Rebrand & .com

Overview

At the turn of Stink Studios’ tenth anniversary, we started work on a new iteration of our brand identity. The resulting work spanned both external and internal touchpoints, specifically: a new brand identity, a custom typeface, a newly rebuilt .com, static & motion templates, merchandise, and all-encompassing brand guidelines.

Production Process

For anyone who’s worked at a creative studio, agency, or brand – the term ‘internal project’ holds connotations of not enough time, not enough resources, or low likelyhood of completion. Fortunately for the team tasked with the rebrand – small, focused, with lofty ambitions – we covered a lot of ground quickly. 

Essential to the production process were both the acts of managing up & managing out. A brand is as much representative of founders and leadership as it is of juniors and newhires, so it was imperative that this work felt true to the team.

Furthermore, managing paid client work in parallel with the rebrand proved to be one of the larger hurdles on the production front; advocating for the allocations of various team members across the studio was a constant, concerted effort throughout this process.
 

Results

The resulting rebrand prioritized the creative work over our own brand identity, acting as a frame around the creative we developed for current or prospective partners. And, by incorporating system fonts such as Helvetica, Times New Roman, and Courier, this meant that our brand would be observed exactly as we intended, no matter where it was encountered.



The spirit of the team was captured in an ode to Webdings, where we captured a library of brand illustrations that ultimately became known as Stink Dings. In partnership with Erkin Karamemet, we developed a custom font of 140+ characters that took inspiration from both pre-emoji times and inside jokes or references from the studio.



Acknowledgements for the site & rebrand include:
FWA – Site of the Day (February 15, 2022)
CSS Design Awards – Site of the Day (March 14, 2022)
It’s Nice That Feature