Galvan is an electrical identity where the name switches itself on. The l in the middle of the word is drawn as a toggle switch with its knob pushed up, in a bright volt lime, so the word reads as galvan first and as a switch in the on position a moment later.
One letter carries the idea
Electricians are usually shown with a lightning bolt, a plug or a bulb. They are clear, but a customer sees the same three symbols on every van in the street and none of them sticks to a name. Galvan puts the idea inside the lettering. The l already has the shape of a switch: a tall, narrow rocker. We rounded its ends, set a round knob at the top and filled it lime, and the letter becomes the one fitting every customer touches in every room of the house.
An on switch is also the outcome people are paying for: the power back, the lights working, an installation signed off as safe. The mark says that without a word of copy.
Routes we explored
We drew three directions before building this one. The first put a UK three-pin socket face beside the name. It was instantly British and instantly electrical, but it was a literal pictogram any electrician could use, and it would have put Galvan back among the plugs and bolts it was meant to stand apart from.
The second turned the V into a knife switch closing. On paper it was the best idea of the three, but in every build the open blade read as a broken V, and a name that looks broken is the wrong first impression for a trade built on safety. We dropped it.
The toggle won because it needs one custom letter and nothing else. It reads as galvan first and switched on second, in that order every time.
Navy and two limes
The palette is Galvan Navy and Volt Lime. Navy is the steady colour for vans, workwear and paperwork; lime is the charge in the system, used only for the switch and for the one action on a page. The lime changes with the ground: a deeper lime on white so the toggle keeps its contrast on a letterhead, and a brighter lime on navy so it glows. Both values are written into the guidelines, so a printer or a signwriter never has to guess.
The name is set in Mona Sans Wide Black. The descriptor ELECTRICAL is Mona Sans Wide Bold, spaced out and set to the right under the name so it ends exactly where the word ends.
A card cut like a switch plate
The card front is split in two. The navy side carries the logo and one line on what the business does. The right side is a lime panel with a rounded inner border, drawn like the faceplate of a switch, with the toggle sitting in it in navy. The back is white and works like the legend on a fuse board: six services in two columns, each with a small toggle as its bullet, switched to lime, and the phone number set large along the foot.
Paperwork with the switch in it
Electrical work ends in paperwork: test results and reports a customer keeps for years. The letterhead is white, with the full-colour logo top left and a short row of toggles, all switched on, at the top right, the bullet from the card. The deeper lime holds its contrast on white, so the switch never fades on a printed page. The DL envelope is navy with the reversed logo and three toggles in the brighter lime.
Posts with one job each
A navy post sets the toggle large beside the line switched on, signed off. A white post answers a question landlords ask, when an electrical safety report is due, with a row of switched-on toggles along the foot. A photograph post tints the scene navy so the reversed logo and its lime switch stay the brightest thing in the frame.
Workwear that matches the paperwork
On workwear the reversed logo runs on navy, white lettering with the toggle stitched or printed in the brighter lime, so an electrician arriving at a job wears the same mark the customer saw on the card and the quote. The lime is kept small on purpose. A whole lime shirt would shout; a lime switch on navy reads as a detail, and the eye still finds it from across a room.
The same rule runs through every piece: navy carries the surface, lime marks the one thing that matters, and nothing else competes with the switch.
Built to be used small
The toggle on its own is the icon. Because it is one tall rounded shape with one round knob, it stays recognisable as a favicon, a social profile picture, an embroidered chest logo and a small sticker on a consumer unit, where a full wordmark would be unreadable. It also gives the brand a pattern to use: a row of toggles, all switched on, makes the bullet points on the cards and could run along a quote or a van door.
Every layout is supplied in full colour for light grounds, reversed for navy and in one colour for single-colour print, vinyl and embroidery, in vector and print-ready files.
Questions about this project
Why two limes instead of one?
One lime cannot do both jobs. The brighter value glows on navy but goes weak on white paper, and the deeper one holds its contrast on white but looks dull on navy. Naming both keeps the switch looking the same everywhere.
Why not the knife switch idea?
It was the strongest idea on paper, but the open blade made the V look broken in every version we drew. The toggle carries the same meaning with no risk of being misread.
Logo, colours, typography and guidelines, designed together so every van, card and screen looks like one business.
