Situation’s Creative Leadership Breaks Down the New Branding

Situation President and Founder Damian Bazadona sat down with VP of Creative Stephanie Sciandra Smith and Senior Creative Director of Key Art and Branding Chris Hemingway to discuss Situation’s new look.?

Damian Bazadona: How did you land on what we see today?

Stephanie Sciandra Smith: The short answer? Lots of curiosity, conversations, and collaboration.?

Chris Hemingway: Yes, a lot of trying things out!?

Damian Bazadona: And the longer answer?

Stephanie Sciandra Smith: We started with language as the foundation – distilling down our core beliefs, values, mission and offering:

Stephanie Sciandra Smith: Sketches popped up on the back of napkins, notebooks, whiteboards, Illustrator files, and everything in between as we tried to figure out how to bring that language to life in a dynamic way.?

Chris Hemingway: It was super important to me to respect the legacy of where the agency has come from but still understand that it’s a living, growing thing. We wanted an identity that was as flexible and nimble as we are, something that can adapt to each situation while also having a solid core and personality. We landed on a word mark that is in sentence case as opposed to the all caps, which felt more in line with the personality of the agency. We also added a deconstructed S icon that can be rearranged into different shapes and is representative of the customization that we offer our clients.??

Damian Bazadona: When someone sees our new brand identity, how do you want people to feel?

Chris Hemingway: Through this whole process one of the most important things for me was to create an identity that was evocative of who we are as an agency, not just what we do. As confident and competent as we are at everything we do, we’re also a group of people who are just fun to be around! We’re a company of individuals who really believe in the power of shared experiences and inherently that means we like being around and working with other people.?

Stephanie Sciandra Smith: Creating this new, full brand identity has been such an exciting and rewarding project. We really took the time to examine who we are and how we want to show up in the world, both in language and in look. That simple but fundamental belief of “better together” is a constant throughline in who we are and how we show up. We always have been and always will be passionate team players. That team encompasses our colleagues inside the physical (and virtual) walls of the company and extends to our clients and partners in NYC, across the U.S., and around the world. The clients we work with – live events, theater, sports, cultural institutions, attractions – are shared experiences that bring people together in shared passion and shared participation.?

Damian Bazadona: Situation has been around for 22 years and has evolved a lot over that time. What was important for you to maintain from the old branding and what were you ready to leave behind?

Stephanie Sciandra Smith: This exact question kicked off the project and was something we continued to revisit–why are we doing this and what does “evolution” mean?

Chris Hemingway: Okay, controversial statement: I like the old branding! I thought the boldness of it was super clean and effective and I like the green! So it's not that there was anything wrong, but I think we all felt that we’ve grown to a place where the loudness of it didn’t fit the company anymore. From a design perspective we wanted to maintain the confidence of the old logo but we all agreed that we no longer need to show up in quite as brash a way. I also think the core of our brand will always be rooted in our green, so I was pretty adamant that the signature Situation green exist in some form and I’m really happy with how we use it now.?

Stephanie Sciandra Smith: I couldn’t have asked for a better partner in this than Chris. We’ve been collaborating and building a strong creative partnership since he joined the team. Reimagining the Situation branding was the perfect opportunity to pair his fresh artistic sensibility and unmatched design skills with my 12+ year tenure at Situation and passion for language.? With the support of and collaboration with our Managing Partners, Managing Directors, and you, Damian, 2023 was the year to make it all happen. We all agreed on a shortlist of things we wanted to hang onto from our previous branding while still leaving space to reimagine them: a place for our signature green in the color palette, a sense of our original philosophy that “doing is greater than having,” and an expansion of our core values (innovation, collaboration, and commitment). Everything else was fair game and ripe for change in order to create something that was more expansive in its visuals and focused in its language.?

Damian Bazadona: What was your biggest challenge while making this?

Stephanie Sciandra Smith: Freedom, consensus, and balance, three different areas of the process. Allowing ourselves the freedom to try new things and not be bound by what has been done before was tough to shake from my muscle memory. A lot of us have lived with the former branding for a long time so it feels safe and comfortable.?

Chris Hemingway: There are so many people here who have been with the agency for 10+ years, that’s not something you see a lot of in this industry.?

Stephanie Sciandra Smith: Getting consensus from a passionate group of people on any creative endeavor, especially when it’s for something so personal, is no small feat. It’s part of the reason we knew we had found “the one”–unanimous excitement finally outweighing the lift of an investment in this major change. Finally, finding balance.?

Chris Hemingway: Yes, it had to feel right to the people who work here.

Damian Bazadona: The two of you served as the creative leads on this project, but I am sure a lot of team members touched this.

Stephanie Sciandra Smith: Oh absolutely, so many folks were integral to this project, especially when you think about all of the moving pieces involved in a rollout like this. Bizzy, Natalie, and Ellen were my partners in prose when it came to workshopping language and developing the tone of voice. Gregory and Frankie were all over the needs for socials with an assist from Emily and Randi for the birthday animation.

Chris Hemingway: Melinda, Ashley, Christina, and Tiffany jumped in on the design front to bring different pieces of the new brand to life across so many different canvases. Kevin, Miles, Jeremy, Don, Ryan, and David made sure our new website was equal parts style and function.

Stephanie Sciandra Smith: With this many creative people working together you need Holly and Maria Elena from the project management team to keep each element on track, and Ella from our communications team to stitch all of the pieces together.?

Damian Bazadona: Now that you’re seeing it in context, how does it make you feel?

Chris Hemingway: Honestly, I’m really living for it!

Stephanie Sciandra Smith: Me too, I feel READY! Once we found this direction we couldn’t wait to see it come to life; today is finally that day and we feel so ready for it. More earnestly, I feel inspired and energized with a dash (maybe two) of pride.?

Chris Hemingway: ?I think this identity is something that can take the agency into its next form while staying true to the ideals that informed its creation – and that’s exactly what we needed.

Stephanie Sciandra Smith: It’s a great homage to our past, reflection of our present, and built for our future.