counterpart

the details.

In early summer we were approached by a mysterious man and a company with no name. He and his partner were small, nimble, and had an upcoming deadline for a large international meeting. He was honest with us, he’d done his homework. He was starting out in a well established, crowded field where most of the ‘good’ names were already taken. After trying to come up with a name himself to no avail, he started reaching out to other agencies and was hunting for the “right fit”.

The ‘right fit’ is often code for a tiny budget, unreasonable expectations, or a lack of faith in the experience an agency like 300FeetOut brings to the table. However, this client had an easy smile with a no-bullshit yet friendly demeanor, something that innately appealed to us, so we fearlessly engaged.

Following the initial kickoff where our team sat down with the client to review the business strategy, informal brand promise, and market analysis we created a series of naming structures that were researched against the national trademark database and the playing field. The name needed to be catchy, short, and unique. It shouldn’t “sound like” other things and obviously it needs to be authentic to the client. Most importantly, it needs to resonate with the client’s audience. We worked crazy hours and a few late nights but we met the deadline and got them to their meeting with business cards in tow.

Next up was to create the visual brand expression to match the name. Through a series of brand discovery sessions, our design team was locked, loaded, and ready to give a face to the name. The client’s staff from top to bottom always repeated the same things to us: we are bold, we are strong, we have conviction, and we pay it forward. Given that, plus our love of playing with the name ‘Counterpart’ and a few client doodles, we were off to the races.

The result—a mark that’s bold in form, strong in shape, and evokes conviction with its sharp edges and forward leaning stance. The plus symbol created by the negative space of the C and P demonstrates Counterpart’s need to always pay it forward and add value to every relationship. Their new brand identity stands confident with bold simplicity and strong meaning.