Bringing Brand To Life

It’s not about catching the latest trend. Workplace design is an opportunity to capture the essence of a company’s culture, people and community.

By Kevin Brass

Brand is not a logo. It’s not a color or a sign on a wall.

Brand is a promise — a promise you make to your customers and your staff. It’s what you do. It’s how you do it.

LPA’s designers have been working with companies for years to explore what it means to infuse that promise into the workplace. It means working through tough questions. How do you design differently to imprint that identity and culture into a workspace? How can a blank room be turned into something that reflects a company’s inherent culture?

“That’s what we design around,” says LPA Design Director Rick D’Amato. “It’s the way in which people work, where they work and the people and the culture of their region.”

The workplace is the brand in action. Through a process of research and learning, the brand is instilled into the elements that support daily work and life.

The process often starts with an exploration of a company’s history, evolution and future goals. Talk of workflow and programming will follow, but first discussions focus on understanding more about the company and where it is going.

“We really use the brand research to inform how we direct the design conversations,” says LPA Project Designer Lindsay Votel.

Research teams help designers learn more about how teams come together, and how that culture is reflected in their environments. “Space planning is key to developing how behavior starts to take place within the space, how people collaborate and function,” says Project Designer Nicole Fennell.

The brand elements provide a guide to analyze how the company operates, functions and collaborates. Furniture, lighting and materials play large roles in creating spaces that work better and represent their staff.

“Brand is really about this emotion that you’re trying to convey in the space, and culture really determines the functionality,” Votel says. “If you can have a successful representation of both the brand and the culture, that’s what’s going to create a successful workplace.”

The ROI is found in a boost in morale, productivity and sense of belonging. It is in the elements that bring the brand to life.

“Success is when the space is fully aligned with who you are and it’s not going to necessarily cost you more,” says Fennell.

On project after project, you can see the results. Workplaces that reflect the people and their community. Cohesive environments that maximize the space, uplift employees and make a statement: This is who we are.

MOSSIMO

The casual clothing company’s workspace was designed 25 years ago. It doesn’t matter. The design integrated Mossimo’s unique, creative process with a sophisticated corporate aesthetic that seems as relevant today as it did at the time.

Mossimo wanted to make a statement about who they were and what the company could be. The 42,000-square-foot corporate headquarters brought together executive offices, design studios, graphics department, staff lounges and manufacturing space. Every element was designed around the company’s culture as something to be experienced every day. For clients and the staff, the workplace represented the brand’s youth and style, as well as its aspirations. The blend of colors and materials — the attention to the detail — responds to the multiple functions and the dream, a design attitude that transcends time and trends.

TRAFFIK

The space is unlike any other. The advertising and marketing firm wanted staff to feel like work was a departure from their everyday life, an escape from a corporate environment. The lobby was designed with the vibe of a boutique hotel. The company’s owner wanted people to walk in and start asking questions; nowhere does it say what the firm does.

The design approach embraced the firm’s ethos of creating meaningful connections between brands and their audiences, blending elements of hospitality, retail and workplace environments. Imagination and creativity define their culture and how they work. Art, bold graphics, color and lighting play important roles in the immersive experience. Every conference room has a unique theme and purpose, intended to spark creativity and collaboration.

Traffik’s CEO called the new workplace “the physical manifestation of our mindset, of being present, of being noticed, of being recognized for the phenomenal things we’ve accomplished and the extraordinary work that’s yet to come.”

VOLCOM

Everything about the sports apparel brand is culture based. Culture is their brand. For years the company’s tagline was “Youth Against Establishment,” talking to a young audience that resents anything sniffing of inauthenticity.

The 90,000 square feet of repurposed warehouse embraces Bohemian aesthetic and uses simple utilitarian materials like wood, fiberglass, metal and fabric to complement the raw nature of the existing warehouse space. An internal street streamlines circulation and showcases art and images from Volcom retail stores and staff artists. Polished concrete floors allow employees to skateboard the halls. The layout includes a 3,500-square-foot indoor skate park that can be converted to a presentation theater or exhibition space, along with a 4,000-square-foot company store and collaborative work areas, showrooms and sample warehouse.

It’s a simple space, in many ways. But every element reflects the essence of the company and the culture, while providing the technological support and collaborative workspace to keep the company competitive.

Kevin Brass is LPA’s outgoing editorial director. His articles on architecture, business and design have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times and Urban Land.