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Senior Creative with a love for print, the planet, and savory waffles seeks like-minded, passionate brands.
Astrology Today
This month, getting in touch with our imagination and childlike wonder is more important than ever.
Quango | Background Photo Cred. Scott Clum
The Making of a Rebrand — From Top to Bottom
Lara Holleran
Portland . Bend
2021
A
fter two decades, it was darn-near time to rebrand. Quango, an agency born out of the Y2K era and tech boom,
based its success on expertise in digital and web development environments. But, as decades passed and the industry shifted, so did Quango. They started playing in the field of video development, event production, and branding strategy. With such a significant shift from all-web to pretty much no-web, a rebranding was required.
Alongside the Creative Director, Scott Clum, I crafted original brand messaging that spoke to the soul of this new company focus — one with an eye on story over UX.
As with every other project, scraps of paper were my first tools, and questions were my ink. Where does the agency want to go? Who are they? What do they want their clients to feel? All questions that needed answers before attempting a tagline or general messaging.
Finding the written feel for a brand is an arduous and very self-questioning process. I imagine it's like naming a baby. A parent might question if they've named their kid correctly... what if they hate their name or it doesn't fit them when they hit 15? Are they SOL or does the kid get a rebrand as well?
After determining that Quango's tagline would be "great brands. greater stories" and the company name could not be changed, it was time for me to step back from the words and watch as Scott created the logo and logo mark.
Previous [circa ????] Tagline
Brands bring their ambitions to us.
Reasoning: Written before my time, I can only guess at the reasoning of the tagline. Quango wanted to give their clients a feeling of confidence. Do they have big aspirations or goals? Is there a project so ambitious they haven't dared attempt it yet? It's a tagline that feels empowering, but, in today's world, falls short of the mark.
New [circa 2021] Tagline:
We are a concept and creation agency, partnering with great brands to build even greater stories
Reasoning: To not only speak to what Q does, but also who they are as an agency. Using one sentence, I worked to encompass this feeling in an inspiring and motivating way. Quango wanted brands to feel that when they worked with them, they got more than a finished video, they got a partner willing to stand with them and help accomplish their ultimate goals.
Distilled [circa 2021] Tagline:
great brands . greater stories
Reasoning: Distilled tags work great to throw about in small spaces as a reminder of the larger company motto. Funny enough, I wrote this one before the long Tagline above.
Who We Are
At Quango, we value our beginnings, obsess about our craft, and continuously stand on the throttle of creativity to bring great brand stories to life. From imagination, to design, to development — our crew of multi-disciplined individuals isn't afraid of what it takes to not just create, but create great work. We partner with brand we believe in — from strategy all the way through execution — seamlessly involving our collective mindshare that powers the throttle of creativity.
We Collaborate
Our success in creating provocative campaigns comes from a collaborative approach. Combining our collective experience in branding, design, storytelling, and digital development, we transform any project from problem to solution.
We Hustle
At Q, we think of hustle as our grit, our gumption, and our ability to put in the sweat on any project, from start to finish. We exist to not just create, but deliver value (no matter the challenge) to our customers.
New Agency Messaging:
We Inspire
We don't idle at the intersection of story & telling. Every brand has a story to tell and it takes throttling forward as a crew to bring those stories to visual life. From social, to digital, to interactive, we inspire each other to make great stories even greater.
New [circa 2021] Design Story:
The adaptation from DIN Next to Lexend Deca was not just a font shift, but a mindset shift as well. DIN, a popular font of the mid 20oos, is the first choice for any digital-first brand. It's clean, speaks well, and the almost algorithmic lines seem to say "10010".
Lexend Deca, on the other hand, is a heavy font. It carries sharp cuts, round lettering and a feeling of strength mixed with whimsy. When Scott was building the new Quango logo and logo-mark, he spent a great deal of time combing through the font
archives in search of the perfect pairing before finding Lexend Deca. In the below rebrand images, you can see the progression of design toward the final logo. *note: the logo font was made by hand, by Scott, it is not Lexend Deca (which is the body font for use across the agency correspondence).
Design Cred: Scott Clum
