Our collaborative process

Across three decades of engagements of all sizes we've continued to refine and prove—our collaborative process. From the beginning, we engage key stakeholders in your organization to take a deep look inward, and a broad look outward, both to learn and to involve your organization in the process. We present findings and recommendations—and a program brief—so ensure that there's agreement on where we're going and what success will look like before mouse hits mousepad. We involve you and your colleagues in the creative process, so that the strategies, messages, communications across media will really fit with your needs and culture—and be owned as brand assets.

Defining the opportunity

Before any pixels are placed or words smithed, we assess the strengths and weaknesses of your brand, identify communication opportunities, and build a framework for making decisions. Though the scale of our engagements varies from single pieces to entire systems, our process, scaled appropriately, typically involves:

Investigation, both qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (research data), to get to know you, your organization, and engage people whose interest and investment will advance the project;
Survey of the competitive and relevant landscapes, to understand your market and the forces acting on it;
Audit of how you're currently communicating, to understand what you make, how you make it, and why;
Evolving your brand foundation—first steps to define and articulate your desired competitive position, brand personality, and key attributes;
Findings and recommendations / program brief, so that there are clear, agreed upon goals, and an agenda for subsequent visual and verbal development.

Communicating to connect

Once we've set a strategy together, we plan, design, and produce communication materials that help you bring it to life, by developing:

Approaches to articulating a compelling brand story, and a platform for strategic messages—crafted to resonate with your constituents;
Communications architectures that map print, digital, and interpersonal opportunities to constituents, content, production value, cost, and time—to help you to spend money to best advantage;
Visual identity building blocks, a system that integrate assets you can own (like your logo) with focused approaches to color, imagery, typography, and composition—so that your communications will cohere and build recognition and meaning;
High-priority materials to get you up and running as quickly—and effectively—as possible.

Our integrated approach, combining strategy, design, and technology, helps you to connect with those people and organizations who are important to your success, all the while strengthening your brand.

Owning your brand

Whether you're a department of one, or have a vast staff, it's important to connect communications across initiatives and departments, and to your business strategy. A strategy that isn't executed doesn't really exist; communications that dis-connect across media are more likely to confuse than to generate results; creating communications in isolation, by department, usually results in disparate communications that cost more to produce and that project a disparate image.

Building your brand is a process, not an event. Whether you're engaged in evolving a new brand, re-invigorating an existing one, or in building specific communication projects that need to reinforce your brand, you and your colleagues need to be the best possible brand stewards. Well after a brand or website launch, and after the materials have been delivered, we are always available to provide counsel, message refinement, design, and support, but our goal is to establish your self-sufficiency. To help you to keep your brand, and brand-building communications vibrant, we:

Document your communication strategy and visual design systems, through print and password-protected extranets, so that everyone in your organization can share the same thinking—and work in a coordinated way toward shared goals;
Provide brand-building tools and training, including templates and other digital assets, brand message "cheat sheets," and workshops for brand ambassadors—so that all who communicate on your behalf are both expert and comfortable.

Our goal is to ensure that communications—at the brand and initiative level—are helping you to achieve your goals, and that your investment in us (and your staff) generates results now, and well into the future.