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n an industry where trust and professionalism are everything, playing it safe can seem like the obvious choice. But when every competitor plays by the same rules, safe can quickly become forgettable.
That was the opportunity behind our work with Parabellum Insurance Brokers. From a clever initial logo idea, we developed a distinctive 3D brand identity and website that reflect exactly what this family-run brokerage wanted to be: professional and trustworthy, but far from another generic insurance company.
The Story of Parabellum Insurance Brokers
Parabellum Insurance Brokers is a father-and-son venture built around a simple idea: insurance should still feel personal.
After years of experience in the industry, Pete had seen how personal service could become lost as brokerages grew. Parabellum was designed as an alternative, a smaller brokerage where clients know who they are dealing with, communication is direct, and people are treated as people rather than numbers.
Pete first found Visual Targets through Google and gave us a call in January 2025. He already had the seed of an idea for his logo: somehow bringing the P and B of Parabellum together, with luxury branding such as YSL providing some early inspiration. A rough sketch gave us the starting point. From there, we could explore how to make the idea unmistakably Parabellum.
The challenges and opportunities
The challenge wasn’t simply to design a logo. Parabellum wanted to look professional enough to inspire trust while deliberately stepping away from the familiar corporate look of the insurance industry.
That gave us plenty to play with.
From two dimensions to three
The first version of the Parabellum logo began as a 2D vector design. The overlapping letters worked particularly well: the P and B could sit within one another, while the central vertical ‘i’ almost creates the impression of a person. It has that little visual quirk that makes you look twice. And in logo design, that second look can be valuable.
A brand doesn’t necessarily need to shout to be memorable. Sometimes it just needs to give your brain something interesting to unpack.
But we saw an opportunity to take the design further.
Using extrusion and bevel techniques, we transformed the flat vector mark into a dimensional logo. Think of it a little like taking the corner of a piece of timber, pushing it outward and shaving the edges at an angle. Extruding created the depth, while bevelled edges helped give the letters their sculpted, almost metallic appearance. The result added a sense of luxury and substance that suited a client determined to do things differently.
Making one 3D logo work three ways
Creating a 3D logo introduced another challenge. It needed to work across white, black and orange backgrounds, and simply applying the exact same effect three times wasn’t going to cut it.
The black application needed a glow to lift the mark from the background. The white version relied more heavily on shadow, while the orange treatment required a golden glow to maintain contrast and dimension.
It meant more experimentation and refinement, but it allowed the finished identity to remain recognisable and effective across very different applications.
The supporting palette moves from deep burnt orange through gold and pale yellow to black, while Bodoni gives the Parabellum name its more refined character and Montserrat keeps “Insurance Brokers” clean and contemporary. The result is an adaptable identity rather than a one size fits all logo.
Standing out in an industry that likes to play it safe
Take a snapshot of the insurance industry and you’ll see plenty of blue, black and grey. There is good reason for it. These colours communicate stability and trust, but when everyone reaches for the same visual language, it becomes harder for any one brand to be remembered.
Parabellum wanted something different.
Black and orange gave the brand a bolder personality, while the 3D treatment added a premium feel without making it overly corporate. The aim wasn’t to be different simply for the sake of it. It was to create something that better represented the people behind the business.
Parabellum is big on one on one service and doing a good job for the people who trust them with their insurance. Even the copy has some fun with the industry’s usual corporate tone, with lines about not treating clients like “cash cows” and not being interested in “world domination”. Professional? Absolutely. Same old, same old? Not quite.
Taking that personality into the website
Once the identity was established, we carried the same thinking into the Parabellum website – see this video below:
Rather than dropping the brand into a standard three column corporate layout, we designed around its personality. Rounded corners appear throughout the site. Even the buttons have their own rounded treatment, while the layouts avoid feeling overly rigid or predictable.
The black and orange palette creates impact, the shapes reference the visual language of the brand, and the more conversational copy brings Parabellum’s personal approach into the experience.
These details might seem small individually, but together they matter. We weren’t telling Parabellum, “this is what an insurance website should look like.” We were asking, “what should a Parabellum website look like?”
The logo didn’t simply sit at the top of the website. The thinking behind the logo became part of the website.
The results
The finished Parabellum identity and website feel professional, bold and personal, with enough of a twist to make the business memorable. Pete was extremely happy with the result, particularly the team’s ability to listen to what he wanted without overcomplicating the process. He left Visual Targets a five star Google review:
★★★★★
“Fantastic work by Graeme and his crew, they listened to what I required, and didn’t complicate things. Work was done efficiently and the site looks fresh and crisp. Give these guys a shot, you won’t be disappointed. The team completed Logo Design and website for my business.”
Peter Moran – Google business review
The best brands aren’t different simply for the sake of being different. Their differences say something meaningful about the business behind them. If your logo or website is starting to look a little too much like everyone else’s, talk to Visual Targets about creating an identity that gives people a reason to look twice.
Creative genius, talented wordsmith and all-rounder copywriter up for the grabs! If you can’t stand the look of your copy right now, she’ll shape your rambles into the most compelling words.
Marie Rene | LinkedIn
