good for the planet. good for business.

 
 

the challenge

Third Sphere—formerly known as Urban Us—had been successfully changing the way investors think about climate solutions since 2013. With three unicorns and five exits, they had already proven that they not only know how to get at the problem of climate change from new angles, they can also find business success in the process.

But they were hitting a ceiling with that success at a time when the investing world is being greenwashed with other players. So, they partnered with Proto—an innovation consultancy where I led the verbal design discipline—to help sharpen their climate thesis and expand their brand story. so we could develop a strategy to help them win with founders, inspire investors, and pioneer climate solutions that will have a lasting impact on the planet.

 
 

what we made together

from foundational strategy to a new name, we worked with the thirdsphere team to create and reposition their brand from stakeholder interviews to launch.

Our work together included:

  • brand strategy—shifting them from a city focused climate thesis to a positioning that

  • new name—taking them from the limiting Urbanus to thirdsphere, a name that speaks to the new sphere of influence they’re creating in climate investing as well as the earth’s position from the sun

  • new voice—capturing their signature renegade spirit and codifying it into voice principles that are now helping them to create content at scale without losing their unique way of expression

  • new identity—from the clean, modern typeface to the primary driven color palette and dot-based textures that echo the symbolic dot in their logo, thirdsphere’s new identity is simple, ownable and easy for non-designers to work with

  • design templates—to ensure that the brand was useable for nondesigners, we created plug-n-play canva templates so the thirdsphere team could create comms whenever they needed without employing a designer

 

kate’s role: verbal design director co-leading brand strategy development with sr. brand strategy director, alex dempsey. and co-leading visual identity development with proto’s chief design officer, Mike rigby and seasoned brand design director, bruno ponzini.