RELM.

RELM had outgrown the website it was housed in. The team felt it merely scratched the surface of what they think about, focus on and ultimately achieve – missing vital information about both their process and purpose. For people visiting the website, it wasn’t remotely user-friendly. And from a technical perspective, it was a burden to update.

The team at RELM wanted to tell a thoughtful, sophisticated story about their practice – providing a window into their viewpoint, thinking and culture.

So the brief was simple: update the website to accurately depict the organisation. But during the discovery phase of this project, we discovered that work needed to be done on honing that depiction.

RELM’s audience includes developers, design collaborators, a variety of institutions, and potential talent. Having to appeal, speak to and incite action from such a diverse group is challenging, and often leads to safe presentation decisions – and sanitised design.

The previous visual identity wasn’t terrible by any means. But it was predictable, lacking both unity and distinctiveness. Still, there were strong foundations to work with.

It’s often difficult for architecture studios to gather (and get permission to share) high-end, project-indicative imagery, but RELM had outstanding assets. They just weren’t being shown in the right way – a way that enhances the work, speaks to their intelligence and embraces their ethos.

That wasn’t the only element that added to the solid bedrock. Val, RELM’s discerning strategy director, had been honing the organisation’s evolving ethos, value and USP for years – and cracked it. This is a team that truly knows who they are, and where they’re headed.

The updated brand and website do what the team wanted it to do: evoke a sense of wonder, with a downtown LA vibe. Using images we snapped on a site visit, we took inspiration from the vibrant-but-faded-from-the-sun shades of urban areas for the colour palette. And to give RELM’s valuable work the visual impact it deserves, we used a horizontal scroll across the website.

Of course, it would go against our name to design based on wants alone. So the new brand system and website does everything the team requires of it: it’s easy to manage, update and navigate. And it positions them as the transformational studio they are – one that’s sensitive, fun and capable of delivering design that’s diverse, varied and effective.

RELM is made up of a team of people who care about other people. They care about the world, and they care about positive change. They were simply a joy to work with, and we want to work with more folk like them.

If you’re trying to do good stuff in the world and you need an empathetic, strategic design studio to help you tell your story, get in touch.