PRoject OVerview
MQN is a well-established architectural practice with over 40 years of history in the Okanagan, deeply rooted in the culture and community of the region. The firm is currently operated by three partners who have guided its growth and success.
Challenges
Despite its long-standing presence, MQN recognized the need to refresh its "tired" branding to better attract new customers and effectively showcase its projects and services. Their website had become outdated, lacking the capabilities to upload new projects easily, which hindered their ability to maintain a fresh and relevant online presence.
Solutions
To address these challenges, we collaborated closely with MQN to effectively communicate their brand. This involved a complete overhaul of their visual identity and website. The result is a modernized look that not only highlights their architectural capabilities but also embodies the qualities of fun, simplicity, and professionalism. The new branding consistently projects a high-caliber, trustworthy image to both new and existing clients, ensuring MQN remains a leader in their field.
Project Scope
Artist Contributions
The past symbol defining MQN took the shape of a box, but we aimed to dispel this stereotype and portray MQN as an architecture firm eager to embrace new challenges and go beyond the box.
Artist Contributions
We presented a few directions to MQN prior to beginning on the design work. The direction chosen underscores MQN’s innovative approach to each project and its collaboration with clients and the local community. We approached this direction with an element of fun and simplicity, ensuring it upholds a high-end and trustworthy identity system.
Our goal for this project was to portray MQN as an architecture firm eager to embrace new challenges and provide more than just a box. We leverage MQN's core values to visually convey to our clients that MQN is a well-established firm prepared to navigate the future of architecture.
The new MQN Architects logo is inspired by our architectural capabilities. Each letter in the lettermark represents the range of projects they have designed and built over the past four decades and will design into the future. The construction of the lettermark and wordmark follows strict scale and proportions.
Artist Contributions
When it came to selecting the colour pallete for MQN we knew from the beginning that the color red has been a core part of MQN’s brand since its inception, and it was clear that it needed to remain moving forward.
However, the original red felt dated and dull. To modernize the brand, we introduced a brighter, more vibrant red that brought a fresh energy to the visual identity. This new red was carefully chosen to ensure it contrasted well on both dark and light backgrounds, maintaining consistency and impact across all applications.
Artist Contributions
We chose TT Hoves for MQN's font, created by TypeType. TT Hoves is a versatile sans-serif with a recognizable pattern and geometry. This font was chosen specifically for MQN because of its versatility, offering various styles and weightst hat allow us to maintain a robusta nd professional appearance while also establishing a playful and creative edge.
Artist Contributions
Our graphic shape, also known as “The Slice,” is our design element that we use throughout our brand. The Slice was formed by slicing out a portion of the right angle of the O (something conventional) and flipping the slice 180 degrees to transform it into an entirely different symbol, in this case, the Q in MQN. The Slice represents MQN’s ability to take something conventional, add an innovative spin to it.
Artist Contributions
When reimagining MQN’s website our goal was to create a timeless, user-friendly website that not only reflects MQN’s reputation for caliber design but also empowers their team to maintain and update content in-house with ease. By focusing on a seamless UX/UI and clear navigation, we strived to make their online presence as inviting and functional as the spaces they create.
See the full website here.
Artist Contributions
We created a consistent set of icons that not only enhances the aesthetic appeal of MQN’s brand but also helps their audience quickly understand and navigate through different categories or topics. The icons create a cohesive visual language that reinforces the brand identity and ensures a systematic approach to function and usability.
When creating the custom icon set we drew inpsiration from the design elements and shapes from our logo to form a cohesive family of icons for print and digital applications. These icons are designed for both dark and light mode screens.
Artist Contributions
We provided MQN with a complete social kit to aid them in continuing to engage prospective clients and build trust.
