End of 2022 we faced a communication challenge in MVP Workshop, the company I worked at. It’s a well known blockchain development studio in Europe. During the evolution of the company, the business model of the company started being a venture builder, too. In order to effectively communicate this identity, we decided to create a new company, with its own brand that will be the parent company to MVP Workshop and our other ventures. And this is the start of a new company: Attic42.
I was involved in designing the identity of Attic42. The process of defining the new company started by sitting down with the founders, finding out their vision for the company, values, future plans and ambitions. This served as the foundation for branding including design, communication, values etc.
Taking these insights, we created a 5 day workshop for the marketing team to develop the brand narrative. We started by gathering words and phrases that resonate with our target audience- Founders who want to start their blockchain ventures:
• Forward Thinking
• Forever Improving
• Exploring
• Adventurous
• Innovative
• Web 3.0
We moved on to choosing the name and after reviewing more than 40 ideas the winning name we continued refining was ‘Attic’:
• A place you go to daydream. Mysterious, a bit scary and for the adventurous. A place you come to to look at stars and think of new ideas.
• Top of a big house in which there is also a lab with our research department, room for founders, development center, chill room, etc.
We liked that the symbolism was there and strong and that we have plenty of room to create a great visual narrative around this brand. The thing we hate is that of course we are not the first ones to think of buying the domain name attic.com/co so we knew we needed to add something to the name. We added the number 42: a symbol of the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything.
Ding ding ding we have a winner- Attic42.
Next steps were to create a collective moodboard to translate Attic42 into a visual language.
We started sketching out logo ideas. Not all of us in the team were designers but looking back from the final logo I see how this exercise was useful in seeing everyone's thoughts and perspectives. Some of them made it into the final brand identity.
We started thinking about the future too. In order to imagine what the world could say about us in a year or so, we decided to write it ourselves to see if we are proud to stand behind such a brand. We asked ourselves key questions:
• What review would a product designer working at Attic42 leave on Glassdoor?
• How would a founder who went through our program talk about Attic42?
• What would an industry magazine write about ventures inside Attic42?
These guiding questions and exercises helped us to define the value of working with and for Attic42 and identified which topics we want to associate with our brand and which not.
After the workshop cycle was over and we were all aligned, every member of the team worked on their own tasks. Mine was to create the visual identity, brand book, swag, external and internal materials for our new company- Attic42.
The next step was to reflect the essence of the company in the brand book. I needed to match the brand values, mission, vision, tone of voice and visual identity, as well guide others in how to do so.
I went all out and made an interactive brandbook in Figma. Check it out below.
Furthermore, I created everything necessary for a company to be identified: PowerPoint templates, and our swag items such as backpacks, stickers, notebooks.
The company is now up and running, take a look!
Some key takeaways from this project are:
Time well spent in the workshop: The five day workshop with the Marketing team set us up for success in this project. This enabled us to build on each other’s creative strengths and be fully aligned so that everyone can excel in their domain.
Work gets done in the time allowed: It is a huge task to design a visual identity for a company. This project showed me the need to set clear milestones in order to keep progressing instead of one ‘big’ deadline by which the identity should be finished. This makes sure that the project stays on track and avoids wasting too much time on less important elements.
If you believe in something it is your duty to communicate it effectively to others: It can be hard to align about everything when working on a project along with teammates and multiple stakeholders. While it is important to listen to everyone, it is crucial to trust your own instincts and expertise. I am proud I trusted mine.
