of the corporate brand and help Dustin in attracting, developing and retaining talent. A new Employer Value Proposition was developed along with a toolbox and methodology for how Dustin should address internal and external talent.

Brand tracking

The major updates to Dustin’s brand required new ways of tracking brand progress based on new parameters.

Outcome

The new brand platform and especially the brand promise of “We keep things moving” has quickly become a guiding star in Dustin’s transformation, both internally and externally. Towards employees it provides clarity of direction, and externally it presents an opportunity to renew and reinforce client relations.

The updated brand identity and its implementation across all channels manifests Dustin’s redefined brand and has contributed to the perception of Dustin as the go to partner in order to keep your business moving. Ongoing tracking will provide new insights in the impact on sales and brand recognition.

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