Tag: Strategy

Stripe Product Logos

A Harmonized Infrastructure for the Internet

Stripe builds economic infrastructure for the internet. Its software is used by companies of every size—from startups to public companies to accept payments and manage their businesses online.

As part of a more extensive brand refresh led by their design team, we were asked to evolve their product identities. These logos had been designed to different standards over the years, resulting in the lost opportunity to showcase a more cohesive offering.

Working with their design team, we created a new, shared visual language to serve as connective tissue across the system, calibrating the style to reflect Stripe’s brand — mature, trustworthy, and optimistic. Each application is afforded the distinct ability to express a specific offering while being mindfully integrated with Stripe’s redesigned web system. Each logo signals the value of its offering by combining converging colors and shapes, adhering to specific angles related to the Stripe logo, and utilizing subtle lighting effects — lending a sense of credibility throughout.

The harmonized and extensible design system will allow the team at Stripe to expand their product portfolio indefinitely while helping users effortlessly navigate an offering that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

Good & Common

In July of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, Landscape announced a pro-bono initiative to support Black-owned businesses. DeWitt Lacy, a local attorney, reached out to our team with the goal of creating a free resource to educate Americans about their civil rights.

The collaboration led to the launch of Good & Common, an online platform dedicated to helping people learn more about what their rights are, how to exercise them, and what to do if they are violated. The platform translates Lacy’s extensive legal experience into accessible and actionable information for every American.

From research and strategy to design and development, we worked with Lacy to architect and build a digital tool that could deliver fundamental knowledge to the public, simply. Equal parts urgent and optimistic, the visual language was largely inspired by posters, pamphlets, and buttons found throughout the civil rights movement. While the identity leverages bold color and typography to capture attention, it also serves as a straightforward framework to communicate complex information with clarity. The name, Good & Common, was chosen to reflect the brand’s universal and democratic ambitions.

Good & Common hopes to build a campaign that can reach everyone from policy makers to public schools, local leaders to small businesses, and communities nationwide.

West Coast Industries

How does one of America’s most established furniture manufacturers position themselves for growth in the digital age?

Designed and made in California, West Coast Industries (WCI) is a respected maker of premium contract furniture. Industry experts in manufacturing custom tables and seating, they boast a client list that includes Hilton, Hyatt, W Hotels, Conde Nast, Twitter, Cisco, SF MoMA, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

As part of an ambitious growth strategy, WCI entrusted Landscape to reexamine and reimagine the West Coast Industries’ brand. Over the course 
of a year, we designed a net-new experience to more clearly convey their offering within an increasingly competitive market.

Working closely with their leadership team, we redefined their brand position, messaging, and digital experience. Updated brandmarks, palette, and typography allowed the company to signal their role as a contemporary design partner to a new generation of designers. Bespoke photography, a deep illustration library, and process-focused video expanded the company’s reach across mediums.

Online, we streamlined 
a complex product portfolio into an intuitive information architecture, presenting a simple and confident arrangement supported by warm, custom content that improved the emotional connection with 
their customers. Additionally, the site offers a range of unique functionality to expedite the specification and ordering process for both designers and WCI’s customer service team.

As a result, WCI registered a double-digit percentage increase in critical sales shortly 
after the launch, while remaining true to the values that have shaped 
its legacy.

Visit westcoastindustries.com

NorthPark

How does the modern office keep up with the changing expectations of a younger, creative-class?

A new generation demands a new (and improved) place to work. We partnered with EQ Office, a leading property management company, to reposition, rename, and rebrand one of their flagship Bay Area assets. Previously known as Embarcadero Square, a mixed-use campus on San Francisco’s waterfront, it required a new name and identity to signal a new approach to the modern workspace.

Working through a comprehensive naming process with their senior leadership, we developed a name that signals a relaxed and desirable work atmosphere, surrounded by ample green space in the heart of downtown San Francisco. Welcome to NorthPark, an unexpected urban oasis.

Drawing inspiration from NorthPark’s natural character and distinct location (between thriving Jackson Square, San Francisco’s breezy waterfront, and the bustling Financial District), we positioned the brand to highlight its ideal open space, and unique village-like format and feel; in a word, perfectly off-centered.

A warm and inviting logotype, hand-drawn illustrations, and natural palette create an atmosphere that blends the vibrant energy of the property’s surroundings with an inner sense of calm; a brand that makes space for new connections, ideas, and fast-growing companies.

If you’re in the neighborhood, look for inspiration at NorthPark — 560 Davis Street, in San Francisco.

Vicarious

Intelligent Robotics for the Next Age

In a not so distant memory, intelligent robots were the whimsical avatars of fantasy. The stuff of Star Wars and The Jetsons. Today, thanks to AI and machine learning, robots are becoming more versatile and affordable than ever. This progress is due largely in part to Vicarious, an intelligent robotics startup backed by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg. After 10 years of advanced AI research, Vicarious has evolved its offering to become the world’s first provider of Robots-as-a-Service.

We worked with Vicarious to overhaul their brand strategy as they evolved from research leader to automation expert. Because automation is not the same for small businesses as it is for large enterprises, Vicarious needed a design solution that could signal different benefits to different audiences. To articulate this effectively, we updated the positioning and messaging sitewide, in tandem with a new design direction, and a new site architecture. We produced a full content library of visual assets, including animations, still photography, and video that showcase the advanced robotic applications in action.

Vicarious’ unique business model allows access to AI-powered robotics for immediate use, with end-to-end support, at no upfront investment. In the midst of the digital revolution it can be difficult to notice the next big thing when it arrives, but Vicarious will be impossible to ignore.

More about this project coming soon.

Obliq

Shifting rituals through beautiful, premium products, Obliq is an elevated cannabis experience. Landscape was commissioned to define the entire brand, from naming to identity to packaging to digital.

An altered perception requires an expanded palette. A deceptively simple visual system extends a deeply considered product experience; the unvarnished, shape-shifting identity brings Obliq to life. Five letters, five fingers, five senses — Obliq signals a new direction in cannabis.

Stay tuned for updates. Obliq is coming soon.

Punch List

Punch List makes home remodeling easy.

Built for both homeowners and contractors, Punch List helps teams communicate, track timelines and budgets, and manage payments — all through an intuitive app.

To bring Punch List to market, we established a brand system that could communicate this ease and utility across every touchpoint. We worked closely with Punch List’s founders to develop the brand story, introduce a flexible visual design language, and content library — connecting it all through a compelling web experience.

Beyond the marketing experience, we helped re-architect the product itself. After stripping the app to its key functionality, we explored multiple interaction paradigms, created delightful branded moments throughout, and supported the development process through launch.

To communicate Punch List’s value-add, we needed to reach two distinct audiences simultaneously. Through photography, motion design, and thoughtful messaging, we created a brand story that was simple and specific for homeowners and contractors alike.

Home remodeling might be messy, but it doesn’t have to be hard.

Plethora

Incredibly forward looking, Plethora aims to redefine the process of design for manufacturing, and ultimately the manufacturing process itself. Plethora’s offering is both tangible and abstract, creating physical components, and catalyzing ambitious problem solving by enabling more free-flowing ideation and iteration.

Landscape worked with Plethora to redefine their entire identity system and website, positioning them as a visionary leader within the on-demand manufacturing ecosystem.

Mission Critical

Essential Gear for Extraordinary Dads™

Young dads want to play a more active role in raising their kids. They deeply value tools that let them explore new outdoors experiences while sharing unique bonding moments with their loved ones. However, within the parenting marketplace, there are very few brands that offer high-quality products designed specifically for dads. One of the few brands that has recognized this need is Mission Critical, maker of modular, rugged baby carriers designed specifically for men.

After three years of rapid, organic growth as a direct to consumer brand, their team aimed to expand the brand’s customer base with a new product line and enlisted Landscape to help connect more dads more deeply to their kids.

In-depth customer research and refined strategic positioning enabled our team to craft a brand identity system rooted in essentialism and an appreciation for exploring the unknown (both in nature and in life). The updated identity system allowed the brand to transcend its’ successful but polarizing tactical image, becoming a more inclusive and progressive articulation of fatherhood.

Included in the engagement was a complete overhaul of the brand’s messaging platform and taxonomy for its expanding portfolio of products. We positioned the product lines as complementary systems with precise value propositions, clarified accessory bundling, and renamed their expanded product line.

Every aspect of the evolved brand experience was shaped to support the updated strategy, including: an adaptive Shopify e-commerce website, a full lineup of new marketing materials, packaging, and a deep content library to support ongoing digital growth marketing.

Samovar

Already positioned as an authority within the tea community, Samovar approached Landscape to more clearly articulate their brand vision and craft an extensible platform upon which they could further grow their business.

The in-depth identity update shifted Samovar away from the stereotypical visions of traditional tea culture, towards a more purposeful, utilitarian, and approachable experience. The strategy focused on communicating the quality of their tea without pretense or affect, thereby broadening Samovar’s appeal to those less familiar with drinking tea.

The partnership included the redefinition of virtually all of Samovar’s touchpoints — brand identity and guidelines, packaging, collateral, service design, and interior design in collaboration with their architectural team.

The work has been featured by Dwell, Wallpaper*, San Francisco Chronicle, California Home & Design, and Fast Company.

Samovar has since grown their business to include three new locations in San Francisco, including the international terminal at SFO and highly desirable locations on Valencia Street and Fillmore Street.

Mirra

Mirra is a SaaS 3D content creation platform. The platform’s systematic approach to design allows for the simple creation and distribution of beautiful, resonant, and immersive VR / AR / XR experiences. Design in your browser, export to almost any headset, no code required.

With the aim to foster a vibrant community centered around immersive media, Kevin Farnham, founder of the renowned innovation design studio Method, approached Landscape to help shepherd his newest venture into reality.

The project began with the definition of a taxonomy for describing interactions in 3D space, included naming and identity design, and culminated in a product that likely represents a first look at a class of tools that will become fundamental (and perhaps shape) the design profession.

Minus-8

As though derived from an unknown point in the future, Minus-8 embodies the confluence of tradition and disruption. Pairing proven technologies such as Japanese movement and PVD coatings with space age details, Minus-8 subverts trends and defies categorization.

Landscape worked with the Minus-8 team to refine the brand’s identity as well as design their flagship touchpoints.

To develop a digital showcase worthy of its watches, Landscape designed a responsive e-commerce experience that provokes boundaries both technically, and aesthetically. By pushing the Magento platform into an experimental realm, we created an interface that facilitates a compelling shopping experience, and a futuristic brand story.

With pristine details and confident styling, each timepiece is an engineered work of art. By creating a catalog with the same characteristics, Landscape extended the Minus-8 design language into a hermetically sealed expression of the brand. Utilizing a unique combination of substrates and processes, each catalog is intended to create a personal and multi-sensory experience for the viewer.

Much like the watches themselves, each Minus-8 experience appears to have been created in some sort of future laboratory. Equal parts elegant, industrial, and architectural, the results are focused experiences, each truly in a class by itself.

The Big Lift

The Big Lift is a bold social venture supported by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation that aims to transform early learning. It combines high-quality and connected learning experiences from preschool to third grade, with a focus on increasing reading proficiency, reducing chronic absence and summer learning loss, and engaging families to support learning in school and at home.

In 2015 Landscape began working with The Big Lift to help their team define a captivating and flexible brand narrative and graphic system to support the ongoing and highly variable efforts of their fundraising and marketing teams. The identity has proven to resonate equally with funders, parents, and very young students — fostering a community of evangelists and driving fundraising at scale.

The Big Lift identity conveys a progressive and deliberate non-profit in an effort to dissuade any doubt regarding the focused trajectory of the initiative. This was particularly critical to convey to a Silicon Valley business-centric audience — frequently approached by less structured non-profit efforts.

The digital presence features emotive photography and video, in addition to an unexpected palette and assertive typography to promote The Big Lift’s story. Bold, clear infographics support a validated effort. The approach is reductive of clutter, speaking to The Big Lift’s efficient and organized way of operating, necessary for taking on a challenge of this magnitude. Unexpected perspectives allude to a transformative way of looking at the issues, and an opportunity to be part of something big.

As part of our team’s ongoing partnership we produced a fundraising video to capture both the momentum and the impact of the program to date. The video engages its audience at an emotional level, conveying the challenges their students face daily, the joys of childhood, and the hope the program offers. To date, the video has helped raise over $1.5 million dollars for the program.

Hopelab

Hopelab is a social innovation lab focused on designing science-based technologies to improve the health and well-being of teens and young adults, a demographic underserved by the traditional healthcare system. Their current projects include interventions related to cancer, mental health, and parenting.

Landscape was approached by Hopelab to help clarify their communications wholistically. The engagement began with a comprehensive rebrand and the launch of a newly architected website to more clearly convey their mission and structure as an less-traditional organization.

Today, we are honored to continue to work closely with their team to support their inspirational endeavours across a variety of mediums.

Intel x Olympics

Intel is reimagining the future of the Olympic Games with leading-edge technologies like virtual reality, 5G, and drone light shows. For the 2018 Olympic games in PyeongChang, Landscape collaborated with the brand team at Intel to create the visual identity system and guidelines for all touchpoints of the Intel Olympics worldwide partnership.