Instilling a ‘designer mindset’ into a new brand system.
In an increasingly competitive market of ‘creative’ workspaces, IWG’s Spaces brand was struggling to cut through. To find what was unique about its offering, we immersed ourselves in the workspace sector and uncovered a distinct ‘designer mindset’ in Spaces that contrasted against more maximalist competition. Our approach was therefore to re-centre the brand on the simple things it excels at: creating high-functioning, brilliantly-designed environments where without distraction you can do your best work. A key part of the new visual identity was to amplify Spaces’ air of precision and utility, which led to a heroing of the brand’s distinctive hexagon.
This gave birth to two brand new modes; a ‘cubic shape’ which adds a bolder 3D expressive element to the hexagon, and a ‘corner shape’ which weaves geometry and the feeling of design craft into every brand touchpoint. To inject some personality and juxtapose design utility with a looser attitude, we also devised a hand drawn illustration palette, while a dual-headline typographic scheme provides emphasis and energy for key brand messages.
There was already an atmosphere of precision and design utility baked into both the brand name and fundamental brand elements.The brandmark conveys a taut simplicity. We worked to make more value and recognition of it. We created two new modes:
The “Cubic Shape” mode reveals the expressive 3D nature of the hexagon becoming a key vehicle to dimensionalise the brand.
The “corner shape” subtly weaves the geometry and the feeling of design craft deeper into every brand touchpoint
And in case all this 'design craft' made the brand too serious – we devised an illustration palette to provide a looser attitude and personality twist.
We introduced a dual-headline typographic scheme to provide emphasis in messaging and juxtapose design utility with a elevated craft feel.
