Concentric Design

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was previously the marketing director of Netrix, as well as a partner in the organization, but I currently work in end-user adoption. Netrix is an IT consulting organization that covers many different practices across business technology, ranging from network infrastructure to collaboration conference room design, and everything in between.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Concentric Design?

We needed some outside assistance as it pertained to high-level design. We had people internally who could manage, edit, and come up with really clean and simple designs and have engaged Concentric on a few projects. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

One project we worked together on was an international organizational wide kick-off in Chicago, which we do yearly. We invite all of our national employees, as well as our international employees. We had Concentric build out the brand and persona of that event. They designed all of the brand assets that we need from a signage perspective, as well as the logo identification process.

Another project we have kept them on retainer for is assisting with additional sub-brand identification. Netrix has a few different sub-brands that are part of the organization but might have their own sales group, identity, and book of business so-to-speak. They deviate slightly from the Netrix corporate brand, and we have had Concentric on hand to help come up with a brand identification for those groups.

For both projects, we did a block hour agreement based on what we thought would be an estimated amount of time to complete. For the open-ended project, it is a standard yearly block hour, but for our yearly kickoff, building design concepts from the ground up and working with the Netrix team to finalize those what was really in the scope. They build out what the mood boards and brand logo should look like for the event and create the components associated with that. This included the final decal design, the pop-up signage design, and PowerPoint.

For the rest of the projects, there wasn’t a formalized scope as it was a block hour retainer fee. Typically, if we know we have a new project coming up, we would engage the team, set expectations, and goals, and then they would come back with timelines, mood boards, and recommendations for completion to final design.

In terms of the logo designs and brand identity, we always have a good idea of the direction we want to move forward with but are open to their expertise, and their help to bring it to life. Given our posture, in knowing Concentric as well as our team, it was probably a 50/50 working agreement.

How did you come to work with Concentric Design?

I had worked with Blair [Founder and Managing Partner] previously.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Concentric in May 2016, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our executive management team, our marketing team, and all of our leadership are really pleased with the work. From that perspective, that is a gold seal of approval in my opinion. The feedback we got on the new logo was great. When we do surveys from our big kick-off event, people feel like it is an impressive event and a big part of it is the branding and having that large-scale presence, which would have been difficult to achieve without Concentric’s help.

How did Concentric Design perform from a project management standpoint?

We receive reports on time usage, and I have never had any questions regarding how hours are being spent. I feel like there is a lot of trust and understanding in what they are working on, and is matching the hours that they are reporting to. From a project management perspective, I don’t have anything negative or neutral to say. We have always had a good working relationship.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What makes them really stand out is their expertise that their team brings, as well as the backgrounds they have. They have interesting corporate backgrounds, but because they are a smaller shop, I think they take a lot more time to manage and understand the client versus being one of many, and just a number, as part of an agency.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we always keep them on a retainer. They do great work, and that is a big value-add to our organizational functions and needs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My name is Jeff Hughes, and I’m the chief experience officer at The Huestudio + Company. We are a luxury event planner offering exquisite services in the Chicago metropolitan area, as well as destinations throughout the world. We handle any type of corporate, private, wedding, gala, for-profit, not-for-profit event, and have a great time doing it.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Concentric Design?

We wanted to establish a definitive brand which was representative of our core values. We create and design event experiences which are colorful, utilizing circles of color, vibrancy and energy. We’re the nontraditional event-planning company in the Chicago land area, where we stretch the limits, and our goals for design, branding and the website were uniquely nontraditional, and distinctively different. When guests and clients would stumble and be directed to our website, they would immediately be filled with joy and happiness, knowing right away that we are not only a fun company, but we also celebrate and honor all color.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Blair Hannah and Jeff Meador from Concentric Design were incredibly instrumental in bringing our unique challenges and vision to life. What they ended up doing was to create a logo and full branding, after we went through two or three iterations. They hit the mark running, based on our specifics and scope. Not only did they take our branding, they expanded it to various partner logos and lockups. They also created print collateral in terms of personal and business stationery, business cards, and all the accessories and offerings which make up a luxury brand such as ours. They have created a spectacular website which is intuitive and informative, but also allows our team to manipulate and change spinner images, and the dynamic text on our spotlight pages.

We provided minimal frameworks for Concentric Design to base the work on. They are a full-service company which encapsulates the client’s vision. With creative clients like ourselves, it’s difficult to document and capture all of these nuances, in terms of color, typeface, design and imagery. For the investment we made, Concentric Design hit the ground running.

One of the platforms we use on a regular basis for changing the site and populating the blog is WordPress, but I don’t have information in terms of hosting and other elements.

Concentric Design has assisted with our SEO and pay-per-click advertising, during our initial launch as well as through several other campaigns.

We’ve increased our marketing, and are currently undergoing a new design of our logo and typeface, as well as a full marketing communication plan for us to launch during our 10-year anniversary.

How did you come to work with Concentric Design?

I’ve known Jeff, their graphic designer, through United Airlines. I retired from that company five years ago, after close to a 30-year career. I was responsible for the entire enterprise of recognition and appreciation of the 85,000–100,000 employees worldwide.

At that time, our small creative services department was tiny, and Jeff was a freelance graphic designer who was brought in specifically for the projects I and my team had going. For a large corporation such as United Airlines, the branding specifics and marketing aspects of the programs were immense, but he learned that quickly, and became our go-to person.

During this time, we engaged with Jeff separately, in order to start the branding and design for The Huestudio + Company. We had a small platform and presence, but, because of the work he did with us, specifically with my team at UA, he was a natural fit with our communication and style.

I’ve known Blair for five to seven years. Both of them are different, but they’re also uniquely collaborative. They offer a service which is unparalleled to other company in the Chicago area. Concentric Design is responsive, up on current trends and happenings and proactive in sending things to us for examination, in terms of new concepts and technologies. We’ve referred many of our friends and business partners to Concentric Design, in order for them to create similar looks to ours.

How much have you invested with Concentric Design?

I would have to specifically go back and look at our business tax returns, but, as a ballpark, we’ve probably spent around $20,000 to $25,000. This is inclusive of not only the website design, but also the graphic design.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Concentric Design seven years ago. The relationship is ongoing. Concentric Design not only hosts our website, but are also working on our ten-year anniversary material and other items.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We are using a number of branded icons on a monthly basis. The website is substantial in its branding, and we’re actually looking to package an incredible gift for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is now on Broadway. Many of the designs made by their team are being shared with the two-time Tony Award winner Christian Borle, as well as some of our other five lucky golden ticket winners.

We’ve been in business for a total of ten years, and, seven years ago, when we started working with Concentric Design and changed our brand, we saw not only a 35% uptick in clients, but our online presence on Instagram, Facebook and Google increased by anywhere between 40–55%. We started the website five years ago, and had a refresh to it two years ago.

How did Concentric Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re responsive, document everything, have exceptional contracts, and have presented no issues in terms of timelines or deliverables. We haven’t had any problems with their recommendations in terms of service partners, printers and so on. I can’t say enough about Concentric Design, and a part of this is because they’re so small, and can be responsive. We have had the opportunity to go with larger agencies at a much lower cost, but we’ve preferred to stay with Concentric Design because of their style, and the way in which they handle things. In terms of project management, they’ve handled the shifting of files over to our printer, delivered follow-ups on tracking numbers, and there were no missteps at all.

What did you find most impressive about Concentric Design?

Their immense imagination and creativity. We might have sudden thoughts and dreams about what we want some things to look like, or how they should be positioned. Concentric Design can take those thoughts and massage them into a visual identity, color, thought and so forth. Looking at our website and scrolling to the very bottom of the page, you can see how detailed we’ve been with our brand standards. I think that taking nothing and making it into something is an extraordinary feat, especially when done with minimal changes and direction.

Are there any areas Concentric Design could improve?

At first, it was a somewhat frustrating process, but Concentric Design pushed back on our crazy requests in terms of color, type treatment, fonts or style. They were coming at it from a consistency standpoint, and challenged us to see their point of view, but went about it in a way which would seem so interesting to us as to turn us around.

Rather than being a negative, it’s an incredible positive for them to push back. They’ve really encouraged us to think differently, and look at things from a very different, young, fresh perspective. It was off-putting at first, but Concentric Design offered alternatives which were extraordinarily brilliant, and actually better than our original ideas.