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As a full-service partner to ambitious brands, we turn best-in-class brand experiences into opportunities for future growth

As a full-service partner to ambitious brands, we turn best-in-class brand experiences into opportunities for future growth.

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Upperquad

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Upperquad reel

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Our agency’s focus on transformative value and world-class design has built lasting partnerships across industries, platforms, and products.

Affirm

Caffeinated Capital

Jigsaw

Google

Hummingbird

Intercom

Lightstep

Patagonia

Robinhood

Square

Stanford

Afresh

YouTube

Nova Credit

our work

A massively, enormously big website and updated identity.

Massively & incredbily big

Upperquad partners with Huge Design to build their brand and launch a new website

Located in downtown San Francisco, Huge Design lives right within a thriving epicenter of design and innovation (they are also a bit global, too). Their multidisciplinary team of senior designers imagines and realizes the products people love.

Working with immensley respected designers meant we needed to quickly get into the details. We centered on the opportunities at play for Huge Design, exploring the tension that exists in the process between the practical realities and the creative possibilities.

We leaned into what made Huge Design unique; in your face, American, ambitious, unapologetic and bold. But, we developed a new narrative around their work that is both creatively inspired and tangibly realized. Real work that ships.

In addition to brand strategy and verbal indentity, Upperquad collaborated with the Huge Design team on a bold color palette, precision typography and refinements to their logomark.

Explore more at <a href="https://www.huge-design.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">huge-design.com</a>.

Huge Design

Our collaboration with Afresh explored in depth

Brand New Reviews our identity for Afresh

Upperquad's identity for Afresh gets reviewed in Brand New

For our collaboration with Afresh, we wanted to get a much deeper visualization using motion, color, and typography. We imagined a world of machine intelligence organizing the complexity of fresh produce.

Brand New

Reviewed Sep. 28, 2022

Read the review here on <a href="https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_and_identity_for_afresh_by_upperquad.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Brand New</a> or get deep into <a href="../work/afresh/" rel="noopener noreferrer">our case study</a>. 

Afresh identity reviewed in Brand New

Honors for our collaborations with Google

Upperquad at the Webbys in 2022

We're honored to receive a Webby Awards nomination for our collaborative work with Jigsaw and the Google Quantum AI teams.

With over 14,000 entries from all 50 U.S. states and over 70 countries for this year's Webby Awards, the biggest in their history. This is Upperquad's 9th nomination for the Webby Awards - dubbed by  New York Times the Internet's biggest honor.

The Current: The Internet Shutdowns Issue

The Current is an online publication from Jigsaw, outlining today’s digital threats and solutions. This issue explores government-imposed internet shutdowns which are on the rise globally, with devastating impacts on affected communities. Fighting back requires shining a light where governments impose the dark. The issue was produced as a collaboration with Jigsaw, Upperquad and AccessNow. It is nominated in the category of Best Individual Editorial Feature.

Upperquad's collaboration with the Jigsaw have resulted in five Webby nominations and one Webby win over two years.

<a href="https://jigsaw.google.com/the-current/shutdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">View the work</a> or <a href="ttps://winners.webbyawards.com/2022/websites-and-mobile-sites/features-design/best-individual-editorial-feature-indbrandorg/204851/jigsaw-the-current-the-internet-shutdowns-issue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">see the nomination</a>

Discover the Quantum AI Campus created in collaboration with the Google Quantum AI team was recognized as an Honoree in Science category. The site allows users to explore Google's Quantum AI campus in Santa Barbara, the location of Google's quantum data center, fabrication facility, and cutting-edge research facility.

<a href="https://quantumai.google/learn/lab" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">View the work</a> or <a href="https://winners.webbyawards.com/2022/websites-and-mobile-sites/general-websites-and-mobile-sites/science/203544/discover-the-quantum-ai-campus-by-google-quantum-ai" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">see the nomination</a>

Upperquad at the 26th Annual Webby Awards

How are makers experiencing the global pandemic?

Stories from Makers in a global pandemic

Upperquad explores how are makers are experiencing the COVID-19 global pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic and resulting quarantine has been one of the few truly global experiences of our lifetimes. A period that every individual, community, city and country has felt deeply and grappled with in their own way. Through moments of isolation and inspiration, we found a certain comfort in knowing that we were all experiencing and evolving within this situation together.

At Home is an effort to document this unprecedented moment in time; it’s a collection of stories from people around the world, designed to help us connect, empathize and support one another through this surreal, shared experience.

Over the course of 12 weeks, we conducted over 60 interviews with makers in four cities. In this effort, we broadly defined a maker as anyone who creates and takes pride in their craft—a definition that introduced us to painters, nail artists, business owners, mixologists, beekeepers, musicians, curators and more. We first launched with interviews from Berlin and expanded to San Francisco, London and New York City.

The heartfelt, human stories are really the magic of this site. We feel very proud to have created a space where people felt safe enough to share their stories and express themselves fully. There’s a lot to discover; there’s humor and sadness, hope and despair, creativity and stillness. Individually, each story offers a new perspective, told through a distinct voice and lived experience.

Explore more at <a href="https://at-home.club/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">at-home.club</a>

A massive thank you to all the makers who participated in the project, including:

Abigail Wheeler, Alba Rey, Alex Hall, Elena Breuer, Fabio & Rupert of Roy Kombucha, Francisco G. Silva, Hiroo Tanaka, Izabela Rosiak, Joana Schmitz, Kikelomo Oludemi, Laureanne Kootstra, Maddy Ayers, Mathias Modica, Medhat Aldaabal, Noel Alejandro, Simon Kaiser, Tobias Raschbacher, Whitney Wei, William Bagnoli, Ylenia Gortana'

Derek Anthony, Emily Nathan, Genevieve Bandrowski, Jessica Furui, Jillian Knox, “Joonbug” Mcintosh, Kim Stace Thomas, Linda Fahey, Luca & David Of Colpa Press, Sepehr Alimagham, Sincere Justice, Todd Tankersley

April Hill Writing, Ayanna Birch-Bailey, Bruno Valasse, Charlotte Brooks, Crispin Jones, Dale Gibson, Daniel The Gardener, Em Cole, Emma Fineman, James Telford, Jemma Ryan, Jesse Laitinen, Majeda Clarke, Mark F. Painter, Meetal Patel, Monique Brown, Sista Barista

Andre Bato, Christina Lonsdale, Haik Avanian, Miss Juliet, Rachael Yaeger, Reed Tankersley, Remi Odunsi, Sebastian Speier, Zipeng Zhu

At Home

Say hello to the Crumbskees in Communication Arts Interactive Annual 27

The Crumbskees take CommArts

The Crumbskees, a multiplayer web and mobile based experiment from Upperquad, has been selected in the Website/Interactive category for Communication Arts' 27th Interactive Annual. Thirty-three projects were selected by a jury of creative professionals from the 442 entries.

Originally built as a demo for an in-person SF Design Week event at the Upperquad San Francisco studio in 2019, the Crumbskees started as an installation that allowed people to use their phones to play on a shared screen together. The original game was based on shapes and Upperquad brand colors, but was a surprisingly fun.

From this working concept, Upperquad decided to make the game accessible to everyone on the web. We added some original couch potato characters and added psychedelic colorful animation styles inspired by our love of Adult Swim cartoons. And, in the process, we also captured something about the surreal COVID-19 experience.

Husani Oakley

We want people to simply pull out their phones and have fun, so we eliminated any user interaction on the display device - all the navigations happen on the phones, which can become controllers. The site was built using Node.js and WebSockets, which allows the phone to connect directly to the browser during game play, and not through a game server.

Upperquad creates experiences with new technologies beyond what is usually possible. The Crumbskees pushes the boundaries of design, type and technology. We’re always making things that reach new audiences and extend our capabilities.

The Communication Arts 2021 Interactive Annual <a href="https://www.commarts.com/magazine/2021-interactive" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">is available online</a>. Play the Crumbskees at <a href="https://crumbskees.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">crumbskees.com</a>

Crumbskees win CommArts

NEXT Insurance launches a new website, in collaboration with Upperquad.

Expanding a design system with NEXT Insurance

Upperquad teamed up with friends old and new to extend a modular design system for the NEXT Insurance website.

NEXT Insurance was created to give small businesses the coverage they deserve. With over three hundred thousand customers, tailored insurance is a reality. NEXT serves more than one thousand types of businesses, with policies for their needs just a few clicks away.

NEXT's brand team tapped Upperquad to get deep into the details and extend their design system intelligently for a new website. With some incredibly great work from <a href="https://www.wearecollins.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Collins</a>, <a href="https://buck.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Buck</a>, <a href="http://www.casparwain.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Caspar Wain</a> and <a href="https://www.maggieshannon.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Maggie Shannon</a> and NEXT's brand team, Upperquad rolled up their sleeves and made sure every pixel was arranged to perfection.

Join in the fun at <a href="https://www.nextinsurance.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nextinsurance.com</a>

Small business, big service

A new brand, website and publishing platform capable of supporting Jigsaw's audacious and important work.

Jigsaw Reel

*Jigsaw* is a unit within Google that explores threats to open societies, and builds technology that inspires scalable solutions. As the digital sphere becomes increasingly intertwined with the physical, basic human rights have become vulnerable on a whole new frontier. We worked with the team at Jigsaw to develop a new brand, website and publishing platform capable of supporting their audacious and important work.

Jigsaw addresses emerging digital threats with an interdisciplinary approach that includes research, partnerships, projects and products. To celebrate each project and product as its own, we developed a flexible system for creating logos that allows the work to take on independent identities without losing connection to the broader Jigsaw brand.

Identity system

Fragmentation, distortion, dimension, connection and illumination became consistent themes woven throughout our digital and print applications. We pushed the bounds of our geometry, color and type systems to create an extensive body of artwork that feels at once diverse and cohesive.

Approach

Antonio Mondragon-Becker

Associate Creative Director, Upperquad

In collaboration with Jigsaw and Imprint Projects, we also launched The Current. The Current is a digital publication that explores a single issue in depth each release, with the goal of demystifying complex topics. To exude optimism, we set The Current landing page in white and elevated our serif font, GT Sectra, to create a more editorial feel.

The Current

Jason Dietrick

Creative Director, Upperquad

An interactive platform for the Stanford d.school, where students use design thinking to develop their creative potential.

d.school

*The Stanford d.school* - or the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University - is a place where students use design to develop their own creative potential. We had the opportunity to work closely with the people at the d.school to design and build their website.

We worked closely with the d.school to completely rethink how they could use a web platform. We interviewed the amazing people that make up the d.school and collaborated in workshops to organize content. We developed models of how the site could celebrate and amplify contributions from all parts of the d.school. Out of this process emerged a structure for the new website.

Our approach

Phil Ruppanner

Founder, Upperquad

We approached the site with a series of principles: give people tools and minimize restrictions. Use design to provide structure and consistency, not constraints. Embrace the change. And finally, keep things modular to offer options for people adding to the site. We applied the visual aesthetic to these principles and used them as building blocks for a cohesive and beautiful website.

Systemization

Stanford d.school

Reimagining with Patagonia a future of citizen-led community energy initiatives that help combat energy poverty and put power back in the hands of people.

We the Power

*We the Power*, a documentary film and initiative by Patagonia, encourages viewers to imagine a future of citizen-led, community energy initiatives that help combat energy poverty and put power, money, and decision-making back into the hands of individuals and communities. To prepare for the launch of this initiative, we crafted a unique identity which translates the spirit of the movement and empowers people to join, invest, create, or lobby for localized energy systems in their towns.

The identity is a celebration of the power of “We”. It’s meant to capture that crackling magic that sparks when individuals and communities roll up their sleeves and tackle issues together. The DIY-aesthetic reflects the inherent creativity shown by community organizers and energy revolutionaries, and invites us all to participate in reimagining and remaking the future of energy.

Identity

The branding stretched across venues both traditional and digital: a localized teaser campaign in select spots throughout the UK and Europe, storefront displays, street posters, social media, websites, community outreach, and more. We made sure Patagonia was well armed with tools and graphics to launch a widespread media campaign. Because every movie deserves good typography, we looked at how our graphic language could extend into the film.

Setting our collages in motion lead us to a delightful stop-motion look. Our paint draws itself and photos shuffle into place — nothing can ever quite sit still. This tingling sensation is another reminder that this is an active and energetic movement. Our collage system continues to explode out in all directions. It’s exciting to see all its many permutations take shape.

This is
Upperquad

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our work

Google

Google

d.school

d.school

Patagonia

Patagonia

Case Study
01

Case Study
02

Case Study
03

News

Huge Design

Afresh identity reviewed in Brand New

More Stories

Upperquad at the 26th Annual Webby Awards

At Home

Crumbskees win CommArts

Let's talk about you

This is Upperquad

Short Form

our work

Google

Google

d.school

d.school

Patagonia

Patagonia

Case Study01

Case Study02

Case Study03

News

Huge Design

Afresh identity reviewed in Brand New

More Stories

Upperquad at the 26th Annual Webby Awards

At Home

Crumbskees win CommArts

Let's talk about you

This is
Upperquad

Case Study
01

Case Study
02

Case Study
03