In the noise of contemporary life, attention is at a premium. With so little time and so many choices, we are forced to make quick decisions. Simply put, our emotional reaction to branding and design, influences our choices about the products and services we use. Design is the shorthand that shapes our perceptions.
More than 60 years ago, Thomas Watson of IBM famously said that “Good design is good business.” That is more true now than ever. We believe that successful companies value the essential role that design plays in business today. Good business doesn’t happen by accident; it happens by design.
If it were easy, everybody would do it. Design happens through intuition, research, experience, openness, and tenacity. These are the traits our design practice is built on. We care deeply about our work and believe that beautiful and thoughtful can still move and persuade people.
We always start with strategy. Why is this so important? Brand strategy is the crucial link between the business strategy and marketing strategy. In our experience, most companies have jumped too quickly to a marketing strategy without really fleshing out the business and brand strategy first. The brand strategy is the proper guide for your words, visuals, experiences, and stories. Taking the time to do this at the beginning of the process always pays dividends later.
After our strategy work is completed we’ll create a visual identity system that expresses the new strategy and positioning. While the brand strategy guides all your marketing communication, the Visual Identity System guides the aesthetics of all your visual communication. This includes a wordmark, icon, typography system, color palette, photography art direction, and scaling assets.
The brand implementation can take many forms. Most often, we create a new website that reflects the new visual aesthetic, strategy, and positioning. This is often accompanied by key print collateral pieces and branded photography and video.