Revealing the capability.
Adapting through change.

Cook + Associates delivered substantial international exhibition projects, but its identity and digital presence did not reflect that capability. The team’s own description was telling: it looked like a small firm of accountants.

The initial request was to “make us look cool”. We challenged what that meant for the audience. The work itself was compelling; the business needed a clearer way to show it and a shared understanding of what it stood for.

We began with the business objectives and what prospective clients needed to understand. Discovery established what Cook stood for, where it wanted to go and what prospective clients needed to understand.

Internal teams held strong views about design. Our role was to move the conversation from personal preference to audience expectations, resolving the questions that had held back previous brand development. The brief needed to be grounded in what the business could demonstrate.

We developed a distinctive, restrained framework for the portfolio: clear typography, elegant layouts and a consistent narrative. Photography and case studies would do the work of demonstrating capability.

We carried that approach into the website and literature, making the scale and consistency of international delivery easier to see.

COVID disrupted the project and the exhibition market. The immediate priority became helping the business continue serving clients through an extraordinary interruption.

We developed virtual exhibition spaces using CAD stand designs in 3D environments. This gave clients a digital alternative when physical events could not proceed and helped the business continue serving them.