EVOLVE
SPRING 2024
PORTLAND, OREGONBRAND IDENTITY
EVOLVE
Evolve is an experience design agency based in Portland, Oregon. I interned with them in the spring of 2024 as they celebrated their 10th birthday as an agency. For this milestone, Evolve updated its brand identity to reflect how its design process and values have grown over the past decade.
EXPLORE EVOLVE’S WEBSITE
WE ARE MANY...
Evolve is made up of many things and many people. They have many approaches, tools, team members, and clients. They are constantly growing, innovating, and, yes, evolving. This is why the design theme for this brand refresh was “We are Many.” This theme has a collage-like approach to showcase the many elements of Evolve.
THE BALANCE OF
SERIOUS & PLAYSerious-Play has always been a part of Evolve’s process and values. They incorporate play and gamification into their process while working within serious problem spaces with notable clients. Throughout this brand refresh, we constantly asked ourselves when it was appropriate to be playful and when we should pull back and take a more serious approach for the brand expression. We were constantly striving to find that balance.
A DYNAMIC LOGO SYSTEM
The logo system reflects the versatility of Evolve’s service offerings. This “mascot” system is intended to live in motion whenever possible, representing how Evolve constant shifts to its clients needs. The mascots represent different aspects of Evolve’s personality and process. The intent of this logo concept is for the system to always be growing as the agency continues to grow in the decades to come.
FINDING THE RIGHT MASCOTS
FINAL SYSTEM
E10 CELEBRATORY
LOGO SYSTEMFor Evolve’s 10th birthday, we created 10 specialty logos each representing Evolve’s services and values. These logos display a more collage and workshop style, mixing hand drawn elements and photography cut outs. These logos are intended to be used for more playful moments like Instagram and internal presentations.
EXPANDING THE BRAND
WORKSHOP-INSPIRED COLORS
Workshops have been a part of Evolve since the very beginning. Their colors have always been inspired by sticky-it note colors but with the brand refresh, we took the opportunity to expand the palette. Adding a secondary palette of pastels and a tertiary palette of gem tones allows for more versatility in color combinations and application within the brand identity.
APPROACHABLE TYPOGRAPHYSo much care and intention went into the type selection. After many type studies, TT Commons became the primary typeface of the system supported by Roboto Serif. Both of these typefaces are refined yet approachable with a versatile balance of serious and play. Seasalt is exclusively used for playful moments like annotation and callouts to add a little cheeky touch.
AN ADAPTABLE GRIDThis grid is designed to be as loose or structured as desired. With collage being a part of the brand expression, it was important to allow flexibility within the grid for playful moments but also provide structure for more serious content.
EVOLVE BRAND REFRESH GUIDELINES
After months of finalizing all the brand elements, meeting with the founders for review, and beginning to apply the guidelines to slide decks, we had a first version of the new brand guidelines. These guidelines are designed to develop and expand with the agency over the years, allowing for a Version 2 and Version 3 as the brand team sees fit.
VIEW FULL BRAND GUIDELINES
WEBSITE RE-DESIGN ‘HACK-A-THON’
After the brand standards were finalized, we presented them to the internal to be used for a workshop to redesign the website. The entire studio put their projects on hold for two days to participate in a studio wide “hack-a-thon” inspired workshop. We broke out into teams assigned to different pages within the website to work through the structure, information layout, and design of each page. This was also a chance to stress test of new brand guidelines so the brand team could see how the new brand expression came to life in the hands of the studio.
A TWO-DAY WORKSHOP
THE OUTCOME: A FIRST DRAFT
IN THE MEANTIME...After the hack-a-thon, the next steps are to take the web pages into design development. While that process is going on internally, I designed under construction landing page concepts for the existing site. I designed a variety of options that explored the range of serious-play. We decided on one that pushed the serious side of the brand into a more playful direction without getting too collage-y.
CHECK OUT EVOLVE’S UPDATED WEBSITE
GABRIELLE RAMSAYCINCINNATI, OHIO
2024