Cushing Announces Brand Refresh

Layout and Messaging Mirrors Company Direction as a Cohesive Group of Creative Problem Solvers

CHICAGO, June 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cushing & Co., a print services firm that specializes in large format branded graphics and digital documentation for the construction and real estate community announced their completion of a major rebrand. Sepia Studio, a newly formed creative division of Cushing & Co. led brainstorming and ideation efforts. The new assets are set to appear throughout the company's digital and printed collateral. 

The driving concept behind the rebrand is that Cushing is greater than the sum of its parts. Cushing is a brand name the Chicago community has come to know for over ninety years. Elements of the new brand include updated typography, color palette, and a focused mission statement. 

"Businesses count on us for enhanced problem-solving and a seamless experience," says Joseph X. Cushing, Executive Vice President at Cushing. "This refresh reflects our commitment to customers, their evolving sophisticated projects and our ability to offer many different solutions for those needs."

Sepia Studio lead creatives, Amanda Eich and Julia Kaufman, created consensus to bring the effort to life and set a project timeline in motion. The brand refresh developed through group interviews with each department in the company. The overriding sentiment became clear- Cushing is more than a varied menu of individual services; it is a synergy of cooperative effort. As a final step, the creative team sought input from creative industry friends and colleagues in a pre-release.  

"It was critical to talk with each department and hear firsthand how they work with and interpret the brand that they help build," says Eich, Lead Designer at Sepia Studio. "You can put values or a mission statement on a wall, but it's the employees that need to feel it and operate under those guiding principles intuitively every day, otherwise a brand refresh will fall short every time." 

Cushing customers rely on a high level of project management, quality, and innovation – Cushing has developed five new business lines since January, 2021. The new logo depicts who Cushing is today, and realistically for the next decade. A large part of the Cushing identity and pride is that it is a family owned and operated business. But "CUSHING" as a brand needs to feel more like a group than a name. This new brand emphasizes that the company as a whole is an efficient group that celebrates collaboration and exceeding expectations collectively. 

"Often, I think of projects like a relay race, passing the baton from one teammate to another, in harmony; each person has a personal stake in a project's success", said Kaufman, Managing Designer at Sepia Studio. "Much like the letter elements in the new logo, some lines and curves are exaggerated to meet the next letter in line, passing the element through to the finish line."  

Cushing has launched five new services in 2022! Learn more here.

For social media, digital advertising, and printed marketing collateral – an accompanying style guide includes rules for logo usage, typography, and messaging. This set of brand guidelines will be key in helping implement across multiple media channels.  

Since 1929, Cushing has assisted businesses, large and small with printing & graphic solutions. Starting with blueprinting, xerography, diazo, and decades later digital imaging and archiving, to an evolution into environmental graphics, the family-owned business has transformed with technology. A city of Chicago-certified Women's Business Enterprise (WBE), business-to-business professionals count on Cushing for print services that increase sales and enhance brand awareness. Recently, Cushing has added a design division, 3D building scanning, Closeout Document services, to their printing and graphic solutions. Browse our website to meet the faces behind the fonts.

In the winter of 2021 Sepia Studio was formed within the four walls of Cushing and Company to add results-oriented graphic design to their lineup of services.  Establishing Sepia Studio addresses evolving client needs and market demand. Cushing began serving the Chicago market in October 1929, printing blueprints for architects, engineers, and construction firms. Pivoting to color graphic imaging two decades ago, projects have grown in complexity, and many require graphic design consultation and an expert partner in the print industry for turn key delivery.  

Good design starts with conversation and ends in realization. Our solid foundation in architecture and design as it pertains to the print industry is an asset to our clients as we have a unique eye that incorporates brand messaging in reflection to how it is seen in real three-dimensional space. Walls talk. We're here to tell that story. Visit Sepia Studio online. 

Media Contact:

Catie Duffy
Human Resources & Marketing
Cushing
Phone: 312.799.8342

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SOURCE Cushing and Company