WHERE

Ledalite, is a Phillips-owned company that creates ergonomic lighting products and technologies for commercial and institutional markets across North America, South America, Europe and Asia.

With a growing consumer demand for LED (light emitting diode) fixtures and a general perception that LED represents the technology of the future, Ledalite saw an opportunity to leverage its position as the industry’s leading innovator of architectural lighting to bring LED to their latest product. Dubbed JUMP, this product would position Ledalite as the preeminent player in this emerging technology. Following our past work on Float and Airwave we were asked to take design lead for the overall look and feel of the product and design the brochure for this International product launch.

IDEAS

Design began using the working name for the product, something that is always a challenge since this is a critical component to the conceptual development of the piece. As such, specific product attributes such as the translucent ribbed lens and unique perforation options of the product figured prominently as inspiration for the brochure design.

In addition, though the mandate was to break free of the standard Ledalite brochure look, there were to be some corporate brand and mandatory content elements we’d have to conform to.

WORK

Often in past brochures, we had to work with standard photography of the product shot dead-on or in a standard three-quarter foreshortened view. Not this time. We worked with local photographer Joe Borelli to create a series of abstract images and photographic textures, pattern and rhythm we could weave into a story in the establishing pages of the piece, and throughout. Layering this photography with the visual and tactile texture of Classic Columns paper (to mimic JUMP’s lens), diecutting and vibrant pink as the product brand colour, brought a distinctive and unique feel to the brochure not seen in any previous Ledalite launch.

Our work led the way for advertising in top design magazines such as Architect, Architectural Record, Form, Architectural SSL and LD+A, and a 4,000 piece dimensional direct marketing campaign.

JUMP was introduced to the world in January 2011 to over 6,000 architects, lighting designers, engineers, and others to great success. JUMP has also been internationally recognized for product innovation and design evidenced by winning a Red Dot Design Award and Architectural SSL Product Innovation Award.

WHERE

GEC Architecture decided the time was right to address two important pieces of their firm: their logo, and how they talk about themselves. To us, these things go hand-in-hand. Without due consideration to the underlying strategies and business objectives, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to evolve or create a new identity that is effective and has any real meaning. Without strategy, any chance that the new brand will last is also just left to chance.

In digging deeply with our process, and involving the partners and key staff at GEC from the start, we were able to bring order and consensus to the project. In our experience, this is often what firms with multiple partners find the most frustrating part of creating new outward expressions of themselves—agreement.

IDEAS

GEC Architecture is an established, Calgary-based firm with a rich history. The work they do represents a depth of knowledge and inherent philosophy that has tangible implications for their studio and their clients. The problem was, oftentimes even those that knew them well would have trouble expressing what it is that makes GEC unique, and the right choice for a given project.

Also on the table was the possibility of a name change. Professional service firms have much to consider here as the trend has been moving away from a collection of partner names to acronyms and more abstract / corporate names. There’s always the equity and familiarity issues to consider, especially the more closely involved still those partners with their names on the door are. However, unless the firm is committed to a name change every five to ten years as partners change, succession planning is an important consideration, and having a name that can transcend individuals is a very viable option.

In this case, we established that the name would remain as is. Following this, our first task was to help GEC find a way to deliver their message clearly, concisely and compellingly. We did this with words, not design, finding the stories within their verbal and written expressions of the company. From this, we had the basis for an internal-facing way to communicate their uniqueness and brand attributes, and a solid platform for the visual design.

WORK

The new GEC logo is based on what we call, The GEC Way: context, leadership and innovation. Together these guiding principles of the practice give them a unique perspective and drive them to advance (the firm, their people, the work and architecture as a whole). This is symbolized using overlapping letterforms in the wordmark. The rounded shapes are meant to lend a familiar and approachable quality alongside the playfulness of the colours. Offsetting the colour is the word “architecture” in grey, a more traditional colour that conjures solidity and professionalism.

Online, this playfulness and the overlapping colour elements come together with large, full-screen images of the firm’s work. In the footer, the blue, orange and green elements serve as content areas for expressing the GEC Way on the homepage, and particularly in the Porfolio section where they are used to discretely showcase project descriptions, lists and gallery pagination. Thus, the rationale for the logo and the intersecting components have been given a dynamic treatment as part of the user interface.

Built on a Drupal platform, the site now gives the firm complete control of their own content for the first time, empowering them to keep things fresh. A blog will also help with internal culture and communications about what’s going on in the studio, and give potential and current clients and employees a deep look into the firm.

We’ve said it before, we love working with architects. Turns out, the reason we do is the same reason so many others do not: they speak our language, they have opinions and often solid rationale to back them up. This project was no different, and it’s supremely satisfying to navigate a group of architect partners through a process such as this to a place where not only are they all extremely happy with the result, but also have successfully launched the new brand into their culture, with full staff buy-in. And, if the staff embrace the work, it’s a very good sign that clients and prospects will too. In fact, they have.

Launch website: gecarchitecture.com

I love when “research” time comes around at the office. It gives me a valid excuse to do what I clandestinely do the rest of the week: Surf the Internet. We’re deep into work on an architectural firm and researching all things architectural and found a documentary on West Coast Modernism called “Coast Modern: Open space, modern mind.” . It seems to fall in the footsteps of Helvetica and Objectified. No real information on the website about official release, though the blog talks of a fall release. Can’t wait to see it!

WHERE

We really enjoy working with architects. The simple fact that we speak the same language of design and work in the creative field, often immersed in a similar processes makes it all the more appealing. Last year we were fortunate to be asked by Vancouver-based Henriquez Partners Architects to recreate their online presence. Their goal was to showcase their studio, some of their recent projects, and the ideas behind them via a clean, modern web interface.

For many architects, the thoughts and stories they have to tell are often left to be expressed solely by the buildings they create. As creative professionals, there aren’t many architects who don’t fill notebooks with sketches and thoughts. This was especially true of Gregory Henriquez. We set out to provide a digital outlet for his, and his team’s, prolific analogue output in tandem with a new portfolio website for the firm.

IDEAS

The blog, called Archimemo, functions as a modern upgrade to the old fax blast newsletters Gregory used to send to the industry, and lets him and his staff speak their minds on any topic. But it goes beyond that. Through some careful analysis and planning, we created an editorial method of promoting certain posts from the text-based blog format to their Flash-based website via what we called “the tunnel” using RSS. Specific posts that directly relate to a project are ported and represented on the main Henriquez portfolio website, lending a deeper understanding to the process and the project than is usually seen on other architect sites.

WORK

The final result is two sites that are linked, yet function independently of one another when required, since the opions expressed on Archimemo are not always the ones Henriquez wants directly in front of clients. The primary corporate website is presented as simple and elegant with large images of the firm’s oevre, deep content and an underlying CMS system to allow the client complete control of their online presence.

“We are so very happy with our new website and blog. Industrial Brand delivered exactly what they promised.” - Gregory Henriquez, Managing Partner, Henriquez Partners Architects

Launch portfolio website: www.henriquezpartners.com
Launch Archimemo Blog: www.archimemo.ca

We really enjoy working with architects. The simple fact that we speak the same language of design and work in the creative field, often immersed in a similar processes makes it all the more appealing. Last year we were fortunate to be asked by Vancouver-based Henriquez Partners Architects to recreate their online presence. Their goal was to showcase their studio, some of their recent projects, and the ideas behind them via a clean, modern web interface.

Perhaps not surprising, their objectives and audience needs and behaviour seemed best addressed through the creation of a blog. Senior members of the Henriquez team already kept personal journals and they wanted to archive and share their inspirations, opinions, rants, sketches, and even articles written on design and architectural topics. Also functioning as a modern upgrade to the old fax blast newsletters they used to send out, the blog Archimemo was born.

The next challenge though, was how to tie their less formal, almost sketchbook-like articles, with their corporate website and portfolio. Through some careful analysis and planning, we created an editorial method of promoting certain posts from the text-based blog format to their Flash-based website via what we called “the tunnel” using RSS.

The project was a challenge with hiccups and pitfalls like any other, but in hindsight I think we did a good job of meeting their creative brief and hope you agree.

WHERE

Ledalite, is a Phillips-owned company that creates ergonomic lighting products and technologies for commercial and institutional markets across North America, South America, Europe and Asia. A strong commitment to providing energy efficient lighting solutions led them to a new technology called Airwave: an innovative set of wireless and self-powered controls that use natural sources of energy including solar power and kinetic motion to wirelessly communicate with luminaires. We were asked to create the identity for Airwave.

IDEAS

Airwave is an amazing and brilliant invention. The switch looks like any other light switch, but does not need to be wired and no holes cut into the wall-just stick it on, literally anywhere. The motion of the switch getting rocked up or down generates just enough kinetic energy to power an RF modulator, sending a signal to the receiver located at the light fixture. There are other aspects to the technology such as ambient lighting sensors that add tremendous cost and environmental advantages.

Not marketed as a separate product, Airwave is positioned as an integrated technology feature in certain products, the first two being in the Float and Pique lines which launched globally in February 2009. Thus, the Airwave logo had to work alongside the logos of other technologies such as MesoOptics that Ledalite promotes and markets with their products. The challenge with Airwave was the uniqueness of the technology and the fact we had to do something that would stand on its own while also looking like a member of the ‘family’.

We achieved this by developing the creative alongside the existing logos, and making slight revisions to the older logos so that there is a platform for future additions. The Airwave logo is a combination of the intitials ‘a’ and ‘w”, with the ‘a’ doubling as the international symbol for ‘on’ and the ‘w’ represented by a wave-like graphic suggestive of the system’s wireless aspect. The wordmark is a custom typeface we developed. The green was chosen not only to reflect the obvious environmental benefits of the product, but to complement existing colour palettes.

WORK

Following completion of the identity, we worked closely with the Ledalite marketing team on the strategy, messaging and printed and online materials for the sales launch of the products. The central element for this being a 32 page brochure highlighting the new technology and offerings. In addition, we consulted on the creation of a video highlighting the technology. A unique aspect of the project was the creation of photo-realistic renderings of products and environments in place of traditional location scouting, photography and retouching. This enabled much more flexiblity to demonstrate the product in the desired settings and had the benefit of streamlining the production workflow

In terms of product lifecycle, Airwave has only just left the starting gate, however, by all intial feedback post global launch has been extremely positive. Airwave is a fresh, exciting and smart technology backed by an identity and materials that project exactly that.

Simple, elegant and intelligent.

Watch the movie that Wallpaper made about the house. The house was designed by London based dRMM Architecture.

View photo’s and more info at the site Inhabit. Whilst you are there look around the site, there is great content here. I liked the article about Green building 101, practicle information about how to cut down energy use in your house.

Just found out about this as a friend photographed the foundations being dug. It will be when complete the tallest building in Europe and the UK. From what I remember of London it will be a good addition to a somewhat rundown area. Check out the official site.

I have just learnt of the company Future Systems. The founder Jan Kaplický died earlier this month but leaves behind a most impressive portfolio of both architecture and product design.

Two pieces of work that are well worth a mention are the Sefridges building (a high end department stor in the UK) as well as a new design for a caravan.

In addition to ADCC and W3 awards we took home earlier in the year, we were recently very pleased to learn that our website for UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture was honoured with a Lotus Merit in the interactive category.

Props go out again to our team and clients!