Industrial 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
