AN INTERVIEW WITH CREATIVE DIRECTOR KENDALL VERGE ON ETAGE'S REBRAND
What's more fun - a brand or a rebrand?
Branding projects are like extreme home makeovers: brand edition. It's so fun to take a step back and look at things from a fresh perspective.
Rebranding has a demo quality to it, while branding is a co-creation process. It starts with listening and assessing what the goals really are. What's the end game? Communication, market, application?
A rebrand involves looking at something existing and making it better. Partnering with a client to understand why their current brand isn't working and why they've outgrown it, then taking a fresh perspective for those working closely with it, is exciting.
What does brand mean to you?
The personality of an organization is one of the most powerful touchpoints for communicating with your audience about who you are and what you stand for. A brand is a jumping-off point for an organization’s identity—it should communicate to its audience who they are and what it can achieve. It should tell a visual story, inspire, humanize, and connect. We've all experienced being immediately drawn to something because it resonates with us. That is the brand. That is what people remember.
What is your creative process like?
I love working in the mornings, doing warm-up activities to get my brain working, probably with Taylor Swift or Odesza playing loudly on my headphones.
I make sure to block a big chunk of time to work with no interruptions so I can focus, and I work in multiple mediums, working simultaneously in multiple design programs to bring everything together, starting on a digital canvas, throwing things together, and then whittling down and grouping into concepts. I focus on what feels like it has a story and what I want to pursue and then let it guide me.
What did you think when Etage came to you with this project? What was the primary goal you wanted to achieve?
I was excited about the opportunity to work on a women-led brand that is based on creativity and innovation. You don't always get to work and create for creatives. There's also a lot of pressure to design a brand for brand experts, as there are higher expectations and knowledge in the space. It's more pressure to execute and more of a challenge. It was an opportunity for partnership, and I loved that the brand was focused on creativity and vision.
What was your vision for our rebrand?
Something that reflected the sophistication of Etage’s creative process. It was clear that this process of rebranding had been started and stopped several times. I wanted more cohesion and conciseness, and to reflect the creative process at Etage. Etage likes to think outside the box and is sophisticated. I wanted that to be evident in the brand design.
What was your approach and creative process for working with an agency business vs. a consumer brand or product?
It was really different! Being a creative working for creatives is easier and harder at the same time. The benefit was that we spoke the same language and knew how to communicate with each other to get to the right place. The difficulty was that, as experts, there’s a tendency to overthink and overwork some aspects of the brand. There was some decision paralysis we had to work through because of the intimate knowledge of the process and how to get to a good product.
How did you incorporate Etage’s core values and mission into the new brand design?
The existing brand had a great logo, and the use of black and white had longevity and sophistication. My goal was to add elements to better express the innovation and how to think outside the box. I used the color palette, graphic elements, and photography to express the personality beyond the sophistication you already had.
What are some unique elements of our new brand identity, and why were they chosen?
Photography was a big part, and Rodney Smith’s work really captured what I was going for by taking something traditional but flipping it. There were no owned assets, so finding an artist or body of work that captured the right personality felt like a big win. Rodney Smith’s work is elegant and classic in style, but upon closer inspection, it shows the unexpected. It felt like a true reflection of Etage’s personality - adding that something unexpected.
How do you think the new brand better positions Etage for future growth and success?
The new brand is more consistent and cohesive. It is elevated, more sophisticated, and has a more unique point of view and visual identity. It better establishes who you are and what you do.
If you had to do it all over again, or if there was a need for Etage 2.0, where would you push us to go? And why?
I would add more animation, creating more fun ways to play with your brand elements in motion. Animation would allow me to move the brand design deeper into interactivity, creating more characters in the story of Etage with the brand elements.
Last thoughts...?
It’s an honor and a pleasure to be entrusted with such a process. Your brand is how people see you and decide if they connect with you. Being entrusted with that is cool and makes me love what I do every day. Branding projects are my favorite. You invent or deconstruct and build again, and then you see it in the world. I feel giddy and honored that someone will incorporate this into their daily life.
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