The Client
Founded in 2005, Pet Drugs Online has grown to become one of the UK's largest and most trusted suppliers of veterinary medication and animal products licensed in the UK.
The Challenge
Re-working the Pet Drugs Online brand came with a unique constraint: the logo had to remain unchanged. This meant we needed to evolve the brand within the existing design framework. The updated system also had to support the new brand strategy and wider product range, making sure everything felt consistent, flexible, and strong across the board.
The Process
Redefining Pet Drugs Online's brand strategy and purpose was a major part of the process. This involved a deep strategic phase, including multiple stakeholder workshops, customer interviews, and research sessions. Through this collaborative process, we developed a refreshed brand manifesto that more accurately reflects Pet Drugs Online’s mission and evolving ambitions. Off the back of this, we set about refreshing Pet Drugs Online’s brand guidelines. We began by identifying elements that weren’t working. The existing brand system included a vast colour palette of 70 shades, making consistency a challenge, while the illustration suite lacked a cohesive style, simplicity and clarity. Our goal was to refine and streamline the brand, bringing it back to a simple yet unified identity. We achieved this by paring down the colour palette, introducing a carefully curated lineup of ero characters and creating a more unified visual language to strengthen the brand’s overall look and feel.
The Solution
For Pet Drugs Online’s refreshed brand, we chose a dark purple as the new primary colour. Not only did it feel much warmer than the previous ‘cold’ blue, but it also enhanced the legibility and impact of the existing white Pet Drugs Online wordmark and the lighter, brighter purple ‘plus’ symbol. For the full-colour palette, we leaned into owning the blue and purple hues in the space, ensuring that when people see these colours, they instantly associate them with the brand, while incorporating select shades from the existing palette for continuity. To bring warmth and personality to the brand, we introduced a playful lineup of illustrated hero pet characters. Their facial expressions and body language were carefully designed to convey a sense of calm, happiness, and, most importantly, ‘cared for’. This sketch-line illustration style was also applied to other brand elements, such as the icon suite, to create a cohesive and recognisable visual identity. For the primary typeface, we selected Rebond Grotesque, a font filled with personality and quirks while still maintaining the seriousness needed when addressing pet owners on sensitive topics. The soft curves of the letterforms also subtly echo the features of the beloved pets the brand serves, creating a meaningful connection to the brand’s core values.
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