Nexsys Brand and Website Update

By on June 15, 2021

Long story short: we made some long-overdue updates to the Nexsys brand, then completed a full rebuild of their website.

I got a chance to redo a previous project, and then some.

Nexsys’ original visual brand was developed organically, which I guess is a nice way of saying it was done ad hoc. There were good parts, but it had some problematic elements, as well as lacking in consistency.

So what all did we do? The ultimate goal of the project was a new website, but there were several milestones and assets we would need to deliver before beginning the site.

New Color Palette

Problem: Nexsys’ color palette was too bright and made accessible color pairings nearly impossible.

Challenge: retain the vibrance of the primary colors.

Solution: add a dark color to the primary palette to offset the citrus theme.

I’m simplifying for the sake of brevity, but it’s amazing how much of a difference was made adding a blue to the primary colors. By adding PANTONE 654 C, not only could we utilize white background layouts, but we had a color with sufficient contrast to our primary green and primary orange that we can use them for text by pairing them with the new blue.

Updated Logos

Problem(s): the wordmark of the Nexsys logo had three issues:

  1. The typeface didn’t appear anywhere else in the brand.
  2. The typeface looked dated.
  3. It was difficult to accommodate product variants.

So we’re two for three on typeface-related problems, making the following pretty obvious…

Solution: change the typeface.

The thing the old Nexsys logo had going for it was a strong lettermark. I was asked to experiment with replacing it, but it wasn’t long before we determined that changing one of the few elements of the brand that had some staying power wasn’t in our best interest.

I’m not going to lie and say there was some complex methodology for choosing the typeface for updating the wordmark: I like slab serifs. They’re timeless, yet contemporary. They’re bold, but not overwhelming. And best of all, we’d already chosen Roboto Slab to use as our heading font.

It was a no-brainer.

Updated Website

Before I dazzle you with a bunch of images of the new site mocked up on unbranded Macbooks in an ultra contemporary workspace, you can check out the site here: NexsysTech.com.

Problem(s): many.

Solution: do the opposite, basically.

With the earlier stages of the project serving as building blocks, the process of building the new website was straightforward.

Looks like I’m going to start a blog

By on October 7, 2019

For better or worse, I like to talk shop. It doesn’t matter if I’m at dinner with my in-laws or catching up with someone I haven’t seen in years; more often than not, I end up working design into the conversation.

Poor them.

So I figure I’ll take a different approach instead of yammering on about my job at friends and loved ones. If you’re here on purpose, then there’s a decent chance you’re more interested than my children in hearing my take on the latest release of InDesign, or my reaction to what CreativeBloq says will be trending in graphic design next year.

Stay tuned. 

“Infinite” Accordion Fold

By on November 15, 2017

The “infinite” accordion fold is a print piece we produced for our QLMS support team. They were then given to our associates over at QLMS, who then distributed them to their account executives. It was intended to act as a reference piece for any account executives with partners who were interested in using Title Source. The content provided counterpoints to reasons we had heard from those not interested in using Title Source.

The initial idea was a brochure with interior pockets and inserts, which would’ve worked fine, but we were concerned that the size might discourage AEs from having it in their possession when they’re most likely to need it. With that in mind, it needed to be compact, very compact.

So how could we create something with a small enough profile to fit in a pocket, but not sacrifice the space we needed for the complete content?

The answer was a 10-panel accordion brochure that would fold down to standard US business card size, 3.5×2 inches.

QLMS_InfiniteAccordion_Brochure_4

The accordion fold gave us the space and size we needed, but what about the backside of the brochure? Would it just be a long span of decorative elements to take up all the excess space we’d created?

Not exactly.

Lucky for me, Devin had developed a series of six talking points we’d been touching on in most of our pieces for the QLMS team. Add in a short introduction, some closing comments and contact information, and we had just enough content to fill out the backside of the brochure.

QLMS_InfiniteAccordion_Brochure_5

QLMS_InfiniteAccordion_Brochure_6

So where does the “infinite” part come in?

The brochure is vertical – if the reader handles the brochure as intended, by paging through instead of expanding it all at once, flipping the final panel on either side would land the reader on the cover page of the opposite side. It’s like a mobius strip in brochure form. Just in case, I included some Ikea-style directions on the backside of the brochure’s cover wrap.

QLMS_InfiniteAccordion_Brochure_2

We printed the initial run on cover stock white Plike, but weren’t satisfied with the feel of it in areas of the design with heavy ink coverage. The piece was a hit with the account executive regardless, and on the second print run we used a generic cover stock with soft-touch lamination applied.

The second run yielded a better result, and with a negligible price difference.

In case I’m not explaining it well, here’s a video:

Project copywriter: Devin Turner

Printed by Behrmann Printing