Lazy Sundays

IS IT A BIRD is a leading Danish consulting agency, who’ve delivered human-centered insights and research to global brands like Nike, Whirlpool and Danske Bank. Over the last 10 years, IS IT A BIRD’s identity has evolved relatively organically, but in recent years they have experienced a disconnect in being able to clearly and cohesively communicate who they are, what they do, and why. Their partner team reached out to us for help in repositioning their brand narrative to solve this. Our approach1. Questionnaire and alignment workshopIS IT A BIRD is powered by a collective of multidisciplinary experts with different areas of expertise; from strategy, to design and anthropology. Key to a successful project was to align these unique - and sometimes competing - vantage points to ensure that we all had a shared understanding and language to talk about IIAB’s work and value.Together with the project lead, we defined a pre-workshop questionnaire to generate initial thoughts an insights. These results were then analysed and categorised ahead of the workshop. The focus of our time together in the workshop was to align the differing perspectives so that we had one common understanding of what the refreshed brand narrative should focus on. 2. Prototyping different scenariosWe quickly established that much of the brand work hinged on a number of unknowns about which long-term direction the agency should take at a commercial level. We therefore took the decision to use this project scope to stress test different scenarios that were up for debate, to then facilitate meaningful discussions about where the leadership team should focus.The outcome“Dani and Nicky are definitely the people you want on your team to develop your brand. They are creatively talented, passionate, and easy to work with. IS IT A BIRD has been extremely happy with the results of the collaboration.”- Katey Diamond, Design Director at IS IT A BIRD

Maybe Tomorrow is a design agency that, as founders Mikkel and Philip told us at our first meeting, facilitates design sprints, does prototyping, works on product strategy, designs experiences, and develops products.  Brand ideaWhat sets them apart, we realised when listening to their clients, is the space they create for radical cross-disciplinary exploration and collaboration. One client said he wished he would have warned them for how difficult the week would be, but the satisfaction of a productive week filled with true collaboration beamed from his face. Maybe Tomorrow breaks down unwieldy problems in more manageable questions, by asking … simple questions. They support teams to answer those questions and guide them to launch services/products, all by asking maybe tomorrow we could …?When we told the above stories of impact back to Mikkel, Philip, and Joachim something clicked. Together we decided to stop focusing on methodology and rather focus on impact and their aspirations. And the name, that they chose before reaching out to us, made perfect sense: Maybe tomorrow we will…? From narrative to identityOne of our first ideas, the question mark, was put aside for a while. But we kept coming back to it and found a not-too-on-the-nose way to incorporate it in Maybe Tomorrow’s logo. Combined with a colour palette we tested across a variety of mock-screen and print applicationThe outcomeIn words of Mikkel, one of the founders:“Such a fun and enlightening process. I think I speak for all of us, when I say that we feel inspired and energized. I really enjoyed our discussions, your push backs and your effort to understand us and where we are coming from. You have been instrumental in helping us understand who we are, what sets us apart and who we want to be going forward. I love the brand story and the logo - such a good starting point.”- Mikkel Rathje, Maybe Tomorrow, Founder

Emblem approached us to build their website in time for launch a couple of weeks later. We did a brand identity audit to ensure it was ready to be applied to a website, and decided to present it at our kick-off meeting. Based on the audit we all agreed to expand the scope to include a refresh of their brand to ensure their launch would be impactful, consistent, and most importantly told a story beyond the €75 million. Credible > FriendlyDuring our first conversation the Emblem founders told us they wanted to come across as friendly and accessible. We tested with mood-board exercises, rough sketches, and thanks to quick feedback loops we agreed accessible and credible were more suitable; they’re a loyal partner for founders, and a trusted shepherd for a sizeable VC fund. Refresh detailsWe preserved the existing identities word mark, and developed an accompanying icon to enhance recognisability. They work well together and in isolation. The word mark shines at larger sizes, so we’ve given it the space to shine, and the icon does the heavy lifting at smaller sizes . 



We refined the existing colour palette, chose for a bold pink-red combination to counterbalance an otherwise strict and credible layout and character. We handpicked new typography to create a more appropriate and unique character that stands out from the crowd. The outcomeAn impactful launch day. Linkedin turned pink thanks to bold brand assets shared with founders, investors, and others that shared personal stories about their work with Emblem’s founders. With a solid brand foundation to build on for the foreseeable future, we look forward to our continued partnership with Emblem.