Description

How we designed a font that defined our visual identity, boosted our agency’s name, and spread everywhere. 

We received official permission to include the agency’s name in the case, as it’s an essential part of the story.

The REDKEDS agency entered the markets of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, fueled by the ambition to bring our international expertise.

“Surprise, surprise.” We arrived at the peak of national self-identification, a demand for local communication, and a deep appreciation of local insights — a time when everything global was being reinterpreted through a local lens.
There was one question we kept hearing from clients alike: “Do you really get the local insights?”. Recruitment wasn’t easy either.

To prove we think like locals (80% of our team are locals), we decided to launch a self-promo that cost nothing but our art director’s spare hours.

One of Kazakhstan’s main pain points: display fonts adapted to the Kazakh language. They are rare relics, passed from hand to hand. You can use Cyrillic fonts that require designers to manually draw NINE missing letters. And if text edits are needed — the work multiplies.

So we found a non-standard media channel that targeted the creative and marketing industry with perfect precision. On the eve of the Nauryz holiday, we gifted all of Central Asia a completely FREE adapted font — NauryzRedkeds — free to use however and wherever people wanted.

A touch of national ornament, folk style and trendiness.

As a result, the font appeared in “best font” selections by bloggers and on design websites. It was used by major corporations and small bloggers alike. It became the foundation for brand identities, the theme of SMM campaigns, visible on the streets, in ads, on websites, and in music videos. 
In the first year, we added new languages and entered new markets. Recognizing us by the font, six clients came to us, and also we boosted job applications 4×. But most importantly — we “branded” over 70% of font selection dialogs across computers in the creative industry. Many designers even tell us: whenever they see our font, they think of REDKEDS.

Everything in this case was sent by our followers or spotted in the wild. And this is just a small fraction of where our font traveled.

Credits

Roman Tabachi - Art Director
Roman Mirzaev - Senior Designer
Alexey Leybovich - Chief Creative Officer