Once upon a time, we had to do the classic hitchhiker gesture–arm extended with a thumb up–at incoming Tuk-Tuks to hail a ride. Nowadays, we take out our phones and launch Grab or PassApp.
Once upon a time, we had to call a restaurant, praying they have an in-house delivery person to send us our favorite comfort meal. Nowadays, we take out our phones and launch Hungry? or Nham24.
The rise of ride-hailing and food delivery services has drastically changed consumer behaviors in the Kingdom. Coupled with digital payment services like Pi Pay that kickstarted it all; the once 'happy with anything' attitude has been replaced with an insatiable appetite for 'convenience'.
Delivery companies are the poster child for convenience. Although we don't have a need for more food delivery or ride-hailing services, the absence of peer-to-peer delivery services is starting to become noticeable. Luckily, Fastex is looking to fill this gap with their revolutionary app, aiming to solve the daily hustle and bustle of Phnom Penh through same-day delivery, from birthday presents to a forgotten charger. We couldn't have been more excited when they reached out to us for branding services.
Alignment is key. We don't like to propose or recommend any solution without a good rationale. Without defining a direction, a project can quickly derail, which is why we kicked off our first meeting with the key foundations defined through a Design Sprint workshop.
The Design Sprint workshop enabled us to understand who Fastex is. It laid the rationale for all our design decisions and recommendations that brought to life all the traits and personality that the founders imagined Fastex to be.
Following the Design Sprint workshop, we arranged for a weekly meeting to catch up, present our design progress, gather any feedback and revise accordingly.
Nothing is more exciting than getting your hard-worked product to the market. However, we understand that clients may not have a lot of time from idea conception to launch date. We want to be able to move quickly without compromising on attention to detail. The weekly meeting arrangement worked perfectly to accommodate this.
For many, hassle-free delivery remains a foreign concept. When we forget an item, we would either call a relative or a friend to help deliver our forgotten item or do a U-turn to pick it up ourselves. With Fastex now in the game, they aim to eliminate any hassle associated with delivery and ensure utmost convenience.
The brand essence is thus summarized as:
Deliver Better, Together.
As a delivery company, 'speed' is one of the key elements we wanted to communicate via the logo. By increasing the weight of each letter of the logo, we were able to achieve the look and feel of speed.
In addition to the increasing weight, we piggybacked on the letter 'x'–arguably the most dynamic looking letter out of all the letters in 'Fastex'–to resemble an arrow for added impact.
To further strengthen the brand identity, we've made the 'x' from the logo the app icon.
Although primarily catering to C2C, Fastex also operates with B2B and B2C. Recognizing that C2C customer needs can be very different from B2B customer needs, we've decided to use color as a way to differentiate the two sides of the business.
B2B & B2C - dark Green
C2C - peach
The first time your audience hears about your brand is during your first launch. It's the most exciting and nerve-wracking time because it's very important to get everything right.
First impression matters. Therefore, the first launch matters.
In addition to branded promotional materials i.e. brochures, social media banners, etc, we placed additional focus on delivery-related materials i.e. drivers' apparel, name tags, delivery bags, envelopes. This creates a harmonious brand rollout that serves to strengthen Fastex identity.
For an added personal touch, we've come up with this set of illustrations to feature on Fastex delivery bags. The illustration set is composed of 45 everyday items i.e. a document, flowers, or forgotten keys that Fastex could deliver on your behalf.
Finally, no branding work would be complete without a brand guideline. Composed of all the do's and don't's, the brand guidelines ensure the correct use of the branding materials after the handover process.
Like with everything else at Mäd, our approach to branding for Fastex is one that prioritizes the long-term. Every little detail, from the logo construction - to the personalized illustrations - to the brand rollout items, is to ensure that Fastex stands out from the crowd 5 to 10 years down the line especially in the growing competitive field of courier and peer-to-peer delivery.
