Paris-based design studio Brand Brothers has successfully reimagined the visual identity for Glénat, one of France's largest independent publishers, creating a dynamic and flexible branding system while working under the unique constraint of keeping the company's existing logo untouched. The project demonstrates how creative agencies can build upon established brand elements to create something fresh and innovative without abandoning a company's visual heritage.
Founded in 1969 in Grenoble, Glénat has grown into a publishing powerhouse with an incredibly diverse catalog spanning manga, comics, children's literature, illustrated guides, and graphic novels. This eclectic range presented the second major challenge for Brand Brothers: creating visual consistency across vastly different content types without diminishing the diversity that defines the publishing house.
Johan Debit, co-founder of Brand Brothers, initially viewed the logo restriction as a significant limitation. "It was a real constraint at first, in the sense that we almost never work this way," Debit explained. "We are always the authors of the logos for the brands we work with, and given the importance of typographic work in our working method, starting from an existing logo can be perceived as a real limitation, because we don't control the initial graphic parameters."
However, Debit and his team transformed this constraint into an opportunity by diving deep into Glénat's rich publishing heritage. "By immersing ourselves in Glénat's immense heritage, we were able to tame this logo and consider it as part of the publisher's heritage," he said. "From there, it became an ally to our creativity."
The creative breakthrough came when Brand Brothers identified two key graphic elements within the existing logo that could serve as the foundation for an expanded visual system: the oval shape of the letter "G" and a small triangular accent mark. These elements, while subtle, became the building blocks for what Debit describes as a "modular graphic system" – a signature approach that the studio has employed across multiple projects.
"This method allows us to offer brands an abundance of graphic elements to play with, and to renew them over time – this creates branding in perpetual motion," Debit explained. "By capitalizing on these iconic shapes for the visual system, we ensured we created a natural link between this well-established logo and this new language we were putting in place for the future, all while maintaining enough abstraction to be able to create without constraint."
The resulting identity system features a flexible toolkit of patterns, icons, and typographic treatments that all radiate from those two core graphic forms. While the Glénat logo remains constant, the surrounding visual ecosystem is designed to be in constant flux, adapting to different publishing categories and emotional contexts.
One of the most innovative aspects of the new identity is the creation of "emotion" and "ambience" icons – visual devices ranging from playful squiggles to geometric forms that allow Glénat to express the full emotional spectrum of its catalog. "Glénat remains a publisher whose mission is to spread joy and passion, and it's this variety of pleasures that we wanted to convey through this system," Debit noted.
This versatility enables the identity system to stretch seamlessly from atmospheric hiking manuals to brightly illustrated manga, maintaining brand coherence while respecting the unique character of each publication category. "The richness of the system, through exaggeratedly varied forms, illustrations and colors, allowed us to cover the entire spectrum of the Glénat catalog, from the most serious or committed readings to the lightest ones," Debit added.
Given Glénat's decades-long cultural influence and established readership, Brand Brothers was particularly careful to balance innovation with respect for the publisher's heritage. The team spent considerable time testing the new identity with Glénat's internal teams to ensure all stakeholders felt comfortable with the direction.
"The graphic simplicity of the new identity allows it to transcend time and move away from ephemeral trend effects, which could have been criticized," Debit explained. "Moreover, this identity is consistent with the Glénat logo, positioning itself as a true extension of it." The ultimate validation came when Jacques Glénat, the company's founder, gave his full approval to the new direction.
The year-long development process involved countless iterations and testing phases, but Debit recalls that the core concept emerged early in the collaboration. "The idea for this system came very early in the process, from the first presentation actually, so when all the teams gave us their approval and felt comfortable with this very particular graphic language, we felt liberated," he said.
The new identity system is now being rolled out across Glénat's various touchpoints, including catalogs, marketing campaigns, events, literary salons, festivals, and social media platforms. While individual book covers remain the creative territory of authors and illustrators, virtually every other brand application will utilize the new visual language. Glénat's internal graphic design studio has taken over implementation responsibilities and will be tasked with bringing the identity to life across all channels.
As Glénat continues to publish content ranging from adventurous manga series to reflective non-fiction, the new identity system provides a visual framework that matches the publisher's literary diversity while maintaining a cohesive brand presence in the competitive French publishing market.
