Leatherman Harriers Sunday Runs Aims to Attract New Runners.
Ten years ago, half a dozen trail runners got together to train for the Leatherman’s Loop, a local 10k trail race and what is arguably the largest trail race east of the Mississippi. Lee Willett, the owner of Studio 23, was one of those founding members. In those early days, runners were contacted by email and maps were hand-drawn and shown to runners the morning of. But early on, the group’s organizer was injured and Lee offered to take over to keep things moving forward.
Quickly, it became clear there was potential to grow so Lee suggested registering SundayRuns.org and got to work creating the website which has grown over time. Today, ten years later, there are 200 unique trail maps on the site, an updated calendar, weekly run updates, lists of east coast trail races and 100-mile ultras, weekly photos of the group, and useful tips and files for all levels or runners—all for free.
Recently, we updated and expanded the organization’s branding to include new initiatives including the establishment of our Rookie Runners program aimed to get new runners onto the trails. As the club evolves, we’ll be there to update the brand as necessary and keep the group, ahem, running.
Is that font you’re about to use conservative? Is it liberal? What does it tell others about you, your business, your political affiliation? It’s a lot to consider.
True, fonts are not conservative or liberal but people are and bring their proclivities into any dialog. People tend to associate serif fonts with conservative values and candidates. They tend to associate sans serif fonts with liberalism. Conversely, if fonts that are liked by someone who is politically conservative will be viewed as communicating more conservative values and fonts that are liked by those who are more liberal will be viewed as conveying a more liberal aesthetic. This is not an absolute rule, however. Bernie Sanders uses a bold serif font (Jubilat) in his campaign materials and, by exposure, it is now associated with being a more liberal font. The fonts that convey the most conservative aesthetic? Blackletter fonts since those were the earliest styles developed when the movable type printing press was invented (and why newspaper headlines often use that style today.)
If something as neutral as a typeface can convey a political agenda, what of other elements? Is it any wonder that male Democratic candidates wear blue ties and Republicans wear red ones? Because we have divided the country into red states and blue states, those colors have now taken on an outsize role in communicating political affiliation. But because liberal candidates will tend to stray from the typical red, white, and blue themes more than conservatives, other colors tend to be associated with democrats and particularly independents. And which blue or red is chosen also conveys a message. Bernie Sanders uses a relatively light blue which conveys a more gentle, friendly message. But a deep, dark blue would convey a more conservative message. Deep reds with hints of blue tend to read more conservative while bright warm reds tend to read more liberal.
Even shapes tend to be assigned political meaning. Stars tend to be perceived as conservative, particularly those that connect the upper left and right points with a straight line. Stars with softer angles tend to communicate a less conservative message. Flat stripes tend to read as neutral though may now be assigned more of a democratic bent by Joe Biden’s campaign which uses them liberally. Swashes, too, are relatively neutral though they tend to be used on more democratic campaigns.
What does this all mean? If you’re a Republican candidate must you use a dark red sign with serif font and stars? If you’re a Democrat, do you use only a bright red sign with a sans serif font and swashes? No. No candidate would ever be elected solely on his or her branding. But it does allow the brand of any particular campaign to flex to fit an audience. A more liberal candidate may opt for more conservative branding in a Republican area just as a more conservative candidate may opt for less conservative branding in Democratic areas. Candidates already modify their language when speaking to different audiences, it stands to reason that their visual language should vary too.
In the end, the candidate with the message (verbal and visual) that resonates with voters will win.
Studio 23 has taken a turn inward and created a set of watch faces for ourselves to test our design skills at a minimalist format. We chose the Amazfit Bip as a platform which is an inexpensive watch that allows for a fair amount of customization and has features for tracking pulse, weather, steps, mileage, and day, date, and of course, time. Working in the small space of a watch face presents many design issues. While the watch can display a lot of data, it became clear early on that as more information is displayed, it became more difficult to read. Unimportant numbers competed with more critical information and, ultimately, we found ourselves gravitating toward simpler, more visual faces. Other metrics are still available via swiping on the watch, but the primary messaging we’ve chosen to display is the time.
We also gravitated to analog faces for their intrinsic simplicity though the we are fond of the digital face with analog second hand. in the middle design. One interesting design note is that since the analog hands are virtual, in some cases we’ve reduced those to a simple marker that travels around the outside of the face rather than a true second hand. This allows us to keep the appearance of an analog watch while introducing something a bit unexpected. We’ve also included our signature orange 23 on several of the faces right where it belongs—between the 2 and the 3. Above are our favorites from the design exercise and if you’d like to download and install any of these faces on your Amazfit Bip, contact us. If you want to see more of our designs, you’ll just have to watch out.
Longtime client Official Sports wanted to update its signature U.S. Soccer referee uniform to a modern, clean look using premiere materials and addressing some of the limitations of their previous shirt. As a trail and ultra runner, Studio 23 owner Lee Willett had some strong ideas about what a referee would want in a performance shirt and set to work. While the company could have worked with a standard clothing designer, they understood the importance that the shirt had as a cornerstone of their brand and wanted to make sure that whatever the new design was, it would maintain a visual link to their current shirt.
The core branding element of the previous uniform was a repeating pattern of a pair of thin and thick stripes running the length of the shirt from shoulder to waist. Among other things, this meant that each component of the shirt was die-sub printed separately so that the stripes aligned but the process of imprinting altered the base material performance capabilities. Since, regardless of the design, we knew the shirt needed to perform like a champ, we looked for alternatives that would allow us to retain the stripe but limit the printing. We developed over a dozen alternative designs showing different collars, pocket openings, shirt closures, and stripe details. In the end, Official Sports and USSF decided to implement a design with a half zip front, slim spread collar, ventilated side panels with subtle chevron design, and an inset stripe detailing on front, back, and sleeves as a nod to the original shirt.
The final design is cleaner, looks more athletic, and has been well received by referees throughout the country. It retains the signature double stripe as a graphic element and thus insures continuity of the brand. But as for how it looks, you make the call. See it at OfficialSports.com
Connecticuti Eesti Kool, the Connecticut Estonian School, a learning institution primarily devoted to passing on Estonian cultural traditions to school-aged children throughout Connecticut, wanted to build a brand that was professional but not stuffy, traditional but playful. Though the school had been founded in 1951 several years after the second world war as a place to share and promote Estonian culture among recent emigrants and their children, there had never been a formal identity developed, no previously-conceived iconography to work with.
So, our first task was to research commonalities between Estonia and Connecticut—iconography, colors, visual forms, plants, and animals. Early on, we saw that the white oak was an important icon in Estonian culture and the state tree of Connecticut and this gave us our start. We developed a number of sketches including whole trees, acorns, and leaves and, ultimately, arrived at a solution that combined a series of leaves of various sizes to represent the growth of the students in the program. Colors were chosen to mirror the Estonian flag and a shield icon was used as a way to communicate tradition and education. A number of lockups were created that could be used in horizontal formats, vertical formats, on shirts and other promotional items, and an official seal that would be reserved for ceremonial and institutional purposes only. In addition, social media badges and email graphics were rolled out for the school to use on all of its accounts and emails.
While the school is just implementing the system now, they’ve been pleased with the reaction they’ve received from their audience. We here at Studio 23 think that’s very Kool.
The Wikipedia entry says it right there: John Jay High School is a public high school located in Cross River, New York. It is the only high school in the Katonah-Lewisboro School District. The school, which opened in 1956, is named after John Jay, a Founding father of the United States, and first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who lived nearby. Over the years, the school has been heavily criticized for its mascot, the Indians.
At several times over the past 30 years, the question has been raised whether the school should change its mascot yet, although a 1989 vote by student congress revealed it should, nothing has changed. A recent poll of students revealed a majority of students voting were reluctant to abandon the Indian although there was considerable discussion at the school about the issue. As members of the community, we at Studio 23 had some thoughts.
At the time of the school’s founding, there was much less cultural sensitivity. The “Indian” was chosen, no doubt, as a symbol because it was white affluent society’s interpretation of a kind of fierceness. But recently, the student congress reached out to a native American cultural organization which pointed out that the term “indian” is a racial construct, and is offensive to many in their culture. Clearly, the mascot needs to go.
Current John Jay High School iconography.
There are many reasons people are uncomfortable with change, particularly for symbols which hold special meaning to them. Tribal loyalties are questioned, emotions get stirred. But sometimes the issue can be as simple as not being able to see the possibilities beyond what they currently have. To that end, Studio 23 created a series of alternate identities as talking points, not as finished designs. For inspiration we looked at meaningful fauna that were native to the area in the time of John Jay—ravens, wolves, wildcats, hawks—as well as more intangible concepts such as patriot, pioneer, and American.
Below is a result of one of those explorations—the John Jay Revolution, inspired by the fact that John Jay was a prominent figure during the American revolution. The concept uses a tattered “revolutionary flag” as a core part of the identity. The new name implies rebellion and uprising but also implies a sense of speed and motion. The primary typeface used is Franklin Gothic (which would have made Ben Franklin proud) and the color is retained from the existing identity. The modular identity, shown in various possible configurations, includes the name, flag, stylized “JJ”, and is flexible enough to accommodate not only sports teams but clubs and organizations affiliated with the school.
While this is only a concept intended to spark a discussion, we urge the folks at John Jay to move the project forward and hope that our efforts can help in some small way to make that happen. We’d love to come to a game and see the crowd proudly waving their flags. That would be, ahem, revolutionary.
When two successful architects merged their practices, it’s like a marriage. They wanted something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. We leveraged the identity of Kroeger Architects with its signature condensed font and blue color and built on that as Kroeger Intinarelli Architects, incorporating a subtle pencil line as a separator between the names.
We’ve developed a simple webpage for now to establish an online presence as well as business cards and other stationery. So far, we hear business is booming.
New York-based architect Jean-Luc Briguet needed a new corporate look that transitioned his company from one name to another. Studio 23 leveraged the classic look we had created for him a few years before and renamed his company, using his name. In addition, we created a fresh new website which highlights the best of his high-end work. Visitors can sort through projects or by room. Since many of his clients need apartment renovations in a room or two, this gives prospective clients the ability to see kitchen or bathroom renovations exclusively.
Since launching, we haven’t seen much of Jean-Luc. He’s been way too busy on those new projects.
When startup company Beautyterm needed a brand that portrayed their core business—translation services for the beauty industry—they turned to Studio 23. We created an identity for the company that incorporated a traditional editor’s mark in a simple, elegant form. Next, we developed a brand strategy and applied it to their website, using images appropriate for the beauty industry.
While the site was successful at building a buzz in New York and in America, getting good page rank in Paris proved difficult. To help build their business, we created a second site in French using the .fr domain that was able to do the trick. In addition, we applied the identity to their Paris-based company, Beautélogie, and developed marketing collateral to help them get their message out.
Today the company is one of the more successful firms in the industry and we think that’s just beautiful.
The Lewisboro Library is perceived as a local resource by the community it serves. The Library, in fact, is a vibrant hub of activity offering programs, internet connection, books, videos and music from any of the libraries in the Westchester Library System. In addition, the Library was embarking on a new fundraising campaign and wanted a fresh identity to communicate a sense of tradition and a preparedness for the future.
Studio 23 created a logo that combines traditional and electronic elements to convey both a sense of past and future.
Visual Identity for a Cultural Institution
