Written by
Melissa Lohrer
As the role of brands shift, agencies will evolve to meet new demands. We’re at a pivotal moment in which we have the chance to visualize a new reality and, together with our partners, make it happen. It’s an opportunity that energizes us, and a responsibility we don’t take lightly.
As we partner with clients across industries to get future-ready, we’re also taking the opportunity to prepare our own brand for what’s next. This evolution is about where we are going, but rooted in who we have always been.
And like our work with clients, this process was about the people behind the brand. Our talented team of brand architects brought intelligence and imagination together to make magic happen.
“It’s more of an evolution than a revolution,” says creative director Adrienne Muken. “We wanted to modernize while tapping into the people behind our brand, and honoring how we got where we are today.”
Bringing intelligence + imagination together
We’ve called the East Village our home for over two decades—its grit and liveliness are at our core. Our neighborhood and community has shaped who we are today: original, always ahead, and without pretense.
Our goal for our new visual identity was to embody the cornerstone characteristics that make our agency unique: imagination and intelligence. It needed to bring together creative execution and strategy. By doing so, each could draw the best out of the other. In our new evolution, opportunities for expressiveness are found within solid structures.
“It’s the idea of coloring in the lines,” says lead designer Audra Schroeder. “The strategic side builds strong outlines while the design side fills them in with artistry and expressiveness.”
We expanded beyond our primary font, Helvetica Neue, to use typography to imbue spirit and character. By pairing the orderly san-serif typeface with a serif typeface, we were able to capture the push and pull between intelligence and imagination.
The totality of two sides of the mind coming together also manifested in a new visual device. An organic riff on a traditional shape, it speaks to our approach in partnering with brands.
“Our power as an agency is in making transformation happen,” says our founding partner Catherine Clark. “This organic form captures that process. It’s not just a shape, but something waiting to be shaped.”
Adrienne thinks of it as a mound of clay: something that multiple hands will shape, that will be slowly turned into what it needs to become.
Balancing fixed vs. flex
To make brands future-ready requires both a flexibility of mind plus a form to work within. In our work, constraints don’t snuff out expression—they set the ground rules that give creativity the most impact.
In our reimagining of our brand, we wanted to create a solid foundation without losing malleability. It’s not as much of a blank slate as our previous iteration—instead, it gives us a form in which to bring even more ideas to life.
We refreshed our palette to be brighter, yet not too bold, to reflect the moment we’re in today. But while the core elements of our visual identity are fixed, color will afford us an opportunity to flex. Rather than remaining static, it will shift to reflect cultural moments and moods.
Tapping into our human side
Our business has always put relationships at the center, and it’s the strength of these partnerships that has fueled our growth. Our brand needed to capture the experience our clients have with us. From entering our studio in a familiar neighborhood to sitting on our couches for an intimate conversation, our experience has always been about providing the opportunity to leave corporate expectations behind and engage with people.
By adding more dimension, we’re able to show more facets of our brand. It’s a chance to showcase the real people—the designers, strategists, and client advocates who bring genuine care and enthusiasm to every project they touch.
While evolving our brand, we spent a lot of time thinking about how to recreate the experience people have with us. We looked to hospitality for inspiration on how to incorporate thoughtfulness into every detail to shape a guest’s experience.
Translating our human side was especially important in a time when we’re all remote. It needed to be felt at every detail and touchpoint—whether virtual or in the physical world.
Bringing the rebrand to life
Thoughtfulness is placed at the center of our new evolution so that it ripples out to every touchpoint. We consider it a success if our partners can sense the beating hearts behind our brand.
“At the end of the day, a brand is a relationship. It’s how you connect with people and how they connect back to you,” says founding partner Paul McDowall. “As we shape the future of brands, we come to each challenge with empathy and understanding.”
Paul points out that the shift hasn’t been entirely external. Our new evolution has allowed us to think differently about how we engage with our clients as well as with each other. Our rebrand coincided with our shift to remote work and gave clarity to our virtual collaboration, helping us find intention in the ways we come together online.
We’re at a moment of adaptation: our team adapting to a new workstyle, agencies adapting to a new client needs, and industries adapting to a world in which they have a chance to have real impact. Our evolution is our response: a shift that makes us ready for the future by building on everything—and everyone—that’s gotten us to where we are.
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