ClaytonLevyLittle

With unity, humility, simplicity, and elegance, the quiet observers at ClaytonLevyLittle emerge with a new identity. They look, ‘differently’.

A “re-brand"* is never an easy process for a company or individual to embrace. Nor is the summation and merging of goals and self image effortlessly accomplished by a company that has more than one partner.

The shift in logotype alone is emblematic of the process and issues at hand for our most recent brand development and identity re-design. The old ClaytonLevyLittle form shows perhaps too many ideas, has legibility problems, suffers at varying scales, and created a separation (the type treatment) and ambiguity (the logo) between both the partners and their profession.

Our solutions (when framed in the aforementioned light) should seem quite obvious. Yet, they were built on the back of careful research, diligent vetting, and thoughtful development of a position and image in the marketplace for Emily, Stephen, and Paul and their architectural practice.

A proper brand identity seeks to encapsulate what a company promises to its clients as well as the difference and value of such commitments. ClaytonLevyLittle has the potential for both high contemporary architecture and a well deserved reputation for absolute excellence in preservation and restoration. We built our “quiet observers” position not just by interview and research notes with the client, but by meeting their clients on site, watching them interact, and asking critical questions (not only why they chose this firm, but more importantly, why they continue to do so).

And why is that? The answers we recorded were that “they listen.” They have good taste. They’re more interested in performance and client satisfaction than building edifices to their own collective ego.

How refreshing.
...and that was just the first day.

Here’s to the new identity for Architects ClaytonLevyLittle. Cheers.

The Graphic Standards Manual

Project Team:
Client: Paul Clayton AIA, Stephen Levy AIA, and Emily Little, FAIA
Creative Director: Jett Butler
Designers: Jett Butler and Melissa Martin
Design Development and Production: Melissa Martin and Sissy Emmons
Front End Code Developer: John Hoysa
Flash Replace Development: Caspar Lam
Copywriter: Julia Kennedy Jayes with Jett Butler
Copy Consultant: Canan Yetman for CYMK Group
Photographer: Casey Dunn
Paper: Jessica Phillips for Clampitt

*Re-Brand: This term is a problem. A brand can only come from a client, it is their promise to the marketplace, not a t-shirt, logo, website or card. It is inherently flawed then when a studio or agency asserts that they created a client’s brand unless they did so from whole cloth (which is still a difficult argument to make). We define brand in the most optimistic, positive and idealistic of ways; it exists as the best part of an individual or company’s ambition at the philosophical or emotional level as a desire to do something better. This differs greatly from a desire to make a profit (which is implied, typically).

Therefore: we did not recreate the brand of ClaytonLevyLittle, that would imply changing their promise and commitment. Rather, we helped them define their brand more clearly. We helped them get out of their own way, to see themselves objectively. The information is always there. Our job is to discover, intuit, distill.