Wave of Information
Client: Verisk
Category: Identity System, Print
Verisk is a B2B data analytics and risk assessment firm. They provide data-driven analytic insights and solutions for the insurance, financial services, and energy industries. Using proprietary data sets, advanced analytics, and deep industry knowledge, Verisk enables customers to make informed decisions and operate more effectively.
Challenge
Verisk is a large and diverse company that has experienced tremendous growth over the years, mainly through the acquisition of nearly 50 businesses. For the most part, each business retained its unique brand identity while operating semi-autonomously within Verisk. But in 2020, the decision was made to transform this complex and diverse house of brands into a branded house.
Role
Lead designer for Verisk on the client side, collaborating and coordinating with our agency, Monigle, on the visual identity. Oversight of all the design aspects of the rebranding project. Member of the brand leadership team, which also included the CEO, CMO, and VP of Brand.
Putting it all Together
Use cases for how visual elements should be used across a diverse set of applications.
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Stationery
Brochure and Report Covers
Social Media Animations
Digital Messages
Tradeshow Displays
Social Media Animations
Branding
Working very closely with Monigle, the Verisk brand team developed a visual design philosophy with our business goals and purpose in mind. It centers around four key principles that vividly bring our global impact to life:
Human-centric: We portray stories that put people first.
Expansive: Our design approach complements our global reach and impact.
Purposeful: We reduce visual noise whenever we can. Each element has a role to play.
Precise: While there is a lot of flexibility in our design approach, an underlying framework holds it all together.
Visual Design Guidelines
One of my responsibilities as the lead designer for Verisk was to help define and maintain visual brand standards, including co-authorship and co-design of our guidelines documents, templates, and assets.
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Logo
The Verisk logo is made up of two components: the globe symbol and the Verisk logotype. The circle in the symbol reflects the global impact of the business. The square root/radical symbol pays homage to Verisk’s origins as a data and analytics provider for the property/casualty insurance industry. Actuaries, mathematicians, and data scientists have always been the backbone of Verisk.
Color Palette
The primary palette consists of two shades of blue, Globe Blue and Radical Blue. Blues were chosen to convey stability and seriousness of purpose. Blue traditionally stands for solidity, reliability, and trustworthiness. These colors are used for all applications including headlines, subheads, the Verisk Graphic Motif, infographics, data visualizations, and illustrations.
There are four secondary colors used to complement the primary colors in the Graphic Motif, data visualizations, and illustrations.
The neutral color palette is for body copy, data visualizations, and graphic elements.
The extended color palette is used primarily for data visualizations that express large data sets requiring many different colors.
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Photography
Photography is a storytelling element that brings to life how Verisk’s analytical activities affect people’s lives. Photography falls within four categories: Focused human moments, points of action, people in expansive environments, and expansive environments.
Focused human moments
Points of action
People in expansive environments
Expansive environments
Graphic Motif Grid
Monigle created the Verisk Graphic Motif as a unifying expression of brand symbolism. The format affords consitent design and visual continuity across our print and digital applications. The Graphic Motif is based on the Verisk globe symbol; it represents data points and Verisk’s global impact. Circles can be used to house content such as picture frames for supporting photography, data stats, data illustrations, pull quotes, etc.
Data Imagery
Abstract data imagery is a visual way to reinforce Verisk’s foundation and expertise in data analytics. The imagery expresses concepts such as flow, focus, connectivity, and variability. These data illustrations are vector-based graphics with circular elements and areas of the image highlighted in Radical Blue or Globe Blue and a secondary color.
Annual Report
Merch
Annual Report
Friends, colleagues, and admirers of Jones donated nearly seventy art pieces, much of which was inspired by Jones herself, to be sold to help fund the production of the documentary. The artworks were compiled into a printed catalog
Logo
The structure of the letterforms evokes a maze in reference to the themes of uncertainty and anxiety explored in “Hot as Hell”. The geometric regularity and proportions of the type reference the machine-made nature of the music, and the antique vintage of those machines. As a whole, the logo is austere and elegant while also evoking the coiled energy of Braille’s music.
Process
Stylescapes
Before starting the design process in earnest, I created these preliminary stylescapes to explore potential directions for the visual brand. These stylescapes collect options for color palettes, typography, and textures as well as logo comps, customer persona portraits, and existing visual assets.
STYLESCAPE 1
STYLESCAPE 2
Logo Design
Current Image Comics logo and its variations
Exploration of new marks
Alternate logo options: I explored several directions for the logo including optical trickery, vintage comics imprints, and modular letterforms.
Collateral
Posters
Two designs for theatrical one-sheet posters. One poster heavily features artwork by Jones. The other poster focuses on the hands of the artist. The image of Jones’s weathered hands is both a literal depiction of her “tools” as an artist and a symbol of her struggle.
DVD Package
The DVD packaging uses Jones’s painting “Mermaidia” as the main graphic. The artwork was chosen for its iconic and dramatic composition. The female form, particularly mermaids, is a recurring subject matter in Jone’s work.
Art Catalog
Friends, colleagues, and admirers of Jones donated nearly seventy art pieces, much of which was inspired by Jones herself, to be sold to help fund the production of the documentary. The artworks were compiled into a printed catalog.
Design by Maria Cabardo and John Pinsky. Hand-made belly band by Christina Graf.