Carcraft is a British used car retail brand that began as a chain of physical car supermarkets and was later relaunched as an online platform. The brand’s visual identity has undergone a significant transformation, moving from a traditional wordmark to a modern, digitally-focused design.
Design and History
Carcraft was established in 1951 in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, as an independent group of used car hypermarkets with eleven locations around the country. The company grew into a multi-million-pound business before being placed into administration on 30 April 2015, with the loss of over 500 jobs. [1]
Following the administration, entrepreneurs Reg and Louis Rix, the owner-managers behind online finance business Carfinance247, purchased the Carcraft domain and intellectual property. They relaunched the brand as an online-only platform at carcraft.co.uk, designed to let people buy a car and source finance at the same time. [2] The new Carcraft was described as featuring “a completely new look and feel from the old brand.” [3]
The digital agency Code Computerlove (now Code) was brought in to create a new identity for the relaunched brand. Through a series of brand-focused workshops, the agency created a new identity, logo, and visual language aimed at modernising the brand for the digital age. [4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The new Carcraft logo was based on the concepts of momentum and energy. The arrow mark in the design nods towards the design vision of “assembling energy, breaking the process down into small steps that help to build momentum.” The arrow also references the relationship with CarFinance247: customers start their journey at Carcraft and move on to complete it at CarFinance247. [4]
Typography and Design
Code Computerlove developed the new identity as part of a broader digital transformation project. The agency worked with the frontend team to create a styleguide and component library called “Luna,” which became an atomic design system used across the Carcraft platform. [4]
Today, Carcraft operates as an online platform featuring thousands of used cars from independent dealers across the UK, verified through an approval process. The brand no longer operates physical dealerships. [5]
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