lukecharles is a collective team of designers, brand strategists, writers, animators, and filmmakers. We create ambitious, lasting and impactful solutions for brands of all sizes and sectors. We align strategy and creative, so that brilliant ideas are always focused on the objectives they need to deliver. We believe in collaborative partnerships, so we can truly understand our clients’ needs and support them through brand transformations.
We believe fantastic thinking and design are significant tools in delivering the ambition of our clients.
Together these can be used to achieve an organisation’s objectives and redefine the measure of success within its sector.
In projects from small to large we can be adaptive to your needs and budget. Our collaborative enables us to stand out and be different; delivering the very best creative at all times.
With a combined experience of 25 years, Luke Gifford and Charles Taylor met at the world’s leading brand consultancy, Wolff Olins, forming lukecharles in 2009.
While at Wolff Olins they worked together on many iconic projects, none so widely discussed as their first collaboration — the brand for London 2012. Since forming, lukecharles have partnered with internationally acclaimed digital studio Universal Everything in the first re-brand of MTV International for 27 years.
With big thinking and an unrivalled passion for design, the lukecharles’ ever expanding collaborative uses the very best talent in a streamlined approach for each commission. This allows for a uniquely exciting and adaptive process: consistently different, consistently appropriate, delivered by the founders with one consistent direction.
Among others, lukecharles have created brands for Strategy&, the pre-eminent strategy through execution firm, Bupa, the global healthcare and insurance provider, and one of Europe’s leading conservation bodies, the National Trust
lukecharles welcomes all sizes and types of projects, and offers in return an unparalleled ambition to deliver the most effective creative solution for their clients.
“Luke and Charles’ attention to detail is impressive and elevated the Bentleys brand to a level of luxury retail rather than pure antiques business providing a recognisable, subtle and elegant solution. They worked tirelessly to ensure that our branding reflected our values by combining craftsmanship, detail and materials coherently through our website, stationery and shop-front branding. It was a thoroughly enjoyable creative experience!”
Tim Bent
Owner, Bentleys
Before…
“Only if we have self-confidence and visible pride will we have a great firm and a great brand.”
1 year on…
“It would have been easy to be less visible and maybe life would have changed only a little… instead we have pride in our institution — we’re bold and unafraid.”
Behdad Shahsavari
Partner, Booz & Company
“You hit the ball out of the park…”
Shumeet Banerji
CEO, Booz & Company
“If elegance and impact are infrequent bedfellows, lukecharles has successfully brought them together. Our challenge was to take a recessive design, make it much more memorable, without making the brand shouty. lukecharles has answered the brief with aplomb, with a design that is simple, clever, resolved.”
Gregory Thorpe
Director of Marketing and Communications,
Brewin Dolphin
“lukecharles have created a global expression that is consistent with our healthcare aspirations and relevant to the needs of different audiences, with the ability to influence customer perception — making Bupa more attractive and accessible and, ultimately, generating commercial returns.”
Sarah Stevens
Head of Brand Expression at Bupa
“We needed to update our look and feel to be in line with the role Bupa plays in people’s lives, and to have a distinctive identity that would stand out in the marketplace. lukecharles have helped us to create a completely new conversation with our customers through a strong identity system that helps us to focus on customers. It’s a complete transformation from where we were two years ago.”
Fiona McAnena
Global Brand Director at Bupa
“In a rapidly changing world, with more complex and growing customer expectations of healthcare provision, Bupa must build on 60 years of healthcare leadership to become a trusted and relevant healthcare partner for today’s challenges. With a consistent approach around the world, behaving as ‘One Bupa’, we will build a brand that is both recognised and valued as being truly engaged in our customer’s lives, wherever and whenever they encounter us.”
Martin George
Managing Director,
Group Development at Bupa
“We had first mover advantage. We have huge ambitions and we have a unique innovative new service.
All we needed was a brand that would enable us to create a loyal customer base as we scale up, and more over a brand that makes it very difficult for new entrants (future competitors) to imitate. I knew that lukecharles were the perfect partners to help us take go to a whole new level and create a strong defendable position in our market.
There are designers and then there are visionaries like lukecharles. I cannot recommend anymore investing early on in brand, and in particular lukecharles.”
Austen Smart
Founder / CEO, FutureDJs
“Working with lukecharles on the MTV Worldwide Re-brand Styleguide gave it structure, coherence and a supreme attention to detail.”
Matt Pyke
Founder, Universal Everything
“Luke and Charles led the creative with an unstinting desire to deliver the right solution to our challenge. The task of refreshing the brand expression of such a large, devolved organisation as the Trust is huge; Luke and Charles worked tirelessly with great skill, humour and impeccable project management to make it happen.”
Craig Robson
Design and Visual Identity Manager,
National Trust (Whole Trust)
“The Catering identity has allowed us to communicate our fresh local seasonal message over in an exciting way showing the individuality of each property without bombarding the customer with too much information.”
Lynda Brewer
Catering Project Specialist,
National Trust
“For an organisation that is trying to attract people in to support charities working on the frontline of poverty and disadvantage, Pilotlight’s brand was cold and complex. Our work with Luke, Charles and Mark turned that on its head. We now have a brand that is warm and compelling. They have also been an absolute joy to work with, bringing so much commitment and creativity. lukecharles opened a new door for us. I can’t imagine anyone better out there.”
Ed Mayo
CEO, Pilotlight
“As soon as I found lukecharles I knew they were the right agency for our rebrand. I was impressed by their work for the Royal British Legion which they’d approached with both respect to the charity’s heritage as well as innovation to take the brand forward. And I wasn’t disappointed.
From their pitch through to commissioning and the completion of the project, they’ve not just been a great team to work with, they’ve felt like a natural extension of our own team. They’ve supported us throughout, pushing where they felt we could go further, and were always available for troubleshooting to ensure brand consistency. No job was too big or too small, either for their strategic consideration or for their excellent design finesse. We are over the moon with the results!”
Lucy Avery
Marketing Communications Manager,
Pilotlight
“Luke Charles have been a valued partner for Turner Contemporary. We really valued their expertise, creativity and commitment. They have found strong solutions for a range of projects and always meet the brief.”
Moya Stirrup
Head of Communications,
Turner Contemporary
Somerset House
London
WC2R 1LA
lukecharles@lukecharles.com
+44 (0)20 3048 2948