Finalising the geometry of TheFulcrum.Agency brandmarks. Weighty typography.

– Mark Braddock, Block Branding.

As it was felt to be a path too well-trodden and was failing to add anything to the conceptual underpinning of the Agency, the pursuit of a graphic device based on a simplified human form was abandoned.

At its core, TheFulcrum.Agency is about leverage.

The dot is a natural point (pun intended) around which to explore this idea. It is a point of difference (pun intended) in the structure of the Agency’s name, that was itself derived from the search for a serviceable url.

A dot is representative of a point in space but also becomes a fulcrum when a beam is placed on it. It is also the full stop that indicates that a thought is complete. It provides a pause for contemplation. (period)

Once a heavier visual weight is given to the words on the short side (in this case, the left) of the lever, a minimal ‘force’ can be applied to the right side to visually illustrate the power of leverage.

In our case the ‘weight’ can be the type ‘TheFulcrum’ or a headline or statement. Something that can be metaphorically heavy is elevated with a minimal application of force.

The device can also be used to illustrate competing forces that need to be kept in balance through the planning and design process. In this case, when the ‘V’ representing downward force is placed in the centre, it becomes a ‘V’ for versus. Here, the magic is that no matter how apparently unbalanced in visual weight, the words are, TheFulcrum.Agency is able to hold them in equilibrium.

Rather than attempt to strip the text of all meaning by setting it in a modernist face, the lead was taken from classic editorial design, a practice that has evolved over a millennium to convey content with a sense of authority. The result is a typographic palette that draws not from the vernacular of architectural studio graphics, but from the credibility and humanity of considered journalism.

Similarly, moving away from the starkness of a black and white colour palette, introducing a limited but varied palette of complementary colours, creates a more accessible and ‘human’ look.

The intent of the TheFulcrum.Agency is an expansive one. It’s there in the name (ie ‘fulcrum’). It is a dedication to leverage evidence-based design-thinking to improve lives. It is the antithesis of style-based or output-focused architecture. It is concerned with the effect rather than purely the form.

This universal idea – the simplest of machines and the fulfilment of human needs, rather than the superficiality and immediacy of style – was a natural starting point for the consideration of the identity for this new enterprise.

If this is to be successful, the Agency must be a business built on content and substance, rather than style or fashion. And its visual identity must communicate this.

Our first exploration of this idea of universality led us to the most fundamental of graphic images, the representation of the human form and its abstraction into visual language. Through a reductivist method, we created a symbol that is at once the human form but also a diagrammatic representation of a lever system. A circle forming the head (and the dot in TheAgency.com), a line being the beam (and arms), and the fulcrum being represented by an acute angled line (the legs).

The individual elements of this mark could then be used to construct their own visual language: glyphs that are empty vessels waiting to be filled with meaning that is assigned to them (much like the foundation of written language).

The structure can interact with content in the form of headlines or descriptors, creating a look that is driven by the concept and content rather than style. And that all is constructed around, and out from, the dot – the pivot point.

Is it possible to create a brand that is based on unadorned content alone, that rejects the usual emphasis on style over substance? Perhaps.

Unintentionally, though, this route led us to realm that others in our sector had already staked out well. We weren’t comfortable that we could find a minimalist solution incorporating the ‘universal man’ icon that wouldn’t appear to be mimicking these.

Another, unrelated concern, was that we were venturing into a territory that seems to the style du jour for architectural businesses wishing to present an intellectual and theoretical face to the world.

There are whole design blogs dedicated to documenting these minimalist, international style identities. These identities lack differentiation and, in their hunt for a universality, end up somewhere with a complete lack of humanity.