26 Projects – Fresh New Branding
26 Projects is about being a catalyst for something new – the tipping point, the spark, the first domino to be pushed over. We are not followers, and we don’t settle for anything less than extraordinary. We create work that stops you in your tracks, turns heads, and, we hope, makes you look at the world a little differently.
In our pursuit of the extraordinary, we decided to undertake a new challenge: rebranding 26 Projects. We wanted our new branding to evoke wonder, warmth, and excitement. It should feel approachable, but interesting and full of possibility – like meeting someone new and feeling a friendship forming immediately.
The Colour Palette
Though we loved the bold simplicity of our last branding – particularly the way the 2 and the 6 pop from the page in their signature black and white – the colour palette was limiting. So, we began our rebrand first by exploring new colours.
The dark blue and light grey anchor and ground the palette without feeling overly corporate – while the lighter blue, yellow, and pink accents are unique and unexpected, and give us the range that we were looking for. The colour palette works in a variety of combinations, each one evoking something new and different.
The Logo and Typeface
As a direct departure to our previous branding, we opted to spell out “twenty six” in a playful, non-traditional typeface that straddles the line between being a serif and a sans serif. The slight curve of the x and the y was specifically chosen to infuse the logo with playfulness and a little quirky charm.
We paired the wordmark with a bold underline that gives breathing space between the type and the line – giving room for possibilities and ideas to flourish.
To complement the logo, we have selected a simple, pared back sans serif as our primary brand font. We wanted this typeface to not compete with the uniqueness of the logo, and let the words and ideas shine.
Icons and Supporting Brand Elements
Our supporting graphical elements – the dots and dashes – were inspired by an architectural detail of the physical studio space, our peg wall. Once the home of our beloved 26 Market, which has since outgrown its humble beginnings in the corner of our studio, our peg wall now serves as a striking accent – full of negative space and bursting with potential.
These elements also represent the idea of individual entities – like members of our team and sparks of inspiration – coming together to form something inspired, different, and impactful. We are strong independently, but are stronger together as a team.
The dots and dashes can be arranged together to form modular patterns, but also work to form our iconography by stretching between the t and the s. And, of course, the shapes assemble perfectly into an icon that cleverly forms a 2 and a 6.