Collectivity helps launch Footprint. We’d worked with the engineering firm Smith+Andersen for a couple of years when they approached us to help them launch Canada’s first dedicated sustainable design firm. We were asked to develop a name, an identity and all communications for the new firm. The process was highly collaborative. The answer wasn’t to create this soft green entity – it was to demonstrate to architects, engineers and developers how a more robust focus on sustainability not only helps the environment, but just as importantly, improves building performance and adds value to a project.
At the same time, the look and feel for the firm had to distinguish it from other design firms, creating a more organic and personal approach.
They fell in love with the name Footprint because it conveyed both sustainability and measurability. The identity has a character that mixes a hand-made feel with a sense of rigorous professionalism.
The key communications objective was to position Footprint as the knowledge leaders in this emerging field. The goals was not to be cute, but to build a website and other communications pieces as information resources the industry would turn to first. The firm has rapidly established itself in its field, getting its name known, and winning contracts.
