CASE STUDY
solving the self branding dilemma
m+ services
Brand Strategy and Development
Marketing Strategy and Development
Identity/Logo Design and Development
Brand Standards Development
Photography Standards
Product Photography Standards
Photoshoot Directing
Print and Digital Advertisements
Product Packaging
Graphic Design
Website Design
Interior Architectural Design
Interior Design
Showroom Design
Exhibit Design
Product Display
Environmental Graphics
Event Planning
Project Management
Construction Observation
This article about our practice, published in Objekt International, is our first case study as it defines the unique foundation of marquardt+ as a brand and as a practice since our start in 1988. m+ has continued to evolve since this publication, yet this description still informs how we speak about our foundational practice and processes as the definition of interdisciplinary design and the strategies behind every marquardt+ project we execute.
This is the story of the challenge to clearly define who we are, as experts known for defining who our clients are. This is the story of the m+ integrated model of processes and services and why this model brings the best outcomes to our clients no matter the client challenge or project type. This is the story of why this model brings the best outcomes to our clients no matter the client challenge or project type.
our challenge
One of the most difficult things about being an unconventional design practice with expertise in specializing in process not project type is communicating that clearly to our clients. This is why our per project basis teaming is an advantage to our clients over retaining specialization practices focused on one aspect of design.
Studio team at work (except for Jason!)
Our process is to uncover custom solutions thru the filter of each client’s unique and individualized business, marketing and brand strategies, and unique business needs. It is ironic that applying that expertise to ourselves in our own marketing and brand presentations might inadvertently lead to clients not clearly seeing an alignment with their project needs. For example, if a client has a strong impression of our own marquardt+ brand strategies and solutions when considering retaining us to address theirs, there is always the danger that they will assume what we have done for ourselves is what we will do for them and everyone else. Sadly, this is true for many design firms that are practice-centric versus client-driven and have a specific style or solution that defines them, thus defines their work for others.
Therefore we have always been elusive and restrained about our own self-brand solutions, presentations and descriptions to prevent setting up any assumed limitations of what we will provide our clients. Unfortunately this approach has its own set of problems. “The cobbler’s children appear not to have their own shoes” is our revision of the old cliché. And this has come up more than once both internally and with our clients!
So why should a client hire marquardt+ over a firm more specialized in the specific needs of a singular project type? Why do we resist providing potential clients a clearly defined and singular project solution as part of a competitive RFP proposal, before being contracted to provide the process of uncovering it? Many firms we compete with, especially specialized practices, do so. They provide solutions in advance from their extensive archive of work as a way of being hired. How can they assume the unique needs of a specific client thru pre-proposal vetting alone?
Glossy quarterly Objekt International available in print or digital
the magazine
These questions became more frequent as our diverse portfolio and reputation expanded over the first two decades of our practice. We started getting more exposure thru awards and press, both in North America and internationally. This included Objekt International, a glossy quarterly international design publication based in the Netherlands and distributed to over 80 countries worldwide in 5 languages, with “a focus on high end interiors, art & antiques, modern design and outstanding architecture.”
In 2012 marquardt+ had the honor of being asked by Objekt International to publish our Chicago Shotgun Flat in the 2012 issue #52. With both the writer and Hans vetting marquardt+ then interviewing us for the article, they worked to understand us as well as our project in a way few publishers extend themselves to do. As a result, they wrote one of the most accurately descriptive articles about a m+ project of any magazine publishing our work.
Issue 52 Article: Chicago Shotgun Flat by m+
Subsequently the owner and publisher Hans Fonk, looking to research the US design industry to start a US based version of Objekt International, reached out to marquardt+ about our thoughts and insights. Hans subsequently decided to retain marquardt+ to design a simple Chicago press booth exhibit for NeoCon and potential other shows in the US as a part of this effort.
their challenge
His goal was to learn the design markets, create brand awareness, trigger an immediate understanding of their publication, and to initiate increased US readership and potential advertisers by their presence at US design shows. We explained that it would be difficult to differentiate themselves with a typical fabric-draped counter table with a logo sign on a wall behind some stools aside 15 other publications vying for the same audience.
Thinking we would only need to work with the size and functional requirements of a press booth, Hans learned that our process to get there was far more comprehensive than he initially imagined. Through our programming process Hans understood the benefits of such a deep dive to position the magazine’s presentation based on a thorough understanding their differentiated business, marketing/brand strategies and future goals, and thus targeted a more strategic installation and investment. In the end, we created an engaging brand lounge meeting space and respite installation with high-end interior products and materials from current and potential advertisers, providing an experience in line with the Objekt publication brand expectations. The resulting show experience networked them with new readership and ad revenue, and captured the information Hans and team needed to take the next steps to investing in a US version of Objekt, currently still in print and digital formats.
Objekt Internation press booth
Magazine cover super graphic
this journey made m+ define ourselves
Issue 62 profiling marquardt+
During this process and his experience with marquardt+, Hans asked us if we would like the rare opportunity to be profiled as a practice, versus a project, in Objekt International. He wanted to have us speak to the m+ interdisciplinary design approach he came to understand and see as unique compared to others he had encountered as a publisher. He thought the marquardt+ story was worth telling and would make a great article for his readership.
Of course, this set the need to provide a narrative description and visual content that would speak to our brand and approach as marquardt+ and our alliance partner Gridwerk Architecture (thus marquardt+gridwerk). We needed to define our brand and process versus showing or describing our work. And the best part – we were presented with the challenge to write the article itself!
Our marketing manager Lauren Haras and communication design manager Katelyn Landeck (Smith) led the team. They dissected the magazine’s underlying magazine graphic layout grid system, typography standards and text/photography format hierarchies. Lauren Haras, with input from Katelyn, James Wild, Vince Gammino, and Tom Marquardt, wrote the outline and selected photography content for Katelyn and our graphics team to create a visual narrative that would best support our brand and speak to our processes, all within their magazine standards. The result was a print-ready article and layout for the magazine to publish.
It was a proud moment for the practice and provided the basic foundation for defining our firm. This foundation continues to inform our brand and marketing presentations today, including this website and case study format!
design team, marquardt+
+ Tom Marquardt
+ Vince Gammino
+ Katelyn Landeck
+ James Wild
+ Lauren Haras
+ Donn Perez
Photography: marquardt+ and Michelle Litvin Photography