Replica Restructure
I was hired at Replica to rebrand their current brand. Their current brand was riddled with pointless graphics, inconsistencies and a color palette that was out of control. Everything in their brand was in need of a designer’s touch, no naming conventions, no libraries or asset directory, one document template and lack of tasteful application.
Through a brand audit, heavy research into tech culture and iterative designs I was able to wrangle the brand and get the company to a point where they could stand on their own two feet!
But there is more to a brand than the guide.
Let’s take a look at everything that went
into the restructuring of Replica.
High level, quantitative document design
Illustration
There were no illustrations when I first started. Nothing to really help visually communicate what Replica did. In a nutshell, Replica has an app that gathers data, then that data is used for cities to better develop.
So illustrations were key. I wanted to make sure we stood out from the rest, no more stock. The nature of data is complicated and multi-layered, so I wanted to make the illustration style reflect that complexity.
Making everything isometric was a bit scary, but through a lot of iterations, grids and patience a system started to form. A more intricate and technical system, something that related to data more than a stock image of a person looking at a computer.
Acquiring a new office in Kansas City, Replica needed environmental graphics. Graphics for their conference rooms, their main office space and a company poster I made on my own time. Just as an attempt to tie the three offices together.
Environmental Graphics
Motion
Replica lacked an explainer video that coherently explained who they are and what they do. Through storyboarding, frame design, and creatively directing the animation house (Justin McClure Creative) I was able to bring our new brand to life. I might have snuck a quick logo animation in there too…and some Slack emojis.
Business Cards
This is the card that you mock up every single time and it never gets produced. But this time around I really pushed for the bells and whistles to actually be included on these. Each card is a triple layered card with black foil in the middle layer. Using a laser cut we removed the cubes and let the foil show through. Edges painted orange, and all this comes out to a 48pt weighted card.
