The Making of a Brand

How did we create the look and feel of Slide Nine? We're so glad you asked.

Over the course of this agency’s almost 40 year history, our name and logo has gone through many iterations. We’ve leaned into brand identities with a sturdy blue, a warm orange, and a bright yellow. 

But, a few years after Lauren Parker, Ann Mulvany and Whitney Somerville came together to become co-owners of this agency, we realized the current brand was no longer reflective of who we are or where we’re heading — and so we became Slide Nine. You’ve heard how we chose our new name and the story behind it. Here’s how we landed on our brand’s new look. 

Research, research, research. 

We pride ourselves on providing research-based counsel, and knew our new brand needed to start there. Working together with Serif Creative, we discovered that insights from our clients, leaders, and employees showed that it was time for a change and to level-up to match the growth our agency was experiencing. 

It all started with a mood board the Slide Nine co-owners created early in their tenure to inform our previous brand refresh and new office space decor. The collection of images featured bold type, a focus on sophisticated black and white elements, and punctuated with natural, earthy forms.

From there came a list of qualities we wanted our brand to invoke: confident, refined, clever, bringing joy. All of these things would influence the fonts, colors, and designs of our new Slide Nine brand. 

Bringing it all together. 

During the in-between stages of rebranding, our internal teams created some documents stripped down to their most basic forms — black and white, bold headlines, sleek sans-serif type — and were inspired by the simplicity. This became the backbone of our logo and primary color palette, checking the boxes for confidence and refinement. The secondary palette brings in a pop of color and some hand-drawn elements provide an earthy touch. Our new brand font, Manuka from the Klim Type Foundry, is approachable but unique, with details that speak to personality and authenticity. 

Putting it into practice. 

The new Slide Nine visual brand is a reflection of the agency’s mission and culture. Smart and sleek, curious and brave, telling the truth and providing solutions, our agency brings enthusiasm and diligence to every client partnership. We “bump the lamp” because details matter. By leaning into the sophisticated black and white palette, whenever we share the limelight with our clients, their brand shines the brightest, because our goal is to make our clients shine. We’re here to tell client stories — and take the friction out of storytelling.