IRON MOUNTAIN
Iron Mountain is the global leader in storing and protecting billions of assets such as critical business information, sensitive data, and cultural and historical artifacts.
BRAND Update
The time at last arrived for a substantial brand update, and I was key in collaborating with the agency closely in bringing the visual portion to life across company collateral which you can view elements of on Iron Mountain.
The agency we worked with developed a gradient mountain graphic that then needed to have the color palette applied to it, as well as alternative mountain versions for use specifically on social tiles and display ads respectively.
BRAND GUIDELINES
COMMUNICATE IT CLEARLY
I developed rules for how to use all the design assets with particular focus on the mountain graphic. First up, there was an overview of the three mountain versions.
TEST, DETERMINE, SHARE
After a variety of tests to determine the best use of the gradient mountains, I wrote the following rules and composed a page conveying how to apply them to design assets for internal and external partners creating work above and beyond our team bandwidth.
A VARIATION THAT DELIVERS
Testing revealed that the gradient mountains looked cluttered or muddy over photos, and that an overlay of the logo and/or copy detracted from their intended clean simplicity. We were expected to use the mountains as THE solution, so I created variations to suit our design needs.
With multiple posts accompanied by social tiles often going up daily across social channels, developing a solution was a top priority. I created two-color transparent mountains that worked well with photography and still allowed space for accompanying copy and the company logo.
RESULT
Creating several configurations for customization allowed the use of different photo ratios and additional space for copy as needed.
PROVIDING SPACE FOR MESSAGING
The display ads required a visual treatment different from the social tiles that would include plenty of space for copy, the logo, and call-to-action box overlays. Applying one color of the palette to the devised transparent mountain silhouette allowed for adequate room for all the necessary components.
RESULT
Customization options allowed for room to switch photos and play with copy possibilities while still staying visually consistent.
A real world design challenge
The Web Team set the website update closely on the heels of the brand update. With the introduction of a new global brand team still in its beginning stages at the company, getting everyone on board in aligning with brand leadership and guidance was a challenge.
An external agency was hired by the web team that then created their own design elements for the new web design only to be revealed at a stakeholder meeting as a finished concept ready to implement.
How to incorporate both new design looks into one unified visual identity, with the brand update having just rolled out as well as the site update set to do so within weeks?
After some back and forth working sessions to remove some of the more ornamental elements from the web design, and working to re-align the fonts to the brand guidelines, I took the main web element, the diamond, and created the following rules to incorporate them for use in assets as a framing device for photos, a pop of color, or an outlined design element where its addition added visual interest.
