Commemoration, in style | ÁpoltSír x DARE STUDIO

In the absence of time or because of distance, there are those who visit the grave of their deceased relatives only once a year, around All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. But what happens during the rest of the year: who takes care, keeps these resting places in order if we don’t have the opportunity to do so? The solution to this problem is provided by Edit Tálas’ company, ÁpoltSír (groomed grave—free translation), which deals with grave care. How can such a service address its target audience without provoking unpleasant feelings in potential customers? This question is answered by the brand identity designed by DARE STUDIO.

Edit, can you tell us a little bit about your business: what brought the ÁpoltSír to life? When did you start, and what kind of professionals are in your team?

Edit Tálas: In this fast-paced world, there is very little time even for the things that we want to do. I myself once faced the same problem: I needed someone to fix my parents’ graves from time to time. I don’t dislike cemeteries at all, I also hold farewell ceremonies at times. We want to make the lives of our customers easier with the services of ÁpoltSír, which was launched this summer. The work of our team is assisted by a horticultural engineer, whose task is to dream up and implement cemetery solutions that go beyond classical grave care: we create small gardens, memorial oases for those who want something extra for the graves of their loved ones. For the time being, only in Budapest, but in the future, our service will be available nationwide.

“You only need to light a candle, we take care of the rest,” your website says. What exactly does this mean?

Edit: We know what it’s like when distance or lack of time prevents someone from taking care of the grave of one of their loved ones on a regular basis. Since not everyone can visit the graves as often as they would like to, we solve this problem: with expert gardening solutions, the result will be really beautiful and lasting. In addition to regular maintenance visits, we are also happy to take care of the grave on special occasions so that it is always maintained. Thus, our customers are left with only intimate moments of candle lighting and commemoration.

Not only did you design the visual identity, but you also helped define the brand itself, right? Also, the names of ÁpoltSír and Kynigo brands appear together on various surfaces. Why was this necessary, Fanni (Fanni Zámbó, one of the founders of DARE STUDIO—the Ed.)?

Fanni Zámbó: That’s right! Since we talked about this concept with Edit for several years, it was part of our ongoing common thinking to ask for our opinion and expertise on branding, and we worked with a marketing and web development team who did the writing and website development tasks.

ÁpoltSír is the best communicating, descriptive name of a start-up business. This is reflected in advertisements, flyers and on any interface where the new customer meets the brand. Kynigo is the company name used on invoices, contracts, official documents. We considered it important that the two names show a unified face in both appearances.

What were the main focus points in the design and how did you find the final visual direction?

Fanni: It was a clear request from Edit to move away from the gloomy, “candle” cemetery images. Our research has shown that we are strongly opposed to the average perception. The visual focus should be in a calm, reliable environment, which we solved with warm colors and textures, and elements of the service—such as marble, earth and plants—were highlighted from the original context and photographed in a studio environment. We have not forgotten that the theme requires a certain conservative tone because the target audience is still mourning to some extent, and one of the biggest challenges in visual design was finding the middle between the classically timeless and the excitingly modern scene. After defining the typography, the precise design of the line elements and brand photos resulted in the final appearance.

Photos: Era Belléncs

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