Energy solutions
Brand strategy
Energy Solutions is an engineering firm that develops energy-efficiency programs for electric utilities across the country. With offices in Oakland (CA), Orange (CA), and Boston (MA) and remote employees working throughout the US–all collaborating on projects together daily–a flexible, holistic, and visually consistent brand system was important. This was key to ensuring each customer interaction embodied high quality work and demonstrated the company values.
Upon joining as Senior Marketing Associate, the ES brand was disjointed and incomplete. One of my top priorities was to define and develop a holistic, corporate identity system for the company. Good-bye clip art and hello nature-meets-technology gorgeousness.
Client: Energy Solutions, in house
Awards: Excellence Lapel, “Corporate Rebrand Queer Diversity Inclusiveness”
Role: Creative Direction, Strategy
Project: Brand Identity System
Audiences: Internal stakeholders, utility companies, other consulting firms available for partnerships
Start Your (Electric) Engines
For the rebrand to be successful, employee buy-in was Step 1. I facilitated discovery and research discussions with leadership teams and colleagues to gather historic context around marketing, define the company's audiences, and hear what tools would be useful. I was also able to use these meetings to answer any marketing questions or confusions, and develop future goals for the brand.
The resulting creative brief highlighted a need to improve the reflection of company values, showcase the quality of work and include more human elements within the brand. It also outlined the necessity for a strong, consistent look for the company across a range of media and materials.
We partnered with Pentagram in Austin to translate our design needs into an updated brand system–one with a solid foundation and adaptable elements that will remain relevant over time.
the Logo
Working closely with the Pentagram team, we gave the logo a few subtle but important updates. An all caps wordmark–conveying an outdated and impersonal vibe–shifted to a title case typeface with custom elements in a darker grey. The icon was tightened up and given a new, more screen-friendly ES Green.
Primary color palette
Before the refresh, the primary color palette was limited to green and grey, with an emphasis on using both in heavy ways–such as background colors on PowerPoint presentations. Adding blue infused a jolt of energy to the palette while keeping in line with a natural theme.
Secondary color palette
Pulling hues directly from nature, the secondary color palette was inspired by WPA era National Parks posters.
