The evolving nature of work has influenced a new generation of team culture. Gone are the days of cubicles and water cooler chats—workers everywhere want to be empowered. Work should work wonders in your life, and the workplace should do the same.
Founded in 1989 by the authors of The Oz Principle—one of the top five best-selling books on leadership and performance—Culture Partners, formerly known as Partners In Leadership, represents the evolution of leadership in the workplace throughout the last 30 years. To push ahead of the market, the organization needed to sharpen its mission and infuse technology into a service-based business, so it called on Grizzly to help bring this vision of the modern workforce to life with a new brand identity.
Our approach was rooted in curiosity and empathy. Through a collaborative and iterative process designed to get to the core of the brand, we audited the organization and spoke with multiple stakeholders until we found an insight that truly captured the essence of the employee experience.
Today’s employees expect more from their work experience, and it’s belief that invigorates their sense of fulfillment and belonging. It’s about fostering a culture where people have the power to define their careers on their own terms, regardless of job descriptions and corporate structures. Inspired by this idea of belief, we curated a list of potential brand names until we finally landed on Culture Partners. And thus, the new brand was born.
Culture Partners is a call to not just improve the workplace but grow a culture. It evokes feelings of approachability and community that were missing from the previous brand, and we brought these qualities to both our verbal identity and a simple and scalable visual identity.
Our platform line is “Unleash the power of culture.” It invites organizations to tap into their collective ethos; the shared goals and values of its employees. This theme of connection also stretches across the visual system. The wordmark is a collection of different geometric letters, while the accompanying icon merges the C and P to create a monogram that resembles a chat bubble. To complement the logo, we use a rich, energetic color palette of mostly purples and blues. Our shape system rounds out the visual identity with patterns of various forms, each one representing a core pillar of the brand: experiences, beliefs, actions, and results.
Our brand identity brings forth the authenticity and optimism that so many traditional consultancies seem to lack. More importantly, however, it perfectly encapsulates the value of organizational culture: the convergence of people from all walks of life for a common purpose. Working in tandem, the messaging and design system establish a vision for the future of companies everywhere. A belief in what’s possible when organizations give their team members something to rally behind.
With this new brand, Culture Partners uniquely positions the consultancy as more than just partners in leadership, but partners in progress—a champion for everyone at all workplaces, from CEOs to interns. Through belief, it empowers both businesses and employees to reach their full potential, and enables the company to grow alongside their clients for years to come.
