EMPIRE LEVEL
When Empire Level first approached our agency, they were looking for a complete revamp. As a leading designer and producer of levels, squares, layout tools and caution tape, Empire Level was more than 100 years old, with hundreds of products, and had lost its identity and edge in the marketplace.
The Process
As an agency, we worked with Empire and approached the revamp in three phases, over the course of 2 years: company brand definition, product definition and packaging redesign. As the lead designer, and functioning art director, I was lucky enough to be a part of each phase, working closely with Empire employees in brand, product and engineering.
Branding
An early realization in the branding process was that while Empire's blue vials were well known in the industry, the Empire brand itself was not. We decided that Empire needed to really own the color blue in this market, and the color itself needed to be updated. We brightened and adjusted the new Empire Blue to not only modernize and provide a facelift to the brand, but with a large number of their products being produced in this color, it needed to visually stand out on the work-site, something their existing navy blue did not.
Packaging
Once brand and product definition were established, we moved on to packaging design. Their existing packaging was inconsistent in color and messaging, and did not do a good job differentiating product lines. Now that Empire was to own "blue," we determined that all packaging needed to be flood blue, making all products recognizably Empire on shelf. It was also important that the Empire name become more recognizable, and be the first thing to draw the eye on packaging. With levels being their primary product, we decided to rotate the Empire logo 90 degrees, allowing the logo to increase in size as well as become a visual design element on the vertical package.
Empire also wanted to elevate their brand so that packaging better represents the high-quality product that they produce. Existing packaging was confusing, and because The Home Depot requires English, Spanish and French be represented on packaging, the sheer amount of copy was overwhelming. We decided that simplifying their packaging would be the best way to elevate the brand, as is common with their high-quality product competitors.
We started by simplifying their True Blue® logo, and developing rules for it's treatment on packaging. This is used to separate product lines, True Blue® products being the highest quality available. We also created a family of icons used across product categories and lines to identify important information such as accuracy, warranty, magnetism and made in USA. By turning this information into an icon, rather than listed copy, we avoid having to translate it, saving space on package. Similarly, icon-like illustrations were created to call out product features. Most products have a unique set of illustrations identifying their features, but all illustrations follow rules for size, colors, type and illustration style, for brand consistency.
Visual Brand Language
Once the new brand, product definition, and packaging were established, we defined and documented it all into a visual branding language (VBL) document to be used by all product and marketing teams. It includes everything from logo usage, colors, typography, and brand & product messaging, to photography, packaging, print and corporate identity.
As the sole designer of the new Empire packaging, I was responsible for flipping all existing 100+ packages to the new look. I was able to own the design and make design decisions on the fly. However, it was always understood that as Empire grew as a client and developed more new products, they would be passed on to our Design Services side of the agency, and I would no longer be able to directly control their brand standards. It was important then, that I establish a clear packaging hierarchy and develop rules to keep packaging design consistent across product categories. These VBL pages not only define packaging hierarchy and layout nuances, but also explain guidelines for developing new icons and illustrations.
Other Materials
Following the rollout of their new packaging, Empire slowly began to apply their new look to other areas, such as print, sales, and marketing materials. As a company purchased by Milwaukee Tool in 2014, the same year they became an agency client, they decided to adopt a similar style for a lot of their sales materials, simply changing the Milwaukee Tool "red" to Empire "blue." Because of that, I've decided not to include many samples here. However, one layout featured is the Empire spread from Techtronic Industries 2014 Annual Report, the parent company of Milwaukee Tool and Empire Level.
Lastly, is a family of banner-ups created for the 2015 National Sales Meeting. These serve as the best examples of the new Empire look being utilized on non-packaging materials.