The Project: “We were a start-up in the very early stages,” says Aureus CEO Ted Bailey. “We realized that we needed a presence on the internet and we wanted to hand out business cards.”
Although he had considered do-it-yourself and on-line options for creating a corporate identity for his fledgling environmental consulting firm, Bailey turned instead to BmDodo Strategic Design in the fall of 2005. “I knew Brian from soccer,” he explains. “I liked his portfolio and I felt he was up to the job.”
The Challenge: “They were a brand new company, starting from scratch,” says BmDodo partner Brian Dodo, “so their image really had to stand out. It had to make them look more established than they really were so that people would view them as more than just a start-up.”
The Solution: The first step in creating this illusion was making sure the company had the right name. “The original name they had chosen was very long,” says Brian. “It didn’t jump out at you and it was hard to remember.” Brian and partner Jen Cameron suggested that Bailey find a shorter, catchier name. The new name, Aureus Solutions, met the catchy criterion, but created an entirely new design challenge. “Aureus is an unfamiliar word,” Jen explains, so they designed the logo to help facilitate proper pronunciation.
The Result: With the pronunciation problem solved, it was time to establish Aureus as a player in the environmental consulting game. The partners set the tone by choosing an evocative colour palate for all of Aureus’ materials.
Because Aureus develops systems to improve water and wastewater treatment plants, Brian and Jen chose blues and turquoises – water tones – as the feature colours for the company’s website. “For me, the colours evoke images of clean water and environment-centred ideas,” says Bailey. “The website is warm, but at the same time it shows that we’re environmentally friendly. It doesn’t look like the typical environmental consulting firm’s website. The BmDodo team carried the theme forward by designing templates for the company’s PowerPoint presentations, white papers and success stories.
{ Aureus Solutions Website }
The Outcome: “We’ve had a lot of positive feedback about the website and the logo,” says Bailey, starting with a call from an insurance agency executive who was impressed enough to hand the firm its first contract. “They called because of the professional image and clean message that came through in the website,” Bailey says. “It more than paid for what we spent on the site.”
Since that first call, Aureus has consulted with water treatment facilities in seven provinces and two territories. And it’s not just the customers who are calling. Bailey regularly fields inquiries from experienced consultants looking for jobs. “They call because they see our logo and our website and they think we’re a big, established company,” he explains.
“For me, the most impressive thing about Brian and Jen was that they really listen,” Bailey continues. “They took the time to find out what we needed and they matched the site and the logo to our needs, rather than just providing something that looked good. It does look good, but more importantly, it looks big. We’re not big, but now we look big. I feel like we’re getting big company results.”
The Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario recognized the Aureus logo by including it in its prestigious design calendar in 2006.
Deliverables:
Corporate Identity
Corporate Identity Guidelines
Basic HTML Website
Document Templates
Staff Clothing
