Branding

Contact Max

Brand identity

Contact Max is a new radio station in the Radio Contact group, at RTL Belgium. The constraint fitted in one sentence: the logo had to work inside a brand universe that already existed. Not build a new one beside it, and not dissolve into it either.

Client
RTL Belgium · Radio Contact
Role
Brand identity
Year
2025

Produced in-house at RTL Belgium.

The starting point

RTL Belgium launches a little sister to Radio Contact, devoted to the music of the eighties, nineties and two-thousands. A new station, but not an independent one: it had to introduce itself as a family member, recognisable at a glance as part of the group, while carrying the energy of its own programming. All the work happened in that narrow gap, between the heritage to respect and the personality to establish.

Contact Max logo and its "Simply the best!" tagline in white on Radio Contact blue
Four Contact Max logo versions: on white, on black, on navy blue and in solid black
Contact Max logo applied to a Radio Contact Instagram post and story, over a concert photo
The approach

Everything comes from Radio Contact, except four degrees

The guidelines say it on their cover: this branding is derived from Radio Contact's. The dolphin does not move, it stays lodged in the C of Contact, and the three blues are the parent brand's, from Deep Blue to Light Blue. What belongs to Max is the word itself, set in very bold Gilroy, and the handwritten baseline in Caveat. Both are placed with the same reproducible rule, a four degree tilt and a slight skew, and that is enough to make a livelier station audible without leaving the family. It reads as very little, and that is exactly the job: the new station has to be recognisable at first glance, and belong to the group at second glance.

Contact Max palette: deep blue, Contact blue, light blue and white, with their hex, RGB, CMYK and Pantone codes
Contact Max logo typefaces: Gilroy Extrabold for "Contact Max", Caveat Bold for "Simply the best!", both tilted by 4°
Two white Contact Max T-shirts, the dolphin on the chest and the logo on the back, next to an app notification on blue
Two Contact Max tote bags, one navy with a white logo, the other natural with a blue logo, with "Simply the best!"
Car dashboard screen playing Contact Max, Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze", with a driver at the wheel on the motorway

A radio station is seen mostly off air, and that is where the derivation gets tested. The logo runs on social media, on a t-shirt, on a tote bag and on the station car: four settings where it sits alongside the group's other brands, sometimes side by side. Each time the same question, is Max recognised without hesitation, and is it clear it belongs to Radio Contact. The four-degree tilt answers both, and no application needed an exception.

Results

On air since 13 February 2025

Contact Max has been on air since 13 February 2025, on DAB+ and digital, under this logo. It opens the official launch press kit, still available on dossiersdepresse.be.

How we work

Before, during, after: the same method on every project

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  1. Before

    Discovery

    We get to know the project, ask our questions and talk it through with you.

  2. Before

    Inspiration and direction

    We gather inspiration and set a direction with you, before anything gets created.

  3. During

    Creation

    The heart of the project, paced by regular back and forth with you.

  4. After

    Delivery and testing

    We deliver, then check with you that everything works.

  5. After

    Handover and adjustments

    We train you and help you get to grips with the material. Your feedback is taken on board to fine-tune it.

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