LLT Group
A non-traditional approach to designing and branding an agency
Overview
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Background
LLT Group is a digital agency based in Naperville, IL. I was brought in as their dedicated in-house designer with a clear mandate: build the agency brand. They had a functioning business and real clients. What they didn't have was a comprehensive visual identity or the design infrastructure to maintain one.
Problem
Agency design work was being neglected due to client work.
The agency had a look and feel already. What they didn't have was someone always able to work on the needs of the agency; It was given to whoever had bandwidth at the moment. Understandably, the client work took priority. This led to awkward delivery timelines or strained output from the designer who was available to hop on or pick up the project.
Pair this up with minimal project management and piece-meal documentation, and you have a recipe for chaos and incosistency for the brand.
Solution
A dedicated, in-house designer with a singular client: the agency.
These issues compounded over the years LLT had been open prior to my arrival. My role was to become the dedicated creative to ensure consistency and predictable delivery timelines. My only "client" was the agency itself—an unorthodox (yet, welcome) approach to the roles found within agencies.
A new role was created specifically for in-house, multi-disclipinary creative tasks for the agency itself. This allowed the designers who were on client projects focus on what kept the lights on and took the additional task (and stress) off their plates. Operationally, a win-win scenario.
Brand Foundations
Aligning the brand and setting some ground rules.
With a newly founded and dedicated agency designer, the role was to learn, devise, and develop a cohesive brand for the agency at large.
Initially, I need absorb as much information as possible to get the current standing of how (and more importantly, why) are made within the agency. This meant carrying business on as usual before overhauling anything. It quickly become clear on what areas needed the support and structure, and what missing gaps needed to be answered.
This included everything from logo design to brand guidelines to the brand's tone of voice to ensure that their image was in line with what they do.
Design Outputs
Working with the new brand
After establishing the core visuals and refining the brand's creative components, it was time to start building items to show and promote the new look. The first batch of items were varied and traffic-focused, ranging from billboards to webpages to social media campaigns. The goal here was to work quickly and efficiently thanks to the brand guidelines that were established.
Cultural Items
A brand is more than just it's logo.
Beyond the high-visibility items, it was also important to shift focus to more cultural and evergreen materials. This included creating and strategize on more "fun" items such as seasonal apparel releases, video production, and even developing a company-hosted podcast!
Media
It didn't stop at the designs
While creating the brands assets and items, auxillary needs began to pop up. The most notable need was photo and video media. Working with the agency's creative director and media specialist, I also shot video and photo of the office for various uses across mediums. With such a cool office, it was impossible to not show it off.
As new initiatives came in, photo and video needs also came with them. This meant supplying media for the cultural design outputs. Key areas were the company podcast and the company-branded merchandise.
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