HBS EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
The marriage of brand design and design systems
When HBS does something, they do it well. You bet they do their homework. They put everything they have—and what they ‘have’ is a lot—into it. So when the world’s leading leadership institution underwent a brand refresh, the ExecEd group turned to Grove for help in applying the new work to their own domain within the brand’s identity.
WHAT WE DID:
Brand Strategy
Identity Design
Site Design
Templates
Content
Guidelines
The new brand would somehow have to speak to the changing nature of collaboration. We started with the name. “Claridge” would not do. We knew that from the get-go. Working with the client team, we co-created a name that would. Do. Enter “Calyx.” For you non-botanists out there, a calyx is the part of the flower that holds the incipient bud. In essence, it holds the promise and potential of the flower itself. It was a little weird, but also a little perfect.
From the identity to the logo to the eventual site design, everything we created was designed to support the story behind the name: this idea of becoming, of growth and inspiration. Of collaboration. We had the pieces. Name, check. Logo, check. Identity, check. Endowed with potential. Inspired by growth. Made beautiful through collaboration.
“There’s a big difference between identity systems and design systems. Here, we were able to bring the two together in a unique brand system.”
RON CLAYTON
Executive Creative Director, Grove
The site design grew almost organically out of the strategy. Taking cues from high-end retail experiences and reinforcing the brand promise in every detail and interaction, the new Calyx.com came into sharp relief. At once more beautiful and more functional than its predecessor and parent, Calyx.com delivered a dynamic and flexible user experience centered around a completely reimagined shopping experience. There’s so much more to it, but those are the broad strokes. So there you have it: beauty, collaboration and growth as brand strategy. As it is in art, so it is in life.
STOWE MOUNTAIN RESORT
Revitalizing a ski heritage resort brand
