Time travelling rebels against reality

Hammer & Tong are a growing Vancouver Extended Reality production house developing narrative content for film, as well as virtual and augmented reality. Their founders and diverse team share one clear vision: to creatively harness innovative technology, and through it tell socially relevant stories.

H&T found themselves in a common situation for busy startups - most of their time was spent on client work, with little to spare on their own brand. They were, as far as web presence goes, almost invisible. The groundwork, such as origins, brand story, vision, mission and desired trajectory for company culture had been successfully completed, but not implemented yet.

THE BRIEF

I was tasked to capture the unusual, energetic and fiercely independent brand personality of the studio, and to surface its inner workings. This would then take shape as a digital Brand Style Guide, as well as initial ideas for phase 1 of a new website.

MY ROLE

I worked as Creative Director and Brand Identity Consultant.

CVLT

From the start, the H&T vibe felt similar to a cult movie - a creative and deeply original content provider, primed to tell memorable stories ranging from period horror to sci-fi utopia. Their brand had to reflect these qualities - be quirky and not too formal, yet also be intriguing and a little mysterious. As they operated in a pioneering tech sector, the look and feel of any digital presence needed to be memorable, cutting edge and confident.

I began my visual research by exploring recurring themes resonating in the H&T sphere:
arthouse, sci-fi, cyber- and solarpunk, and those lucid dream worlds.

TRAVERSE THE VOID

With the research phase concluded, we agreed to move forward with the concept of ‘Travellers of Edge Realities’ - a deliberately surreal, fluid and flexible feel: strikingly dark and elegant shapes disrupted by bold modern typography and geometric illustration.
A style designed to tell stories of the future.