Branding serves as a reflection of your company; it has the power to convey your mission, the nature of your work, your company’s culture, and much more.
Understanding our identity as a company, the distinctive approach we take to design, and how our clients and industry partners perceive Renee were critical steps in getting it right.
Now, as we unveil our new brand to you, we take pride in the introspection, collaboration, and effort that brought us here.
In 2007, Rena Novruzlu and her co-founder established Afshan Studio, driven by a shared vision and a strong friendship. They embarked on a journey to create an architecture and design company that would leave a lasting impact on the industry.
In 2016, the founders mutually decided to part ways, marking a significant moment of change. While we initially continued under the old brand identity, it became evident that a new chapter was on the horizon.
Over recent years, our firm has experienced growth, and we’ve made our mark in four distinct market sectors: residential, commercial, hospitality, culture & education. We stood at the threshold of a transition, eager to reflect these changes.
In 2021, as a symbol of rebirth and renewal, we introduced “Renee”, a new venture that represented not only a change in name but also a shift in our approach to architecture and design. This transition allowed us to reevaluate our identity, refine our vision, and adapt to the evolving demands of the industry.
Our mission is to focus on forward-thinking design. When we design for the future, our clients become our collaborators, our community inspires us, and each project is guided by a shared intention to shape the future we envision.
Our vision is a world that prioritizes people. In this future, design is responsive to people’s needs, centers communities, supports the environment, and respects the planet.
Alongside language, we needed to be able to express who we are visually as well. For us, this started with our logo, and our logo started with our name.
The logo manages to capture so much of our firm’s character by incorporating different elements simultaneously.
The boldness and steadiness of the font is a testament to our trustworthiness, loyalty, motivation, and professionality. While the gentle and organic contours represent our human-centred approach, creativity, and empathy.
The dynamic interplay between the logo’s elements and the negative space it encompasses draws inspiration from the foundational architectural principle of balancing solidity with voids.
The brand colors aren’t just eye candy; they’re a story in hues. Fiery red echoes our passion and drive, making a bold statement in the design arena. Deep blue speaks volumes about our trustworthiness and professional depth, like a calm sea hiding intricate depths beneath the surface. Then there’s beige, a warm hug of approachability and human-centric design. Together, they’re our way of saying we’re the perfect blend of passion and professionalism, creativity and stability.
Our new brand’s internal reception has been resoundingly positive. The new colors, messaging, typefaces, and icon shapes open up a world of possibilities, and not just in marketing materials. We have seen the colors used to elevate site plans and differentiate organizational categories. The brand messaging has helped us to describe to new employees what drives our firm and where we place value.
The logo and brand messaging informed our approach to our new website, both in feel and functionality. We carried our firm’s foundational elements into the digital space, from our site navigation to an aesthetic that we can confidently say is uniquely us.
We are a firm of thought leaders who are active in our communities and passionate about our work. Our vision for our new website was an intuitive site that gave us the room to dive deeper into our design process, project stories, and firm values. We developed an expressive, dynamic website that represents Renee Architecture & Design today and will allow us to grow into tomorrow.
The process to rebrand has been valuable not just in the result, but in the discoveries we’ve made along the way. As the adage goes, sometimes it’s more about the journey than the destination (although we are really excited about the destination). We’re still the same firm – putting people first and driving the design forward – only now we have a brand to match. We’re feeling reenergized to continue doing the work that we love and we can’t wait to share it with you.
