Business Circle
The visual language for the Google Leadership Circle was derived from the aesthetic established for its Executive Summit event. Given that these two initiatives were symbiotic of each other, there needed to be a visual connection. One of the key elements from the Executive Summit branding was a grouping of thin black stripes. This visual identifier was further supported with the brand typeface, Baro Strip, and using this was a mandatory requirement – so if you don’t like stripes, this one’s probably not going to be for you.
Not wanting this branding to end up looking like dazzle camouflage (or risk triggering a migraine), I intended to use these stripes with a little more restraint, partnering them with Google’s bright and bold colour palette. If the branding needed to do two things it was:
- To be instantly recognisable to its C-Suite audience as a Google initiative (a trusted business partner), with nods to the Executive Summit
- Add a dynamic and engaging layer to this facet of the brand (flexible, with consideration to motion, but easy to adapt and apply internally)
Circle of Trust
When creating a brand toolkit such as this, it needs to be flexible enough that it can be used in a variety of ways, across multiple channels, but with a considered approach as to how (and who) will need to use the assets, once they’re handed over.
At its base level, this branding takes four basic shapes, and encourages the user to layer them, rotate them or play with sizing – with a few parameters in place, to keep things consistent. In the end, we were able to create a visual language that could work in the header of an EDM through to an event lanyard – adding just enough dynamism and fun to ensure the brand had some legs, over the year.
