sohlo
An Artful Approach
Lon had a very clear vision for Sohlo. His European roots were already seen across town with Boulder staples like Alpine Modern. His VC firm, however, sought a much more playful approach. We* worked with Jim Heekin, CD, Copy to define 3 aesthetics using Mild To Wild™ as our rudder. Together, the challenge was to...
- Incorporate artful methods to show process, grit, and effort
- Not be afraid to take risks and be daring — great companies stem from risk v reward
- Unify the Brand through a strong palette across color, type, illustration and texture
Company Texture
As we moved through process—it became evident that focusing the Brand around Art, alone, was not sufficient. Although beautiful, early explorations made the firm feel like a maker space versus a financial center-point for unique styes to emerge from and not be defined by. The goal became about slowly refining our process without losing the high society feel we had cultivated. We...
- Refined the Artful process over time–not losing the MOMA aesthetic we had cultivated
- Continued to show hands-on, local processes that could scale
- Continued to push styles, textures, color and negative space to create brand breathing room
A Useable Toolkit
Ultimately, we settled on a tight, locked up wordmark that sat squat and held weight no matter where it was placed. The texture came from a very energetic set of illustrations, instead of a literal scream. To date— this has been the most explorative build we* have ever been a part of and are incredibly thankful for the lessons it taught us about Design. People. Play.
Our Local* Team:
- CEO & Founder: Lon McGowan
- Creative Director, Copy: Jim Heekin
- Creative Director, Design: Neil Yarnal
The Brand was handed off to:
- Designer: JJJJustin McKinley
A CLOSER LOOK 👀
