Design Kompany | Brand Marketing by Graphic Design studio in Seattle

UPDATE: July 2009

Summary

The company A1A, Inc. came to Design Kompany for a logo design, and walked away with a total branding scheme that extended to a business card, letterhead, and envelope design as well. Our client told us that working with DK helped him define and really visualize the kind of company A1A, Inc. would become. Six months after completing the job, we received this kind letter from our client:

How is the Design Kompany? I hope all is well and you have a growing number of customers like myself that thoroughly enjoyed your creative process. I am so pleased with what we created for the look of A1A, Inc. —Dave Eva, A1A Inc.

Read more to find out about our creative process, as well as to see the picture of a gym bag that arrived as a gift—with our design for the logo embroidered on the side.

Here are some new pix of the stationery we designed for a healthcare-industry company with an office in Seattle:

The story of a brand

A1A, Inc., an orthopaedic sales company with offices in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest, commissioned Design Kompany to design a logo.

And, we got this in the mail:

The design idea

Graphic designers everywhere would be delighted to work with the typography for something so geometric a name as A1A. Two A’s and a strong vertical 1 tempt all kinds of creative exploration.

But right away we knew there would be one obvious challenge: how to distinguish this from the AIA, the American Institute of Architects? The organization is so well known, or maybe we think so because when DK met designer Kurt Wolken last winter, he told us his company, wolken communica, was rebranding AIA Seattle. Check out their final design at aiaseattle.org.

So for our own project, DK decided to focus in on the “1,” emphasizing the large numeral as a way to set this logo well apart from the architecture nonprofit.

We also wanted to make sure to stick to A1A’s core message. Getting to that concise brand statement is a huge part of what we do. Read more about how we got to A1A’s in the FOCUS section below.

As part of the process, we sought inspiration from The Man in the Arena as well as UW prof Karen Cheng’s book, Designing Type.

DK’s FOCUS package

You see, a logo is more than just a pretty face to the name of a company. It’s a window to the company’s soul, its core beliefs and its message.

In this sense, even the term “branding” is woefully inadequate. The idea taken literally, a “brand” on a cow, says nothing at all of the being’s personality. It’s a surface application only.

That’s why we spend half of our time and effort on a branding project talking with our clients about that golden nugget of inspiration that comes when people get to talk honestly about what gets them very excited.

Not just excited. Passionate.

When you get to that kind of conversation, you’re on the verge of discovering that glistening message that radiates sincerely from a soul.

Strong messages come from the soul, they’re not applique.

In A1A’s FOCUS sessions, what shone through most brilliantly was the president Dave Eva’s strong belief in competition, team work and strong leadership. Emphasizing the “1″ was a natural course of action coming out of these discussions.

Here’s what Dave said:

I really am pleased with the work the three of us did. The logo is a perfect fit for our company.—Dave Eva, A1A

A great client

Working with company president Dave Eva was absolutely wonderful for Akira and me.

We were totally inspired by his straightforward, no-nonsense approach to getting things done and strong commitment to working hard to earn life’s rewards.

Along the way we also got to chat about life in general, seeing as how DK’s new boss was gearing up to start.