Essence Editorial Section
Essence uses data science and technology to create more valuable advertising in the world. With 18 locations around the globe, they’re perhaps the most relevant brand you’ve never heard of.
When they approached Ueno for a rebrand, we quickly realized what was needed – in addition to a new visual identity and website, they needed a clearer message and a more cohesive brand strategy.
Ueno led this effort alongside our great partners at Essence, through intensive workshops and constant communication on the daily. We were fortunate enough to have close contact with the CEO, the CMO and many other key stakeholders to identify what was good and true about the work that Essence does each end every day. Through this, we helped define their purpose – leverage data science to make advertising more meaningful with fewer, better ads.
Our strategy set the table for the rebrand that was both inventive and appropriate for their business goals. We evaluated their visual language, made some recommendations and quickly got to work. The word mark is a simple and elegant representation, utilizing descending weights to convey the meaning in their name; specifically their ability to help clients get to the simplest, most efficient and most effective articulation of an idea.
Today, branding is more about the verbal identity than a logo. Anyone can make a logo. So the audience they were speaking to played a big part of crafting our tone of voice. Based on the data centric nature of their business we felt the industry already had enough data speak going on, so we leaned towards a more editorial approach, one grounded in a more conversational tone. To that end, our font choice and pairing, was as important, if not more than the logo. Verbal identity is the new brand identity, so in this case, we chose a lovely robust serif called Cambon by General Type Studio combined with the rational and perfectly executed Sharp Sans by Sharp Type Foundry. Both work well independently, but they’re even better together.
The design system ultimately came to fruition in the website, with its confident yet refined editorial aesthetic. The website celebrates their mission and shares the unique combination of creativity, technology, and people that differentiates essence from their competitors.All the elements including, brand, typography, color palette, photography, data visualization, and the editorial web structure map well to support the new brand strategy and messaging platform. We’re so excited to have formed such a strong partnership with them and can’t wait to see the Essence grow and evolve from here.
––
Our Role:
Brand Strategy
Brand Identity
Art Direction
Photography
Videography
Web Design
Development
––
Studios:
San Francisco
