OUR BRAND STORY

We were requested to develop a brand identity for a company offering a variety of services executed by creative, reliable, globally distributed knowledge workers; knowledge workers who all happen to be affected and possibly displaced by climate change or war. The task was to create a brand identity that tells our story.

The impact of war and climate change can ultimately force people out of their “motherland”. Suppose you remove the mountain ranges, deserts, or valleys that were home to you. What will remain when you move to another region or country? The sky, the sunsets, and the stars.

Sky was the narrative that encompassed our brand.

There were two important groups this brand had to speak to; the companies that would hire talent, and secondly the talent. The challenge was to craft a brand that would garner the trust of potential clients but is visually compelling enough to attract creative talent and knowledge workers.

We created several high level territories + descriptions that felt true to the goals for our company.

During this process, our team members also sketched abstract logos to capture the concept for each naming direction, going beyond words to think visually from the start. Upon sharing with the stakeholders, the names they preferred fell into 4 larger brand concepts:

Sky

Meeting + Connection

Visitor

Welcoming strangers

We explored a range of new options resonating with these concepts, creating an extensive list of more than 900 names. We prioritized words that phonetically sounded lyrical, beautiful, and inherently inspirational. Each of these words, rooted in non-English languages, represented values we honored.

Harmony between the name and visual identity was incredibly important to help us determine which name feels the best.

The stakeholders unanimously chose Sora to move forward with.



During our explorations, we looked at a variety of words meaning “sky” in different languages, yet the word Sora was the one that stood out. It sounds like the word soaring, by definition flying or rising high in the air. It also felt regal, aspirational, and melodic to pronounce.

With the final name chosen, we explored logos, with a back and forth between high and low-fidelity to ultimately find an identity that embodies our concept and differentiates us from other brands.

Through this process, several elements of the sky fascinated us: birds, clouds, the sun, and the globe itself.

We presented 4 brand identities to our stakeholders, the flock of birds were the overwhelming favorite, and resonated deeply with our values. Migrating birds captures the essence of Sora Union most aptly. Individual birds are vunerable to natural elements and various predators, migratory flocks of birds are a stong metaphor for community, teamwork and stealth.

Our attention to detail extended to the typeface. We tested hundreds of typeface weights and alignments to find the perfect combination with the logo.

Ultimately, we crafted each of the letters to create a bespoke word mark. The font for the word “Union” that stood out, came from a Google font called - wait for it - Sora.

We further refined the bird logo, we laid out a range of the three bird compositions versions, with significant changes to the curves of the beak and wing shapes, to arrive at the right feeling.



The final icon felt multifaceted, elegant, and geometrically precise.

Our color palette expresses the ever-changing nature of the sky above our global team and clients.

The colors on the website are personalized to the visitor’s time zone but remain connected to all others through our 24-hour system. The background gradients transitioning every hour, linking the current hour to the next one visually. If it's 5 pm, you will see the orange sunset color; if it's 11 am, you will see the clear blue sky.

A one-time visitor might not even notice the changing hues of our website’s color palette. We aim to engage deeply with our partners, and we hope repeat visitors will be inspired by Sora Union dynamism and bold color.

THE RESULT

The final result was a robust identity system that exudes premiumness, inspired by an innovative color system and a memorable website.

One of our leading questions in the beginning of this project, was: “What do we want people to feel when they encounter this brand?”

We wanted Sora Union to make people feel inspired, uplifted, and hopeful. On the other hand, we wanted to communicate the values of a hyper-creative, competent, globally distributed workforce.

We believe that the combination of brand elements accomplishes what we set out to do.

Visit our site here

CLIENT

Sora Union

DELIVERABLES

Brand Name, Visual Identity, Web Design, Web Development

& Marketing Collaterals.

YEAR

2022