Quintessential | Rebranding

OVERVIEW

Quintessential is a software design and development agency driven by both technical precision and creative depth. Behind every product they build is a team of thinkers, makers, and problem-solvers who treat software not just as code, but as craft. I was brought in to reimagine their identity—one that reflects both their methodical process and the inventive minds steering it.

THE IDEA

At the heart of the identity is the letter Q, which as an abstraction perfectly reflects Quintessential's way of thinking: always be open to explore beyond the set boundaries. Nested in the center of the Q lies an asterisk, with its lower-right spike doubling as the tail, forming the glyph that best evokes the brand's values. As a form that radiates outwards, the asterisk symbolizes the company's expansive approach to solving problems, while like its wildcard role in language and coding, it adapts—fitting into any challenge, spotlighting what matters most.

The use of the asterisk is more apparent in the brand launch video, where it is treated in a few different ways as a graphic device. Its 3D form often serves as a matte for color and type to dwell in, when radiating from a single point it helps transition from one scene to the next, but can also work as a symbolic abstraction of objects (in the case of the video it borrows the visual language of circuitry).

Pangram Pangram Foundry's Air was selected as the primary typeface because of its futuristic yet humanist look, but also because of its potential for use in multiple contexts, and with different tones, due to its multiple glyph sets –that range from playful to more technical– and variable nature.

The palette draws inspiration from the brand's namesake in classical symbolism and is comprised of an energising blue as the primary brand color, with an accompanying secondary palette made of shades of red-orange, yellow, aqua and dark green that help express different facets of the brand's personality.