This audio/video production services company wanted a more effective way to communicate their services to corporate event planners. Embracing the existing logo, we updated the stationery and created a sales kit that puts a personal touch on an industry that too often pushes products, not people.

WHERE

There are few corners left in the urban environment that don’t have a coffee shop, and very few are consistently good. In fact, even that great tasting cup could be produced with beans that victimized the people who grow, pick and sell them.

Sourcing fairly traded, organic beans is one thing. Finding the best, the most flavourful and highest quality beans is quite another. You have to be part connoisseur and part Indiana Jones it seems. Then you have to get those beans here, roast them properly, grind them just so and then apply a combination of art, science and skill to capture all that in a cup.

Most people don’t think about all the things that go into their daily caffeine fix. Our job, along with our friends at Octopus Strategies and the guys at Elysian Coffee, was to create an identity to start to change that.

IDEAS

Elysian has a reputation of making the connection between sourcing the right beans and making a damn fine cup of coffee. In fact, they elevate the experience to something more akin to what you’d expect of fine wine. Oh yes, there’s an exact and perfect way to make a cup of coffee at Elysian (and drink it). The new brand we were asked to create needed to express this to those already in the know, and engage and enlighten those who will soon discover.

Elysian is more than just a retail coffee shop. Owned by two guys who have carved out a niche for themselves as highly engaged, experienced, methodical and passionate consultants to the coffee trade, they were also the first to bring the Clover coffee machine to Canada. If you want to start a coffee business these are the guys you want showing you how. They like to explain that they are “quietly disruptive”, rocking the industry boat just so, but enough to make waves.

Elysian is a reference to the café in the movie Sweet Smell of Success, and to the Elysian fields which were the final resting place of the blessed chosen by the gods in Greek mythology. We set out to capture a combination of the historical meaning of the name with their newly enhanced brand characteristics. Our goal was a new, fresh identity that appeals to industry clients and retail customers alike. A tall order.

WORK

We initially set out to bring a stronger element of the roman and mythological connection from the name to the logo, but what we ultimately realized was that the unusual name itself achieved this. Thus freed from iconography and styles of the past, we created elegant, welcoming, approachable and precise typography to echo the clean, clear and pure taste of the coffees clients will experience.

With the logomark we sought to evoke a sense of lightness, the idea of layers (of flavour and dimension) and a precision that represents Elysian’s approach to making coffee. There are five colours that were selected for the brand ranging from dark brown to pale bronze. Two of these colours are used in the logo itself and all suggest the warmth and richness of coffee. Applied to store signage, coffee packaging, business cards and more, this brand has great appeal for a unique coffee experience: Clean, modern, fresh and humanistic, watch for more from this quietly disruptive brand.

WHERE:

Why re-brand Industrial Brand?

The logo we created when Industrial Brand first formed in 1997 no longer reflected our capabilities and the calibre of work we provide to our clients. We also felt that the name needed to be reexamined. The “Creative” added on to the name was just that, an add on required when we registered the company. Having it as part of the name seemed disingenuous in the way that people who say they are ‘cool’ rarely are. It was time to re-brand.

IDEAS:

We could have been our own worst client if we had not followed the same strategic thinking and methodology that we use with all our clients. It started with agreeing that we would fully submit to the process, meaning that we were completely open to the possibility of a name change and other radical departures. And we agreed we would not be sentimental. That said, the company has built up a considerable amount of brand equity and we would not let it go lightly.

Away from our office and daily studio distractions we spent a day doing our Brand Discovery. With the aid of silly squeeze toys, previously collected client/prospect/vendor surveys and other inputs, we delved deep into our DNA.

What eventually emerged was that we were not too far from where we needed to be. The name would stay, but we would drop “Creative”. The corporate colours stayed in the family. The biggest changes would be the logo and the emergence of a new tag line.

With a name that includes the word “Industrial”, thin, light typography just wouldn’t suffice. In exploring our options we realized that revealing the process of its formation as an inherent quality of the mark would be analogous to the very work and craft we practice. This led us to a study of the deconstructivism movement; art and architecture characterized by an interest in manipulating ideas of a structure’s surface or skin, non-rectilinear shapes which serve to distort and dislocate some of the elements of architecture, such as structure and envelope.

Buildings such as the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris exemplify this notion, with its mechanical infrastructure taking prominence on the outside of the building rather than hidden within its walls. Similarly, the fine craftsmanship of a Ferrari engine is often displayed under a clear bonnet for all to appreciate. And so, we agonized over a million iterations and ways to simplify, tweak and clean the lines of our logo. The new Industrial Brand logo celebrates all that is industrial and mechanical, itself resembling pipes and infrastructure, and represents both process and panache.

Our old tag line, “We’re not wired right” remains true, yet hardly resonates with our intended audience, or provides the sort of guiding light beneficial to us and our clients. “WHERE IDEAS WORK” does just this, becoming a statement of not only what goes on within the studio and the people that compose it, but it also says something about the outcomes we deliver.

WORK:

We felt that the customized letterforms from our logo were so unique that we needed to expand the design into a complete typeface. This gave us the tools to create interesting conduit-like constructs that have become secondary brand elements.

New identity and tagline in place and typeface complete, the task of applying these to every possible brand touchpoint was a daunting one. There are the obvious ones such as our corporate website and blog, stationery such as business cards and letterhead, office décor and signage. But digging deeper, there are well over 50 distinct documents, displays, promotional items, treatments and files that needed to be completely broken apart and recreated, plus new ones. Regardless, we took the opportunity to ask ourselves whether each had the right utility and function moving forward. If not, we improved, discarded or replaced it.

Our tag line has also become a unique way of dividing our content, including use as primary navigation for our website with WHERE being information about us, IDEA as the concepts and thinking behind things, including insight into our process, and WORK as the place we present our portfolio.

The result was a phenomenal amount of work to do while still servicing our current clients. While we’ve achieved our goal of a public launch for November 14, 2008, it is also a work in progress as we continue to roll out elements. If we’ve truly achieved our objectives, an interaction with Industrial Brand will not reveal the sheer effort behind the work, only convey the message that we’re an experienced, respected, passionate and slightly warped team with vision and a culture WHERE IDEAS WORK.

Launch website: www.industrialbrand.com
Launch blog: blog.industrialbrand.com

WHERE

If you haven’t ventured up Burnaby Mountain in a while you might be surprised to see how incredibly it has changed. UniverCity is the award-winning , sustainable and master-planned residential neighbourhood adjacent to Simon Fraser University. Since its inception a decade ago, it has become an international beacon for urban planners searching for an example of long-term sustainable community planning.

Our task was to examine the UniverCity name and evolve the identity then create a new website and other materials to appeal to all levels of community residents, developers, investors and government.

IDEAS

Following a number of workshop sessions on defining the communication goals and messages for the Trust, we developed a complete Brand Essence for UniverCity. This became the establishing work to lead us to naming options and, within a mandate to preserve as much of the equity of the original identity, establish a new and more vibrant colour palate and a completely revised wordmark.

WORK

We developed graphic standards and integrated the new brand look into all printed communication materials, and a new website. Additionally, we devised several unique direct marketing initiatives to get the attention of the development community, and get developers the tools they need to start talking about UniverCity in their own sales materials in a consistent manner. To respect the sustainable mandate of the community, all printed materials were printed on recycled, carbon neutral stock and printed at Hemlock Printers, one of the most environmentally-friendly forward printers in Canada.

The new site had to appeal to all target users on different levels and integrate marketing and sales tools such as image libraries for real estate developers. Areas of functionality such as open forums that in the past had caused problems were removed in favour of top-down blog-like content and information delivery. A simple to use CMS back-end has revitalized the administrative staff’s enthusiasm for posting, and has even had an impact on the communication avenues now available to them.

Initial feedback on the identity overall has been very well received by all. New wayfinding and more vibrant signage has dramatically improved navigation through the area and the overall look and appeal of street-level signs and banners. Feedback from the development community on waste-saving development calls-for-proposals and attention-getting, breakthrough marketing has helped the Trust immensely and solidified their leading position.

“The SFU Community Trust has been working with Industrial Brand for the past two years and we have found them to be an accomplished and highly professional firm that has shown a strong commitment to our organization’s needs. We have found Industrial Brand staff to be responsive and willing to think broadly and creatively about the projects we have engaged them with, and have found their outcomes to be consistently above our expectations.” - Jonathan Tinney, Director of Community Development, UniverCity

Launch site: www.univercity.ca

WHERE

To more accurately reflect the brand character and tone of the present company and coincide with this animation company’s upcoming ten year anniversary, in 2008 we sought to transition from the technical and impersonal planet-themed identity we originally did when the company first launched.

IDEAS

Rather than abandon all brand equity, we sought to transition from a technical and impersonal planet-themed identity to one that softens and personifies the company. Having a significant portion of their work come from family programming of their own creation also provided an opportunity to introduce a more whimsical design evocative of childhood and nostalgia. The use of a child launching a paper airplane silhouetted against another planet is symbolic of potential, dreams, aspiration, creativity and imagination, and creates an even stronger connection to Mercury’s tag line: Imagination Advanced.

WORK

New cards, stationery, signage and many other elements snapped the industry, employees and others to attention, and had them asking about the fresh new look. We delivered the new identity together with a comprehensive Styleguide , an Industrial Brand proprietary online brand guide and resource. Styleguide has allowed the client to take the reins and apply their new identity to new promotional items, motion graphics and website amongst other elements.

“Industrial Brand is an ideal creative partner. Edgy, intelligently targeted creative combined with unmatched skill at technical execution.” - Clint Eland, President, Mercury Filmworks

WHERE

Stornoway Diamond Corporation is a world-class diamond exploration company with the largest diamond property portfolio of any publicly traded diamond company in Canada. The identity we were briefed to create needed to reflect the the status the company had attained.

IDEAS

The new identity symbolizes the primary activity of diamond exploration in the vast Canadian north, and the leading position of the company as pioneers in the industry. Mining for diamonds in the Canadian north conjures up images of vast, open spaces and cold, blue-hued ice – and of course diamonds.

The use of the half diamond icon allows us to layer it onto a wide variety of imagery related to diamonds and diamond exploration, effectively framing them with the brand. Thus, we are not limited to any one image to define this rapidly growing and changing company.

In fact, recent developments taking the company’s focus to other geographic locations around the globe, and a company merger, had us updating the brand even further, adding a complete set of secondary colours to define different project areas, and also refreshing the look with photography based on the original flexible and unique system we designed.

WORK

Over the many years we’ve been working with Stornoway, we’ve designed stationery systems, numerous trade show booths and no less than five annual reports. With the 2005 report we moved one step closer to the promise computers would reduce paper, building a CMS-based website with navigation mirroring what one would find in a traditional annual report. Since then, the basic structure has been re-purposed for every subsequent annual report, with updated designs of course.

The net effect has been a strong, consistent brand in the mining industry, one that is instantly recognizable and hold the highest standard others are continually reaching toward.

Launch corporate website: www.stornowaydiamonds.com
Launch 2007/8 online AR: stornowayannualreport.com/2008
Launch Styleguide: http://styleguide.industrialbrand.com/stornoway

WHERE

We maintain a soft spot for our architect clients. The reason is simple: they embrace the same basic creative processes we do. Marceau Evans Johnson Architects get it. They specialize in projects designed and constructed using a collaborative framework that fully involves clients, future users and sometimes whole communities in the development of a project.

They hired us to help them update and standardize the Marceau Evans Johnson Architects (MEJA) brand to better reflect their unique personality and innovative skills, and prevent the inconsistent usage that resulted from a decentralized store of various ad hoc logos.

IDEAS

The new Marceau Evans Johnson logomark is intended to resemble a cross section of 2×4 lumber, and the logomark, in combination with the “MEJ” portion of the wordmark reproduces this same 2×4 proportion. Wood is an essential building material indeed, but especially so for MEJA since it is featured prominently in many of their projects. The wood grain as depicted can also be viewed as a fingerprint: with the structures they create, it is a symbolic representation of the mark they, as architects, make on the land, communities and cultures.

WORK

With the identity refreshed, we delivered an online graphic usage Styleguide http://meja.ca/styleguide along with the new stationery system and electronic versions of all documents. This enabled MEJA complete control over their brand and no excuse for inconsistent use of the identity.

With the identity well in place, our attention turned to the creation of a completely new CMS-driven website that reflects the unique personality and innovative skills of the company. It also gives MEJA control over their own ever-changing content and sets them apart in the highly competitive architectural design field.

“Our work with Industrial Brand was really enjoyable, and clarified for us the importance of establishing a consistent brand identity, especially being in the architectural field where good graphics is so important. Their entire team had a high level of enthusiasm for all they did, and their creativity and technical expertise made us feel that we were in extremely capable hands.” - Greg Johnson, Partner, Marceau Evans Johnson Architects

Launch website: www.meja.ca
Launch Styleguide: MEJA Styleguide

WHERE

Previously named Sliman Stander after the founding partners, the departure of Stander necessitated a new name for this well-established Fraser Valley law firm.

With six partners now, and a distinct desire to be different than the typical stuffy downtown law firm, the partners decided the new name would be just that, a name, not an ubiquitous and intimidating list of partner’s last names.

IDEAS

Imagine trying to get six lawyers to agree on anything. That was the first step. On their own they had no objective intervention to lead the way and harmonize the group and their previous efforts at a new name had failed. This is where the Industrial Brand Discovery workshop made the greatest difference. From our session we were able to explore the firm’s emerging identity and get consensus on a number of critical points.

The name itself plays on soft and hard elements of nature: water and stone; flexible and solid. The logo does the same using a combination of elegant serfif typography to hearken back to the traditional, solid and professional image a law firm should portray combined with the soft, almost whimsical effect of the blue water drop. The sum is a unique logo that perfectly captures the essence of this Fraser Valley law firm without alienating their clientele.

WORK

Bringing a brand to life doesn’t stop at the stationery package. Working with existing interior and exterior design, we integrated the new Waterstone logo into reception signage, interior design and also a large-scale exterior application for their Chilliwack location. The website is based on a flexible and easy to maintain content management system (CMS). This allows the client direct access to control their own content with little need to understand programming, and keep the site as current as possible so it can be used for recruiting new positions, announcing new hires and recent news. The net effect is an impressive and consistent brand impression, and highly polished yet accessible look and feel.

“Not only are we pleased with the outcome of our work with Industrial Brand, we continue to receive numerous compliments from clients and colleagues as to our choice of name and other branding elements.” - Waterstone Law Group

Launch website: www.waterstonelaw.com
Launch Styleguide: http://styleguide.industrialbrand.com/waterstone/