Utility
The goal
Utility builds custom digital products, mobile apps and web work. After ten years, the brand had aged faster than the work. We ran a brand sprint and web redesign to set them up for the next ten.
The challenge
Designing for another agency is its own test. They do this for a living, so the bar is as high as it gets and every decision gets read closely. Half the work was teaching: showing why each brand foundation sets up their marketing and distribution, and bringing them along. The other half was refusing to trade strategy for polish. Foundations sound, website immaculate. Both, not either.
My role
I ran the client relationship and set the direction with Utility's leadership team. My job was the strategy and the foundations, a brand they can build on for the next ten years, and keeping scope tight so an agency rebrand did not sprawl. The design team executed the work.
How I approached it
The point was not to celebrate ten years but to win the next ten, so we designed for where the agency is going. We treated the website as the main event: for an agency, the site is the portfolio, the pitch and the proof at once. A clean, current identity, and the work carries the weight. We also built the brand to be AI-ready: the decks and usage guidelines structured so an agent can generate on-brand assets, so Utility can keep producing work for years without us.
Ten years in, the work is the proof. The brand just had to stop getting in its way.
The result
A refreshed identity and a redesigned web experience that match the quality of the work. Ten years in, Utility looks ready for the next ten.
