Visual
Language

 

Brand
Identity

 

Brand
Marketing

We design brand strategies that build awareness, raise funds, and shift the dialogue to what matters.

 
 

Whether in the cultural, educational, or science sectors, mission-driven organizations compete for brand recognition and necessary funding. They can no longer rely only on legacy or old habits. They can’t expect good old game plans to deliver good enough marketing strategies if they want to stand out from the crowd. They need a distinct visual language that speaks to both the heart and the head. This is where DISTINC_ comes in.

People

Everything we do appeals to the needs and dreams of real people. Some agencies refer to them as users, segments, or statistics. We prefer to think of them as people. We position brands and architect communication plans with someone in mind—a young student overwhelmed by her college options, or an arts enthusiast in search of alternatives to mainstream definition of beauty. It takes more than creativity to make a brand successful. It takes a stubborn commitment to honoring human connections.

 
 

STRATEGY

Clear

We investigate what your successes and challenges have been, what opportunities you face, and what may stand in the way of progress. Our dialogue-based immersion helps us understand your collective hopes, fears, and contradictions by uncovering previously obscured themes. Making connections among those themes clarifies how to strategically position your brand for success.

Pictured:
Strategic Workshop with Park Century School Leaders

DESIGN

Bold

We seek to unequivocally declare the truest character of your brand. Forms, colors, words, patterns, and gestures all work together as a visual language that captures the most authentic, confident, and compelling version of yourselves. Only the boldest communication creates a dialogue with your targeted audiences that appeals to the heart and the head at the same time.

Pictured:
Capital Campaign for Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai

COMMUNICATION

Human

Branding is not a single box you can check. It takes sustained efforts to build, evolve, or reverse the connotations associated with your organization. Each and every interaction with your brand has the potential to affirm your purpose and remind everyone of how they fit in your story. Your brand will only ever be as good as the feelings it awakens in people—emotionally, rationally, and visually.

Pictured:
Event Engagement for Colburn at Grand Ave Arts All Access

APPROACH


Each organization has a unique way of doing things— and branding should be no different.

  • MIT Sloan School of Management

  • Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)

  • Cedars-Sinai

  • Occidental College

  • New Roads School

  • Colburn School

  • Cleveland Institute of Art

  • Boston Court Pasadena

  • Playhouse Village

  • Scripps College

  • Broad Stage

  • Miss Porter's School

  • Johnson & Johnson

  • Mirman School

  • St. John's College

  • Turning Point School

  • Skirball Cultural Center

  • Westland School

  • Santa Barbara Museum of Art

  • International School Los Angeles

  • Live Oak School

Expertise

Since 2000, we have been helping mission-driven organizations elevate their brand to their highest potential. Here are the services we offer:

 
 

  • Our immersive study investigates quantitative data and qualitative evidence from a variety of stakeholder groups. This audit helps identify how far your organization has come as well as understand what may stand in the way of progress.

  • Ideation workshops offer a variety of hands-on exercises tailored to your organization’s unique situation. We strategically design such group experiences to test readiness for change and to help envision how quickly your organization can pivot.

  • A strategy for change is not always easy to deploy because it often challenges old habits. Brand evolution permeates throughout your entire organization and we work together as a team to cultivate opportunities and to navigate challenges.

  • A brand communication strategy relies upon how to clearly position your organization vis-à-vis the audiences you target and the competitors you face. Building consensus around your brand positioning will build enthusiasm and trust in the future.

  • Brands are driven by people, and people are driven by principles. We coach individuals within your organization to speak their truths while simultaneously inspiring them to think of themselves as brand advocates. This training builds up collective values unique to your brand, and empowers everyone to do their part in sustaining them.

  • Your brand identity is much more than the sum of a logo, a set of typefaces, and hex codes pleasing to the eye. It can be a living, breathing, flexible system that is both open enough to communicate across your varied audiences and focused enough to cultivate a cohesive brand experience, full of intent.

  • Every organization has a voice. And every brand voice has a purpose: to distill your collective personality and ethos into a coherent expression that is accessible across many audiences.

  • Organizations deserve websites that strive to satisfy visitors’ needs and deliver a delightful experience—nailing both aspects yields superlative UX. Guided by accessibility and current best practices, we develop award-winning websites that balance simplicity and depth.

  • Transformational ideas move organizations forward. When the moment calls for a capital campaign to realize such big ideas, the challenge lies in articulating campaign goals via a unified story. We name, theme, and design campaign identities to help you tell that story in the most compelling ways possible.

  • Compelling brands can only go so far without a proper deployment plan to put them to market. We architect marketing strategies across social, digital, print, experiential that achieve measurable results.

Contact

 

Is our expertise the right fit for your organization? Let’s explore how DISTINC_ could be of help.

We have multiple models of engagement: whether you are looking to update a message that no longer reflects your vision, reimagine your brand identity to inspire new audiences, or refresh a website to keep up with the times, DISTINC_ is where is all starts. There are no rules, templates, or shortcuts. It’s about crafting your values-based brand to help you connect with your story, empower you to organize, and inspire you to drive your organization forward.