APEX SUPPLY CHAIN TECHNOLOGIES

EGD | WAYFINDING & SIGNAGE | DIGITAL EXPERIENCE | DESIGN STRATEGY
Experiential graphic design and Customer Experience Center for Apex Supply Chain Technologies is an exercise in how a logo can inform and create 3D space.

As the leading provider of self-serve automation solutions, Apex Supply Chain Technologies helps some of the biggest brands in the world increase productivity while reducing costs. Since 2006, their technology has helped companies find significant productivity increases and cost savings in basic, well-established processes. We were tasked with designing a fully integrated brand experience, including brand identity, experiential design, exterior signage and wayfinding, and video and messaging architecture programs.

We developed a brand identity for Apex that was as multi-faceted as their technologies. Based on a radial grid centering on the geometric center of the ‘a’, our design took cues from data visualization, machining, apertures, and containers to make a dynamic and flexible logo that is as multi-faceted as the company. As a result, the mark is versatile, flexible enough to represent a wide variety of markets without losing continuity, but updatable so it retains a fresh feel.

The new identity is an exercise in how transforming and manipulating a logo can inform and create 3D space, with the building acting as a 3D tour through the new brand mark. This logo vocabulary informed the architecture of the building, the entry to the Customer Experience Center (CXC), signage, theater screens, product demo stage, cabinetry, and the environmental graphic design.

In the CXC, LEDs run throughout the space, allowing Apex to cater to specific major markets through color-coded illumination activated with the touch of an iPhone. Lighting extends the screen areas & links the spaces together. Subtle environmental graphic design helps guide visitors through the room. A series of videos introduces Apex to its various audiences. The Apex story, delivered in 3 acts, aligns with the message architecture and graphic guidelines; and iPhones can cue up specific videos depending on the visitor. Environmental graphics mark the entry to the Innovation Lab space and feature an “ownable wow” wall. The wall is made of unique facts about Apex in dimensional lettering.

Designed to be a flexible stage area, the Solutions Lab configures customer or industry-specific solutions in front of an LED-lighted backdrop. A “back of house” area allows staging for future presentations to be tested and auditioned. Environmental graphic design cues help draw attention to specific areas and aid visitors in moving smoothly throughout the room.

The new identity and experiential graphics package designed for Apex will help the company flex, grow, and evolve alongside the technological innovations of its products. It allows them to curate content for specific audiences and dynamically evolve with future opportunities.

Portfolio view

CLIENT
APEX
SERVICES ON PROJECT

Experiential Graphic Design
Wayfinding & Signage
Digital Experience
Design Strategy

LOCATION
Mason, Ohio
COLLABORATORS
In foreground, orange and white curved exterior signage features the Apex logo. In background, across field of grass is the grey Apex building accented with orange.
Orange and white rectangular wayfinding sign sits outside the Apex building. Grey Apex building with orange trim sits in background.
Employee presents to a visitors in darkened customer experience center at Apex. Behind employee, a large screen displays white and orange graphics. Orange light leaks out from behind the monitor, washing the wall in orange.
Theater room is washed in blue LED light coming from behind 3 large monitors. Monitors are black with white text and illustrations flowing through room. In back, frosted glass features abstraction of Apex logo.
Employee walks past white wall with dimensional, white statements on it. In dimensional, black text the words read "Easy. Easy. Easy." Frosted glass leads to innovation area beyond.
Employees and visitors walk around a large white room with orange feature wall. On orange wall, new vending machine technology is displayed. A white wall has dimensional white text and the words "Every Thing is Possible" in orange/black.
Top row left to right: orange feature wall seen at end of white hallway. Orange wall marks entrance to innovation lab. Squares of white and orange graphics wrap corner on white wall. Bottom row: grid of printed materials on white background.
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CLIENT
APEX
SERVICES ON PROJECT

Experiential Graphic Design
Wayfinding & Signage
Digital Experience
Design Strategy

LOCATION
Mason, Ohio
COLLABORATORS
NEXT PROJECT

Carlisle & Finch

BRAND IDENTITY | EGD | BRAND STRATEGY
Brand identity refresh and exhibit design to celebrate over 125 years of Carlisle & Finch’s history in Cincinnati.
The Carlisle & Finch Company is a Cincinnati treasure. They have designed and manufactured state-of-the-art searchlights for military, private, and commercial sea-craft and land security operations for more than 125 years. As they approach their 5th Generation of ownership, they stand proud of their accomplishments and heritage. To celebrate, we were asked to help them design a new Customer Experience Center (CXC) where visitors could learn about C&F’s history, capabilities, and spirit.
In the foreground, The Carlisle & Finch Co logo sits on a white wall. In the background a large reproduction of a painting marks the entrance of the customer experience center.