The WHR Architects rebrand has been one of the most challenging and yet, rewarding projects I have ever had the privilege of being a part of. By definition, architects are well-rounded in many aspects of design. They exceed at three dimensional form, color, texture, materials, structure, objects, scale and the relationship and human response to these characteristics of design. They even employ a process called “Evidence-Based Design” by which data collected from the user experience is utilized to influence their design and decision making processes.

All this is to say that, throughout the branding process, there was an incredible amount of truth involved, i.e. in a design presentation you would never get away with, “I did this because it looks really cool”. No amount of marketing or design speak would ever work either. Every single decision had to have a reason; a reason that directly related to their core values, culture, vision or nature of their business.

The WHR Architects rebranding process began as a symbol exploration. Their previous logo, which consisted of a red (or black) box with WHR (set in Garamond) reversed out in the lower portion, was dated and their colors were not unique in the industry. In fact, red (or variation of red including red-orange), black and gray seems to be the consensus among the local architectural firms.

While I can not be specific as to what the symbol exploration looked like, I can say that throughout the lengthy process more than 250 symbols were explored and presented in a variety of formats. Towards the end, we were left with a few unique ideas in the mix and how they could be applied to a few of the stationery components.

But because WHR saw themselves as a company that was so multi-dimensional, cross-cultural and multi-facted, they could not reconcile themselves to a singular mark or symbol. The end result was a simple, consistent approach taken towards the application of the identity across businesses and markets while the accompanying supergraphic, initially presented as a visual play or extension of one of the symbols, takes on a more predominant role.

Concomitant to the design of supporting collateral, brand identity guidelines were also created that outlined specific components of the new brand including core values, positioning, color and application of the logotype and supporting supergraphic(s).

What is interesting about this document, while an excerpt, is that is suggests how the static supergraphic can be expounded on, allowing a virtually unlimited amount of possibilities with the implementation.

Unique business cards and letterheads were designed for each business segment with the appropriate four color supergraphic printed on the back. Envelopes were simplified to two colors but remain true to the palette.

Notebooks were designed and produced for employees that reinforce key brand messages while providing ample space and structure for taking notes and sketching.

The multi-purpose brand box doubles as an employee gift, as it contained each employee’s brand related materials upon launch, and a package for shipping relevant materials to clients and prospects. The tagline was imprinted with a black foil stamp and the box is secured with pre-printed labels that can be addressed in house.

Simple T’s were printed on an organic cotton shirt with the tagline on front and logotype on the sleeve.

The brand is reinforced on the website through the use of luminous graphics in the banner and candid and portrait photography throughout alongside project examples and details.

The project images shown above are the result of the WHR Architects re-brand completed at the end of the first quarter, 2009. This project was completed while I was on staff at Savage, in Houston, Texas. Many people were involved in the creation, production and planning of this project on both sides of the equation. For full details, please see the complete credits.