CASE STUDY
The HON Company
m+ services provided
Identity/Logo Refresh
Brand Repositioning Strategy
Marketing Strategy
National Real Estate Research
National Showroom Strategy
Showroom Design
Product Display
Interior Architecture
Interior Design
Architectural Design
Exhibit Design
Product Specification
Product Design Advisement
Environmental Graphics
Graphic Design
Communication Design
Website Design
Animation Design
Content Development
Print and Digital Marketing Components
Complete Sub-brand Development
Updated logo
description
As the HON Company looked to elevate and solidify their position as the largest mid-market office furniture manufacturer in the A&D industry, they reached out to marquardt+ to support this effort.
We worked with the marketing team, led by Audrey Hecht, to revisit the logo and identity, including new colors and standards. To emphasize their size, history, solid midwestern legacy, and stability, we transformed their black and white color standards to brown, sky blue, and white. This maintained an expression of stability while providing a refreshed and forward thinking identity. The original logo was retained and enhanced, for the retro future appearance it echoed. The look of the logo expresses both the stable history and with simple updating a fashionable forward-thinking look the company was aspiring to express in their products and brand.
New Chicago flagship showroom
Custom lacquered logo “O” product display dividers
showroom prototype, national expansion
First, HON asked marquardt+ to design and implement a showroom prototype to then be applied to additional new HON showrooms, as part of their plan to evolve a national expansion strategy and rollout. Each new location required a full gut renovation with brand strategy, interior architecture, design, custom displays, and detailing.
The prototype was first implemented in their Chicago space and then applied to new locations in New York City, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Boston, and Los Angeles. The design team was responsible for all aspects of the projects, including alternative space selection for the new locations. marquardt+ continued to work with the HON company to refresh and reposition the showroom experience for the following 5 years, so that the presentations aligned with new product introductions and the continuous evolution of the HON Brand.
media kits
As part of the new HON brand strategy roll out, marquardt+ was asked to design a new media kit system including a folder, CD, and print templates for the marketing and public relations departments of The HON Company. The project included designing (4) template layouts including image placement and copy, one (4) color marketing folder, and one CD with specific content templates for digital submissions.
Media kit cooresponding to showroom theme and graphics
headquarters renovation and workplace design / development
marquardt+ was then asked by HON to develop the design, direction, and budgeting for renovation of their three floor, 68,000 sf headquarters. This included reconciling mismatching floor plates of two buildings joined by an entry lobby and circulation shaft. Multiple design options with complete pricing were provided, including block diagram adjacency studies, finalized space planning, furniture layouts/ specifications, original brick and beam exposures, sky light/floor plate permeation, exterior refacing, HVAC and electrical, showroom, and all office departments and complete construction drawings.
Central lobby and transfer space between buildings
Department block diagrams / adjacency studies
Final floor plans with detailed furniture layouts
In addition to the completed headquarters renovation package for the HON Headquarters, marquardt+ was asked to research, propose, and budget price a new construction headquarters facility. HON wanted to confirm the viability and costs as an alternative to renovation of the existing buildings before moving forward with the renovation. The marquardt+ team created a complete architectural design and space planning package and provided preliminary square foot construction estimates for an economical pre-fabricated “steel line” construction building, to be considered on a vacant lot HON had acquired in Muscatine, Iowa.
New pre-fab building study
brand/environmental graphics
As part of The HON Company headquarters renovation, showroom development and national roll-out, marquardt+ developed the color palette and environmental graphics to be consistent with the brand experience and messaging with all the other work we had designed. The graphic impact at the facility was designed to be an integral part of the environment, and included a three story tall product wall with full scale products in recesses to mimick the product displays and divider screens we developed for the showrooms, based on the “O” from in the HON Logo.
Entry graphic theme panel detail
Showroom graphic panels
Headquarters manufacturing map
Headquarters location aspiration graphic
print brochures and digital promotions
marquardt+ worked with the HON product development team on product positioning strategies and subsequent promotional and technical brochures for HON, including the Perpetual table series. The design team was responsible for demographic/table product re-design consulting and complete concept, design, copy and content, photography, and implementation of the Perpetual brochures.
m+ also created a HON digital interactive quiz to help specifiers determine their client workstyles that then informed product and specification selections. This quiz was launched at NeoCon showroom for attendees to use, as well as used on the website as customization and workstyle strategies were becoming more important to specifiers.
complete sub-brand development
Finally, marquardt+ was asked by The HON Company to develop a complete separate sub-brand for an entry level collection of products to compete with foreign imports. This project was a full brand creation and rollout, including marketing and brand strategy, tone of voice, identity/logo and brand standards, catalog and binder collateral, tradeshow exhibits, showrooms and a website as well as all other print and digital materials. The sub-brand was named basyx. The basyx case study can be reviewed here.
design team, marquardt+ (work performed as Design Collaboratives)
+ Tom Marquardt
+ Mary Beth Rampolla
+ Janice Wood
+ Billie Knipfer
+ Mark Rupsis
+ Kelly Ziegenhagen
+ Don Kimpling
Photography: marquardt+, Michelle Litvin Photography, Jayson Goranson Photography