Earlier this year, we decided that while our brand had served us well for more than 10 years, it was time for a refresh. Internally, our process was transitioning to agile development and marketing. Externally, we wanted a brand that reflected how much we have evolved. That meant more than just a new look and a new style; it needed to be reinforced by the values our company is built upon.
Our Values
Our leadership team first set a clear vision and a strong set of core values to what makes us tick. No matter what twists and turns our business may take in the future, we would always stay true to these fives things:
- Everything starts with inspired people.
- Teamwork amplifies our talents and elevates our abilities.
- Building relationships empowers us to delight and amaze.
- Smart solutions create exceptional results.
- Celebrating wins fuels our culture.
Our Style
When we were ready to bring the look and feel of our brand to the same level of our values, our branding team answered questions like “If the brand was a person, how would you describe them?” to “What is wrong with our current branding?” We needed to take a step back and understand the fundamentals of what we wanted the brand to represent.
Throughout the process, we kept two key elements at the top of mind:
- Our branding needs to represent our five values.
- We remain committed to the iterative process for ourselves that we fundamentally believe in for our clients
Brainstorming
Through sketching, conversation and some flushed-out versions, we eventually started to narrow in on a handful of concepts that reflected the creativity of our teams and the new, integrated approach between our teams and our clients.
Turning Point
Eventually, we came to a point where the ideas started to really focus on the elements that most represented the nature of the company. We started to iterate on a single vision. We wanted our logo to be organic in style, represent our core values and reflect how our projects often are smaller pieces that come together to form a unified end result.
Damn it, Sony.
Just when we were finalizing our concept and started to put together our assets, we found a new Sony logo that looked pretty much the same….&*#%!
It’s not a good feeling to be beat to the creative punch by a company that produced the cassette-tape Walkman until 2010, but we persevered.
End Product
Thankfully, our vision and concept were independent of the logo. We regrouped and did a new round of brainstorming, but this time really focused on the mark. The iterative process allowed us to shift quickly and swap elements that didn’t work for ones that truly represented the core of our identity.
We’re evolving in to a world-class digital agency, and we are excited that our brand will finally catch up to what our clients already know. We are excited to show our new brand and site in the coming weeks, but for now here is a little sneak peek to tide you over.
