Drawing out the human.
Totem is a benefits consulting firm dedicated to creating better-fit solutions for some of the world’s best workplaces. Their highly-tailored, human-centered approach set them apart from their competitors. We knew that they deserved a highly-tailored brand to match.
Early on, we decided that Totem’s visual system should be as flexible and dynamic as their offerings. We developed a brand bursting with personality and color to stand in stark contrast from the drab and bureaucratic visual language of insurance providers.
Totem’s vibrant visual system centers around a stylized T-form that evokes a face, ensuring that humanity is always at the heart of our work. We developed applications that resemble playful self-portraits, suggesting benefits packages that were as unique as the people they would cover.
To underscore Totem’s commitment to customization, the brand’s primary mark can be a bit of a shape-shifter, varying its form across applications.
Throughout the process, our work with Totem revolved around a single sentence, a beloved phrase that had come to encapsulate the brand’s promise and served as a rallying cry for their employees: “Be there for everyone.” We were proud to offer up a brand that matched, striking a balance between consistency and elasticity, between authoritative and playful, and between the institutional and the human.