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We investigate, iterate, clarify, and refine until every detail is purposeful, and the result feels undeniable.

Work that works

Our Work

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

Jigsaw

Industry-leading machine learning and easy-to-use workflows at Afresh raise the bar on fresh inventory management.

Afresh

*Afresh* is purpose-built for fresh foods. Fresh foods are unique in their complexity — a case of blueberries needs to be treated differently than a shelf-stable box of cereal. Afresh goes beyond center-store demand forecasting and perpetual inventory to use machine learning to help grocery stores make smarter decisions across the fresh supply chain. What’s good for business is also good for the planet, with less food waste and fresher foods.

The mark is inspired by organic shapes — leaves and sprouts — arranged in a swirling motion, representing the type of sorting, thinking and operational order provided by Afresh’s platform. Arranged in a perfectly engineered circle, it forms an engine-like spin. It is a synthesis engineering and organics. Technical acumen brilliantly applied to all phases of a fresh department.

The idenity

Our approach was to imagine a world of machine intelligence organizing the complexity of fresh produce. High quality renders of food provided a window into this world. We took inspiration from intelligent systems, data manipulation and machine learning concepts.

Machine learning imagined

Putting fresh produce front and center means a bright, contemporary palette from which to pull. The wash of light green provides an enticing background for an electric set of colors to explode out from.

Delicious color

Olivier Bruel, Brand New

Reviewed Sep. 28, 2022

We collaborated closely with the brand team at Afresh and part of being good partners is handing off a system to work from.

Tools for a thriving brand team

Sarah Papp

Design Director, Afresh

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

Patagonia

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.

A compliance platform designed and built for the true heroes of the financial industry.

Hummingbird

*Hummingbird* fights financial crime using better communications and technology. Most of the world’s crime involves money. Drug cartels, organized crime, weapons sales, political corruption, and human trafficking all rely on money movement through our financial system. There’s no better way to fight these criminals than to follow the money and choke off the profits. Hummingbird helps financial institutions better understand their customers and collaborate with law enforcement.

We focused on the people who are the heroes of the financial industries, putting them front and center. Custom guilloché-style patterns — evoking the feeling of currency — were combined with vibrant gradients and photorealistic illustrations in textural mosaics.

Heroes of the financial industry

We collaborated with Pangram Pangram on a custom typography that transitions from complicated letterforms to more simplified, representing the ease and clarity of using Hummingbird.

Custom typography

Pathways to financial opportunity for millions of people.

Nova Credit reel

*Nova Credit* opens pathways to financial opportunity for people with limited credit history. By aggregating global credit bureau and bank transaction data, Nova Credit enable lenders and businesses to see borrowers in a new light, unlocking access to the financial system for millions of new people.

Nova Credit has helped hundreds of thousands of people leverage their full financial profile to unlock opportunities. Whether someone has great credit in another country that lenders can’t see, or they don’t have credit history at all. For businesses, Nova Credit unlocks unique data sources that help improve credit risk assessments, identifying more customers and gaining access to untapped markets.

Opportunity and access

We extended their brand around expressions of simplicity, optimism, opening doors and organic evolution. For a fast-moving company, the direction needed to be distinct but without the need for an extended turnaround time. Our focus was on people living their lives, worry free and happy - the outcome of the technology.

Portals to possibility

Every year, millions of creditworthy individuals are denied access to financing because lenders can’t access the right data to assess their financial responsibility. Nova Credit unlocks unique data sources that help businesses improve their credit risk assessment, identifying more customers and gaining access to untapped markets. In this, we never wanted to lose sight of the human perspective.

Expanding access for a more vibrant world

Marcio Gutheil

Senior Art Director

Nova Credit

Patagonia's initiative to protect millions of acres of world-class recreation, archeology, and culture.

This is Bears Ears

*Bears Ears National Monument* is a 1.35 million-acre expanse in southeastern Utah and the inspiration for our first collaboration with Patagonia. Home to thousands of sacred Native American cultural sites, world-class rock climbing, mountain biking, trail running and more, Bears Ears is as beautiful as it is diverse. This interactive experience is designed to celebrate the land and introduce the world to our newest National Monument.

To fully immerse the viewer in the imagery and stories, we designed a minimal user interface that recedes when not in use. This design allows the natural beauty of Bears Ears to shine through and serves as a subtle compliment to the vivid videography, imagery, and iconography we used.

Unobtrusive design, expansive views

This is Bears Ears is divided into three chapters: the story of the peoples who live there, the sporting that attracts new visitors, and the call to action to defend its historic designation.

Multilayer storytelling

Lisa Pike Sheehy

Vice President of Environmental Activism, Patagonia

Bears Ears

A digital platform from the de Young and Legion of Honor.

FAMSF Insights

*The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco* oversees two unique museums - the de Young in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park - and stands as one of the most visited arts institutions in the United States. We worked with their team to create Insights, an immersive digital platform that showcases their permanent collections and special exhibitions.

We worked closely with FAMSF to translate the in-person museum experience into this interactive, digital space. We interviewed incredible people across the institution and collaborated in workshops to find new ways to celebrate the breadth and diversity of their collections. Out of this process emerged a clear need to give the platform an identity of its own.

Strategy

We began by selecting a name that could represent the initiative and encourage visitors to discover more. Carefully crafted to leave room for interpretation, Insights captures the spirit of what can be seen both on the surface and upon deeper reflection. With context and a closer look, what might appear simple at face value becomes complex. Something new emerges. Something insightful appears from something in sight.

Naming

Every element of Insights was built for extensibility, allowing the platform to grow and change as the museums’ collections evolve. We created a robust component gallery that each emphasized different elements of the art. While some offered deep historical context, others brought users in close to look at the details of the artwork. Used together, this toolkit allows the curators to customize the pace and structure of the story they develop; arranging the components one way, they might tell one story, but rearranged another way visitors see something completely different.

Building for expansion

Insights

Chromebooks are a new kind of computer for everything you do.

Chromebooks

*Chromebooks* are a new kind of computer for everything you do. With the power of Chrome OS, access to millions of apps, the best of Google is built right in. The Chromebooks brand is vibrant and bold, approachable and friendly. We kept these brand attributes top of mind, introducing the premium models in an elevated yet authentic aesthetic. Premium device imagery allows the quality of the new Chromebooks to shine, while beautiful lifestyle photography highlights their unique adaptability in day to day settings.

The devices were, of course, the central element. We brought them to life using 3D animations rendered with WebGL, which allowed the Chromebooks to smoothly flip, fold, and cascade down the page. Throughout the site, we were careful to balance the light playfulness of the movement with grounded, confident positions so that the devices maintained a commanding presence on the page.

Beautiful Devices

Whether it’s back-office number crunching or movie watching on the couch, Chromebooks are flexible and reliable enough to take on the shuffle of a busy day. We captured beautiful, vivid, authentic interactions that demonstrate the many ways that people can use Chromebooks in their daily lives - from work to school, to family time and beyond.

There’s a Chromebook for everyone. We created tailored experiences for Chromebooks in work, education and family settings, highlighting the apps that matter most to those audiences.

For everyone

Thoropass provides the most thorough audit prep and continuous monitoring through easy software and expert guidance— so you can do business with confidence.

Thoropass Reel

*Thoropass* is a compliance expert so you don’t have to be. Pairing easy software that’s always getting smarter with expert guidance and continuous monitoring, Thoropass integrates into your process to prepare you to pass any audit, every year, with flying colors.

Oro is the Thoropass mascot, embodying the company’s genuine enthusiasm about compliance. Always available and ready to assist, Oro sticks with you throughout your preparation journey to make sure you’re not just squeaking by on your audit, but acing it. This character exemplifies compliance done right, raising the industry standard for everyone.

Meet Oro

Curious, helpful, optimistic, honest, and hypercompetent, Oro’s character is expressed through animated reactions to inputs throughout the user journey.

Thoropass believes that compliance is key to moving innovation forward — and that staying audit-ready can be a positive experience. By changing the tune on compliance, they’re building a world that’s safer for consumers, more seamless for enterprise, and ripe for advancement. They support their sunny disposition with clear integrity in the product experience. These character traits are expressed through a cheerful color palette, grounded with cool gray text.

Where compliance makes you smile

This brand is vibrant and extensible through a variety of applications. Oro can stay still or use motion to inform and entertain, transforming words and colors with the literal blink of an eye as they move through space. Subtle, minimalist iconography supports the product experience, while warm photography extends the brand persona with images of authentic, engaged people at work.

Built to scale

Typography, a playful use of Oro and a bright palatte give the brand voice a relaxed, consistent and comforting tone that works across surfaces.

Emily Headden

Senior Producer, Upperquad

Thoropass

With the goal of getting more volunteers in the door, we redesigned the website for 826 Valencia, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that helps under-resourced students through free educational programs.

826 Valencia

*826 Valencia* is a San Francisco based nonprofit that helps under-resourced students develop their writing skills and channel their creativity through free educational programs. We embraced the whimsical adventure of the 826 tutoring centers and applied it to all things digital.

We expanded their color palette, illustrated a crazy cast of characters, and paired a handwritten script with a woodblock-inspired headline type for a creative, welcoming energy.

Bita Nazarian

Executive Director, 826 Valencia

Each 826 location has its own wildly imaginative theme that immerses students into a whole new world of writing along with a magical storefront magic. We worked infuse this spirit into their ecommerce website, focusing in on ease-of-use and usability.

Caffeinated Capital catalyzes the success of transformative ideas and the people who conceive them.

Caffeinated Capital

*Caffeinated Capital* believes there are certain people in this world who are truly extraordinary. People with transformative ideas and the determination to make it happen. Caffeinated exists to find these rare individuals and catalyze their success.

Ultimately, we wanted to create a bold and differentiated brand for Caffeinated Capital that builds awareness for the firm and supports its growth going forward. Capturing the energy and speed represented in Caffeinated's name and approach, we leaned into an active representation to the logomark and letterforms.

Caffeinated Capital unblocks partners and move everyone forward faster.

If high risk makes for high reward, then we swing big and double down. If there are a rare few people in the world who are truly exceptional, then we work relentlessly to find them, catalyze them and accelerate their success. If good investments are for life, then we invest in people over business models.

Caffeinated Capital builds high impact, low friction partnerships where speed is their ultimate advantage.

Speed wins

A publishing platform from Google's Jigsaw unit outlining today’s digital threats and solutions.

*The Current* is a publication from Jigsaw that examines the role of technology and individuals in countering some of the most challenging threats to open societies. Each issue of the Current explores Jigsaw's research presenting problems, new perspectives and countermeasures.

The Current utilizes a combination of art direction, illustration, data visualization, long-form storytelling and interactive design to present Jigsaw’s research in a meaningful and accesible way.

Jigsaw's ongoing research into violent white supremacy uncovers lessons learned from former white supremacists and investigates the networks through which this movement spreads. Understanding and presenting the problem of interconnected, asynchronous networks in a way that is tangible.

Violent white supremacy

A look at the rise of toxic language on the internet, and the chilling effect that toxicity has on free expression and community. This issue examines how artificial intelligence can help publishers and platforms host better conversations, and create more space online for people to exchange ideas.

Toxicity

Antonio Mondragon Becker

Conspiracy theories have legitimized violence, impaired public health, and undermined democratic governance. Containing their harms begins with understanding the theorist, not the theory.

Conspiracy theories

With over 45 games, 18 features, and a whole lot of eggnog, we had almost a decade of holly, jolly fun working on Santa Tracker with the talented folks at Google.

Santa Tracker Back to work

*Santa Tracker* is an advent calendar-inspired town full of games to play, videos to watch, igloos to explore, and tidbits to learn. Each day of December unlocks new easter eggs in the village - from reindeer flight school to the friendly waving walrus - so kids always have something new to discover. With over 45 games, 18 videos, and a whole lot of eggnog, we had almost a decade of holly jolly fun working on Santa Tracker with the talented folks at Google.

Each day of December unlocks new easter eggs in the village - from reindeer flight school to the friendly waving walrus - so kids always have something new to discover. With so many holiday festivities in Santa’s village, it’s easy to wonder where to begin. We kept the calls to action super simple - Learn, Watch, and Play - so that kids and parents could see their options upfront and choose their path.

The Village

From slip-sliding penguins to dancing elves to Mrs. Claus herself, the everyone is here! As you explore the village you’ll find Santa’s family and friends frolicking about, with representation from all ages, backgrounds, body types, skin colors, abilities and gender expressions.

Everyone welcome

Of course, all of these games and goodies are built in anticipation of Santa’s big day - Christmas Eve. For a full 24 hours on December 24th, users can jump into city view, learn about holiday traditions in faraway lands and - most importantly - follow Santa as he makes his way from chimney to chimney, around the world.

The Big Night

Santa Tracker

A pay-over-time solution that lets shoppers say yes to more of the things they love.

Affirm

*Affirm* is a pay-over-time solution that lets shoppers say yes to more of the things they love. By offering transparent, fairly-priced loans, Affirm is challenging traditional credit cards and transforming the banking industry for the better. No late fees. No surprises.

Affirm was just beginning to explore their new brand when we started the project. We collaborated the team to push their color and pattern explorations further and explored motion as a way to double down on approachability.

Pushing the brand

Showcasing the UI and highlighting real people helps the product feel familiar and inviting.

We built a custom CMS to provide the team with flexibility to A/B test new modules and respond to analytics insights over time.

A flexible system

By helping customers say yes to more of the things they love, Affirm also empowers thousands of merchants grow their business. We created a customized experience for key industries to help them connect with customers old and new.

We created a brand for Lightstep that could cut through the complexity of systems monitoring with approachability and ease.

Lightstep

*Lightstep* helps developers navigate their increasingly fragile software systems, so that when there’s an issue, they can find out what’s happening and why, fast. From healthcare and transportation to education and business, virtually every aspect of modern life is built on a layer of code. So developers today no longer have the luxury of moving fast and breaking things. We worked with Lightstep to create a brand that could cut through the complexity of the observability space with approachability and ease.

Managing deep systems can be chaotic. With unexpected firedrills and blame shifting across teams, the frantic search for solutions can breed a highly stressful environment. So we created a world of collective clarity. A world where developers can build products faster, push code with confidence and push the world forward.

The mark exists in a constant state of evolution and transformation, offering a nod to the ever-changing nature of these technology systems. Angular and geometric, its exterior takes on endless variations. Yet for every shape it takes, there is always an insight to be found within.

The silhouette of our evolving polygon became a core brand element to visualize a sense of relief from noise and complexity. Simple and flexible, these shapes easily adapt to become containers for artwork, text, floods of color and more. The palette is kept to just four brand colors, reinforcing the idea of clarity with optimism and delight.

With a product that centers on dashboarding, data flow and statistics, Lightstep’s illustration style needed to balance technical detail and playful abstraction. Motion and interactivity were core to our approach, bringing the brand to life across applications and interfaces.