OTAU brand identity | A home that travels

Red sand dunes with the white OTAU isotype in the centre

The studio’s own brand: a new name, a logotype drawn for it and a complete brand system, from strategy to the website you are reading.

The challenge

The studio’s first name turned out to be a registered trade mark in Europe. Starting again meant more than finding a new word. We needed a name of our own, a brand that reads as a senior studio rather than a travel diary, and a system that works on screen, on paper and on social from day one.

The approach

We started with strategy: positioning, a brand platform and a tone of voice. The name comes from Kazakh: an otau is the first yurt a young couple raise together, their first home of their own. That gave us the idea, a home that travels, and the tagline, “Home is the path.” The logotype is a thin monoline drawn for the brand, where two parallel diagonals trace the path. Around it sits a calm system: Swiss structure, Scandinavian warmth, a Cream ground, Basalt ink and Garnet as the only accent.

What we delivered

Strategy: positioning, brand platform, archetype and tone of voice
Name, logotype, lockup and isotype
Colour, typography, grid and graphic elements
Photography direction and Warm matte, the studio’s own colour grade
A brand guide of more than 40 pages and a 50-file brand kit
Print, digital and social templates, motion principles and this website

Guide page: the OTAU logotype beside the line “The first yurt you receive to start a home of your own” — The name · the first home of a young couple, in Kazakh.

Guide page: the OTAU logotype at large size with notes on the circle, the river and the path — The logotype · one thin line, two parallel diagonals for the path.

Logotype, lockup and isotype on Cream and Basalt.

Seven colour bars: Garnet, Cream, Basalt, Bonfire, Dune, Mist and Loch, with their values — Colour · a Cream ground, Basalt ink and Garnet as the only accent.

Guide page Quiet modernism: the path line, the door dot and the shanyraq circle — Graphic elements taken from the logo: the path, the door and the shanyraq.

Five social posts, one per value: Clear water, Take the shape, Uncarved, Room to breathe, Open door — Values series for social · one idea per post.

Guide page Warm matte: a hand on a bus seat in soft light, with the grade’s tones and rules — Warm matte · lifted blacks, soft whites and warm midtones.

Editorial applications.

Stationery, phone, tablet and a wooden USB stick with the OTAU isotype — Stationery and devices.

Hoodies in cream, teal and garnet with the OTAU logotype and a large cropped isotype — Merchandise · the isotype at scale, cropped by the edge.

The result

OTAU now has a name of its own and one system for everything, from a business card to a reel. This website is its first application. It is our own project, so the proof is what you are looking at.

Mission, vision and values

Drawn from Taoism and Kazakh hospitality.

Mission: We raise the home of brands, and keep them moving.
Vision: Home is the path.
Values: Clear water · Take the shape · Uncarved · Room to breathe · Open door.
Personality: Warm heart. Clear mind. Steady will.

The studio’s own brand: a new name, a logotype drawn for it and a complete brand system, from strategy to the website you are reading.

Mission, vision and values

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