Over its 130 years in commercial real estate, Al. Neyer had evolved from a local, family-owned construction business into a national, employee-owned, vertically-integrated development company. But their name, brand, and website were stuck in the past. They needed a new identity and messaging that matched the progressive, multifaceted major player they had become in order to continue to attract the best talent, clients, and partners—all while honoring their 130 years of experience and brand equity.

Lexicon led the creation of a new name for the firm: Merus, a combination for “merit” and “us,” better reflects the modern state of the business. One Design developed new brand positioning, visual and verbal identity, communication strategy, website, and a brand launch campaign to tell the right story and set their teams up for success as they rolled out their new brand across the country.

Rois from New Letters forms the foundation for the Merus wordmark, bringing warmth and humanity to the new company name. Brut Grotesque from Bureau Brut was leveraged as a workhorse brand type system, to maximize a sense of strength, stability, clarity, and rigur.

Truth be Told is a new tavern on the University of Chicago campus, blending old world English pub atmosphere with the sophistication and elegance of the Chicago’s seminal academic institution.

One Design led the branding effort, from positioning and naming through visual and verbal identity, experience design, and execution. Truth be told nods to the rich editorial legacy of the University – a play on words intended to evoke curiosity and conversation.

The identity’s visual language is a nod to editorial publications, newspapers, and textbooks, supporting the rich legacy of the school and the communal atmosphere of the restaurant.

In 2024, Boston’s landmark World Trade Center was transformed into Commonwealth Pier, a property owned by Pembroke in the heart of the city’s rapidly evolving Seaport District.

The location offers unprecedented access to the city’s waterfront, accessible from all areas of the city. It required a contemporary visual identity program that would celebrate the property, honor its legacy, and connect with audiences from across the region.

One Design created Seaport Sans, a family of modular display typefaces inspired by the architecture of the campus properties.

SSPier takes inspiration from turn-of-the-century architectural elements found throughout the pier structure that stretches out into Boston Harbor. The building has industrial origins, originally functioning as a railway shipping hub. The bespoke modular typeface draws inspiration from the ornate trusses and columns unearthed during its renovation.

SSHotel and SSTower are variants that embrace decorative architectural motifs from the newer hotel and office tower properties found on the mainland.

Staff Wide from R-Typography is used throughout the system as a functional anchor, embracing its no-nonsense, utilitarian aesthetic to link the property’s communal future with its functional roots in Boston’s industrial past.

The color palette exists in harmony with the tones of the Atlantic Ocean and the broader eastern seaboard.

Branding applications for the Seaport Hotel, a hospitality destination on the Commonwealth Pier campus

Commonwealth Pier social media

Construction barrier signage for Pembroke Properties, utilized during property renovations

Seaport Sans extensions for campus wayfinding and iconography

Historical research into the property’s industrial roots revealed structural patterns, that served as visual influence for Seaport Sans.

Seaport Sans, a modular display typeface inspired by the industrial trusses found throughout Commonwealth Pier during renovation

Seaport Sans: a modular display typeface for the Commonwealth Pier property and campus

Seaport Sans, in all of its modular expressive glory

Unique variants of Seaport Sans were developed for adjacent properties on the campus. Architectural elements of each building inspired the variants, such as the circular motif found on the exterior of the Seaport Hotel.

Seaport Sans Hotel (SSHotel), inspired by the architectural motifs found on the exterior of the Seaport Hotel.

Various applications featuring SSHotel

Seaport Hotel applications

Kinetic is creating an infrastructure-as-a-service solution to eliminate the friction associated with providing maintenance to today’s modern digitized vehicles. Their solutions promise effortless speed, effortless accuracy, and effortless precision.

The Kinetic logo and its accompanying monogram is symbolic of their comprehensive, self-contained, ever-expanding solution. The bespoke letterforms within the wordmark nod to engineering, precision, and cutting-edge digital technology, with a sense of visual strength that keeps them grounded in the industrial sector. Denim from Displaay is used throughout the brand system, supporting the technological tone of the brand.

The complimentary visual system – including illustration, iconography, animation, photography, and video – pays homage to the innovative solutions the team is developing to facilitate an effortless transition to the modern age of mobility for dealerships, independent and national repair shops, fleets, and OEMs.

Arts Worker United (AWU) is a lobbying organization focused on building awareness of and support for members of the creative class and their critical impact on the national economy. Founded during the COVID-19 pandemic, AWU works to ensure local and national governmental support for this critical—and often overlooked—sector of the working class.

One Design created a brand identity rooted in the visual vernacular of trade unions and craft guilds, that could flex to connect with politicians and arts workers alike. The AWU seal is a symbol of unity, sophistication, and confidence. The extended visual language embraces a distinctive and powerful energy through color, layout, and imagery that connects with the creative class.

A system of typographic ligatures—custom glyphs built into a bespoke cut of Object Sans from Pangram Pangram—is a visual nod to the concept of support and solidarity.

Montai Therapeutics (previously Montai Health) is a biotech company—founded by Flagship Pioneering—with a mission to “Unlock the power of nature with digital technologies to treat and preempt chronic disease.”

Our dynamic, modular identity system borrows from the visual language of chemical bond diagrams, symbolizing the infinite chemical possibilities afforded by their platform. Maax Mono from 205TF forms the foundation of the brand’s typographic language. Graphik from Commercial Type is leveraged in situations when a monospace font is less suitable. Vintage cyanotype textures emphasize Montai’s exclusive use of safe, organic compounds.

Designing for the intersection of logistics and technology

Flexe uses technology and networks to solve the most challenging omnichannel logistics problems for the world’s largest retailers. They are an industry disrupter and leader, operating at a scale and breadth of capabilities far beyond that of any competitor, yet many still thought of them as just “the on-demand warehousing people.”

One Design Company’s task was to rebrand an industry innovator with a design system and website as flexible as the company’s own solutions.

The x in the custom wordmark (based on TWK Lausanne) represents two industries coming together; the intersection of logistics and technology.

Inspired by technical diagrams, the linework leveraged throughout the design system connotes unique pathways and intersections.

Reckless Neue – combined with a high-contrast, predominantly black and grey color palette – telegraphs intelligence and an analytical approach. This kit separates Flexe from the rest of the tech startup world, where the blue and white palettes, irreverent illustration, and sans serif typography abound.

Read and see more in the case study on One Design Company’s website.

Collaborating with Chicago’s famed Merchandise Mart and BIFMA (the trade association for business and institutional furniture manufacturers), One Design developed a positioning strategy and brand system for Confluence Chicago™, a new programming track for NeoCon 2020 (now slated to 2021) focused on bringing together creative practitioners from across multiple modes of design.

The creative process can be mysterious. But peek below the surface, and you’ll find universal truths that unite us all—unexpected lessons to be learned, unique perspectives to be shared, and novel approaches to be taken that could benefit us all.

Confluence Chicago™ is a three-day creative summit that allows participants to connect across creative industries and design disciplines to discover, explore, and find inspiration in the common threads that unite our work.

A vibrant, fresh, and contemporary design system was developed to attract and connect with a younger audience—pulling away from the corporate traditions of NeoCon’s past. A bespoke, modular typeface rounded out the system—embracing the concept of unification across multiple modes of creative practice to create surprising, unexpected results.

Type specimen for Elbow Sans.

Office Ours is a series of virtual studio tours presented by AIGA Chicago, focused on the nuts and bolts of running a creative practice. Featuring an evolving roster of studios, the programming track is an opportunity to dig below the surface and see how businesses operate, evolve, and thrive.

One Design created and named the series. An elegant, time-keeping variable logo and classic design system came to life online and off. A digital content hub—custom built by the One Design team—served to promote upcoming events in the series, and provide access to past episodes.

F37 Bolton is used throughout.

Valo Health is a new type of health-focused technology company, uniting human and machine intelligence aiming to accelerate the creation of life-changing treatments.

The One Design team developed a positioning strategy, name, identity system, and digital platform for this radically new healthcare organization.

The minimal Valo “lens” mark symbolizes their ability to see deeper into the complexity of human health than ever-before possible. Simple in form, but complex in interactive possibility, the core identity adapts beautifully to the digital space to play a critical role in communication design and data visualization.

Wilder Fields is a technology-enabled food company producing extraordinarily flavorful, fresh, safe, and sustainably grown food for local communities across the country. Harnessing bleeding-edge technology, sustainable operations, and ethical real estate practices, Wilder Fields seeks to nourish the world and transform local economies by reinventing the practice of large-scale indoor vertical farming.

The One Design team worked with CEO Jake Counne, CCO James Radke, and their team since early 2020 to develop the Wilder Fields brand identity and communication strategy. Formerly known as Backyard Fresh Farms, a new name, positioning strategy, messaging plan, identity program, and packaging system has been crafted from the ground-up to express a more resonant, emotional, and authentic narrative for the organization.

The AIGA Chicago Mentor Program—one of the chapter's most successful and inclusive platforms—gives creatives from across disciplines a place to gather and share insights, experiences and resources. With programming that supports all levels of experience, the organization has collaborative mentor groups that develop a curriculum based on community interest and need.

The One Design team was proud to support the program with a bold, flexible, custom typographic identity for the 2020 season—taking conceptual cues from the rich diversity of mentorship program participants.

The custom lettering with variations on the letter M is paired with text set in Nick Losacco’s Telegraf (Pangram Pangram, 2020).

Generate Biomedicines is a new kind of therapeutics company, existing at the intersection of biology, machine learning, and biological engineering. Leveraging breakthrough innovations in Generative Biology, Generate brings a never-before-seen level of control and intentionality to the development of medicines—a fundamental shift from discovery to intentional generation.

In collaboration with Flagship Pioneering, a Cambridge-based firm with an impressive track record of bringing life science innovation to the world, One Design developed a brand communications strategy to launch this radical new company in the spring of 2020.

The Messina collection (Messina Sans, Messina Modern, and Messina Serif) from Luzi Type breaks away from the glut of “smart and technical” typefaces found throughout the biotech space, instead injecting a classic sense of bold confidence to the brand program.

See the full case on the One Design website.

Established in 1966, The Ruby Company (formerly Ruby Robinson Produce) is one of largest suppliers of fresh produce to national and regional grocery chains, restaurants, and distributors across the country.

The One Design team recently overhauled their brand. When looking for inspiration, we turned to the company’s midwestern work ethic, industry, and long-haul trucking. Mix that with a healthy dose of attitude and a deliberate u-turn away from the expected, and an exciting new graphic language was born.

Robinson – the calligraphic sans we chose to anchor the brand – was selected for its balance of human warmth and chiseled edge. And the same goes for GT Sectra – classic proportions with a dash of edge.

Kleinschmidt is a century-old company based in suburbs of Chicago that has historically found itself at the forefront of technological innovation. Losing face to bigger tech firms on the West Coast, One Design helped rebrand the organization to reframe its image in the eyes of young engineers. A new website and content strategy helped the company voice its perspective in a focused and meaningful manner, allowing it to compete with the competitive set.

The brand expression is a celebration of the unique quirks and charms of a tech company with roots that run over 100 years deep in the hardworking industrial midwest. It embraces midwest heritage and a hard-working ethic through typographic expression, while celebrating innovation through color palette, layout, and a unique illustration language.

A supporting geometric pattern is a direct (and functional) reference to Baudot code, a precursor to ASCII, that was crucial in Kleinschmidt’s history as a pioneer of teletype communication technology.

Separating Kleinschmidt from the Silicon Valley tech pack required embracing a visual voice completely unexpected in the space. It’s an unique company—a century of innovation nestled in the suburbs of a working class midwestern city. Ringside provides the perfect dash of heritage Americana to complement the more visually progressive color palette and illustration style that rounds out the visual expression.

What exactly is an ‘arts hotel?’ How might the arts weave through the entire experience? Could a hotel function as an arts venue? How about a platform for the local creative community? A bridge between disparate communities in the same city?

One Design spent the better part of a year exploring these questions, in the run up to the unveiling of Saint Kate, Milwaukee’s Arts Hotel.

The project has been an ongoing collaboration between One Design, Stonehill Taylor architects, and Marcus Hotels & Resorts. Our team led brand research, concept development, naming, and identity and experience design. Twelve months in, we collectively laid the groundwork for a brand new boutique property that is redefining how people experience hotels; as well as how visitors from near and far approach, celebrate, and support the arts and the spirit of the creative process.

The hotel is all about a celebration of contrast. Ogg and GT America form the foundation of the brand’s typographic voice as a visual reflection of hotel’s conceptual duality: the high and the low, the polished and the in-progress, the elegant and the utilitarian, the classic and the progressive.

Saint Kate—a nod to Saint Catherine, the patron saint of artists—has been designed from the ground up to celebrate all modes of artistic expression, and to serve as a platform for the Milwaukee arts community, a hub for locals, and a portal to the scene for travelers from afar.

One Design developed a branded campaign to celebrate Chicago Design Week 2018, a look at the fluid and evolving state of design today captured under the theme of “Design in Motion.”

The website (created in collaboration with Chris Malven) – a functional and evolving calendar for the week – brought the concept to life visually, leveraging the dynamic interactive capabilities of variable type.

A printed promotional piece functioned as a statement of intent, an event calendar, and a poster expressing the Design in Motion concept in static form.

Typographically, we wanted to experiment with the capabilities of variable type across interactive and print platforms. Acumin was the most straightforward and unadorned variable typeface we could find that offered the range of proportional shifts we were looking to experiment with.

Still from the responsive animation on the website.

One Design worked closely with restaurateurs Keene and Megan Addington to develop a new seafood restaurant concept in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood, bringing the spirit of the Maine Coast to the city they call home.

From the brand story to the name, identity, visual expression, and messaging—with Two Lights we created the foundation of a fresh and exciting concept that serves as a respite from the heavy culinary fare Chicago is famous for.

In collaboration with Northworks Architects, we created a seamless translation from graphic expression to the physical space itself.

The dramatic contrast within Oil Can was perfect choice for the core Two Lights wordmark—which celebrates the typographic vernacular of Portland, Maine (a major source of inspiration for the restaurant concept, and the summer how of the Addingtons). However Oil Can on its own—as a display face—was not versatile enough to be used across the various touchpoints of the restaurant, from menus to environmental graphics. Fontsmith’s Sienna—similar in spirit—was our beautiful workhorse counterpart. Atlas Grotesk—classic, no-nonsense and functional—became our choice for the detailed copy. And Atlas Typewritwer became the go-to for the “Seafood & Oysters” byline, bringing a bit of contemporary contrast to the logo lockup itself.

Unread is One Design’s biannual publication that lets us push a part of our process into the spotlight and express our perspective, celebrating the details that tend to get lost in the rush of it all.

The first volume of Unread is all about one of our central beliefs: the transformative power of curiosity.

Unread has been a catalyst for a studio visual rebrand. So decisions made in regards to typographic voice were made considering a broader use context.

As a studio, we need a typographic system that supports a range of use cases. Favorit has become our workhorse family, functioning equally well in a formal proposal as it does in a progressive magazine – supporting the work we show without overshadowing the content. Favorit and its typewriter counterpart Favorit Mono have enough range to rise to the challenge, while retaining enough quirk and personality to hold its own. And within the context of Unread, a minor modification to the upper case R gave us the perfect identity for the publication.

One Design partnered with our friends at Hopewell Brewing Company to both name and design the packaging and promotional material for one of their latest saison beer creations. Leaning into the concept of our collaboration, “Sum Saison” was developed as a celebration of what happens when you come together, leave ego at the door, mix things up, and create something you couldn’t create on your own. Graphically, the motif is a deconstruction of the One Design logo, and the visual vernacular of a standard Hopewell can.

ABC Dinamo’s Favorit family is the house typeface for the One Design brand—so any and all studio-related communication material embraces it in one way or another.

In the spirit of deconstruction and modular components—celebrated conceptually and visually by the can itself—we leaned into Favorit Mono across the board.