Ember Design
( hello@weareember.com )
What:
Brand Identity Proposal
01 — Proposal · Visual Identity & Re-Brand
Built for the
built environment.
Client
GigBench — the purpose-driven talent network for architecture & engineering
Engagement
Full visual identity system, concept through final assets and brand guidelines
Prepared by
Nate Herschleb & Caz Perez, Ember Design
VISUAL IDENTITY / RE-BRAND
02 — Understanding
You’ve done the strategy.
Now it needs a face.
GigBench already built the hard part. Positioning, tone, promise, and target are set. The beta is live as of March 18. What’s missing is a visual identity that carries that strategy into the market without diluting it.
This is a visual execution engagement, not a strategy redo. Our job is to translate the direction you already own into a system that feels professional, trustworthy, modern, and purpose-driven, and that holds up in front of the most discerning audience there is: licensed architects, engineers, and the experienced freelancers who serve them.
That audience reads precision instinctively. A misaligned baseline or a logo that buckles at small sizes registers as a lack of rigor. We design for people who notice, because in the built environment, the people who notice are the buyers.
03 — Approach
One system.
Four connected layers.
We scope by outcome, not by loose deliverables. For GigBench, the work moves through all four stages of our MESH™ framework. Because your strategy is already settled, Macro focuses on alignment rather than redefining it, so the engagement concentrates on building and refining the visual system that expresses it everywhere the brand shows up.
( 01 ) Macro
→
Align
A focused immersion in your existing strategy, positioning, and beta learnings. No re-litigating what’s decided. We absorb it so the visual work is accountable to it.
( 02 ) Expression
→
Explore
Two distinct directions: an evolution of the current mark and a complete refresh. Logo, color, type, and the core graphic language, shown in real context.
( 03 ) Systems
→
Refine
We converge on one direction and build it into a working system: variations, rules, icons, photography direction, and templates that hold across every channel.
( 04 ) Hone
Finalize
Full asset delivery and brand book, plus light consultation through your Q3/Q4 rollout so the system lands correctly in the wild.
Creative rounds are explicit and named: concept → refinement → finalization. Round counts scale by package, defined in Section 08.
04 — Deliverables
Everything the identity needs to ship.
Mapped directly to your RFP. Quantities are explicit so there’s no ambiguity about what arrives.
01
Logo System
Evolution + full refresh directions. Primary, horizontal, vertical, wordmark, monogram, social. Print, digital & vector.
02
Color Palette
Primary, secondary & accent with usage rules and accessibility contrast guidance.
03
Type System
Primary & secondary typefaces, hierarchy, and application rules across media.
04
Icon Set
15 custom icons for disciplines, patterns & motifs — precision, connection, trust, structure.
05
Brand Book
The full style guide: every rule, every asset, built for handoff and governance.
06
Photography Direction
30 images: 5 per target segment, 5 general AEC, 5 textural. Sourcing & art-direction guidance.
07
Social Assets
Profile & template assets for LinkedIn, Instagram, X and beyond.
08
Presentation Template
PowerPoint / Keynote and/or InDesign, built on the system for pitch decks and sales.
“Image Library Direction” is delivered as art-direction and sourcing guidance with 30 specified, on-brand references — not 30 commissioned shoots. If you’d prefer an original commissioned shoot, we’ll scope it as an optional add.
05 — Selected Work
Five identity systems.
Built end to end.
Your RFP asks for B2B professional services, marketplaces, and technical or service brands. That’s the center of our recent work, not the edge of it. Here are five complete brand systems, led by the closest matches to GigBench and rounded out with proof of range.
B2B Professional ServicesFinance / FintechFull Rebrand
inDinero
Ember Design · Full identity rebrand
inDinero sells outsourced finance, accounting, and fractional CFO services to growing companies — replacing a reactive legacy model with something faster and clearer. It’s the closest analog to GigBench in this portfolio: a trust-driven B2B professional-services brand selling expertise to serious, numbers-literate buyers. We rebuilt the identity around a confident, plain-spoken system that signals competence without stiffness.
CASE 01 / 05
Enterprise B2BData Governance / AIUnder NDA
Enterprise Data-Governance Platform
Sole designer · Full visual identity, via The Signal Factory
A complete identity rebrand for an enterprise data-governance and AI platform whose entire promise is trust: helping organizations make decisions they can stand behind. Tonally, this is the closest comp to what GigBench is reaching for — restrained, editorial, and built to earn confidence from technical enterprise buyers. The system pairs an editorial serif with a precise grotesque, anchored by a warm signal-gradient device used sparingly against deep neutrals.
CASE 02 / 05
White Board
Chalk
Napkin
Code Black
Signal Orange
Solar Flare
Note: This identity is complete but not yet public, so the client name and logo are withheld here out of respect for that. The work shown is the applied visual system — editorial layouts, product UI, and the data-overlay language. Dashboard figures are illustrative concept data, not reported client results. The full system, including the logo, is available to walk through live in the interview.
Enterprise B2BData Platform / AIFull System
WEKA
Design lead · with The Signal Factory
An enterprise data-platform brand for AI and high-performance computing. We led the design of a complete system that holds across more than fifteen touchpoints — logo and monogram, a flexible spectrum-gradient device, marketectures, a full presentation template, out-of-home, and responsive web. Included here as proof of systems rigor: how a single visual language stays coherent from a business card to a building-scale billboard.
CASE 03 / 05
Recognized BrandHealth / CPGFull Rebrand
Nordic Naturals
Ember Design · Full identity rebrand
A logo refresh, packaging update, visual system, and social program for one of the most recognized names in its category. Included here as proof of completeness: a full identity delivered end to end through our own studio — logo, palette, packaging across multiple bottle directions, photography art direction, social, and out-of-home. Different audience from GigBench, but the same discipline: take a trusted brand and modernize it without breaking what people already recognize.
CASE 04 / 05
Purpose-DrivenWellnessCreative Direction
Namchak
Creative direction · with M Booth
Namchak is a purpose-driven meditation and wellness organization with real depth, but its digital presence wasn’t carrying it. Brought in through M Booth, we creative-directed the website and, later, the course catalog. The work started with alignment: workshops to understand the target user and what trust looks like for someone new to meditation, then stylescapes that gave a large, complex site one confident visual language. Included here because GigBench is also a purpose-driven brand that has to feel trustworthy to newcomers, and this shows we can hold a single system across a deep, multi-page experience.
CASE 05 / 05
06 — Team
Built for bold ideas.
Ember is a husband-and-wife studio with 32 combined years in the creative industry — leading teams and sitting in the rooms where business goals get defined. Small by design: the people who pitch the work are the people who do the work. For GigBench, that means senior hands on every deliverable, start to finish.
07 — Timeline
A realistic path to your August 3 delivery.
Built backward from your stated final-assets date and forward from an early-June kickoff. Named rounds, clear checkpoints, no surprises.
Early June
Kickoff & Align
Immersion in your strategy and beta learnings. Asset audit. We absorb the direction you own.
Mid June
Concept Round
Two directions presented — mark evolution and full refresh — with core color, type, and graphic language in context.
Early July
Refinement Round
Converge on one direction. Build out variations, the 15-icon set, and photography direction.
Late July
Finalization Round
Social assets, presentation template, and the brand book assembled and proofed.
Wk of Aug 3
Final Delivery
All assets in print, digital & vector. Brand book delivered. Implementation support begins.
Light implementation consultation runs through Q3/Q4 2026 as your rollout moves across website, marketing, social, and pitch decks — included in the recommended package and above.
08 — Investment
Three ways to scope it.
Your RFP sets a range of $5,000–$10,000. We want to be straight with you: the full deliverable list you wrote — two logo directions, 15 custom icons, 30-image photography direction, brand book, and rollout support — sits above that ceiling for the quality this audience demands. So rather than quietly trim scope to hit a number, we’ve made the trade-offs explicit. You choose what to fund.
Identity Core
$10K
A focused identity at your stated ceiling.
- One logo direction (evolution or refresh)
- Color palette + usage rules
- Type system + hierarchy
- Focused icon set (6–8)
- Brand book (essentials)
- Core social assets
- Presentation template
- Second logo direction
- Full 15-icon set
- 30-image photography direction
- Q3/Q4 implementation support
2 creative rounds
Identity Complete
$15K
Everything your RFP actually describes.
- Both logo directions — evolution + refresh
- Full color & type system
- Full 15 custom icons
- Complete brand book
- Full 30-image photography direction
- All social profile & template assets
- Presentation template (PPT/Keynote/InDesign)
- Light implementation support
3 creative rounds — concept · refinement · finalization
Identity + Rollout
$21K
The full system, plus hands-on launch.
- Everything in Identity Complete
- Extended Q3/Q4 implementation support
- Website visual direction & templates
- Launch campaign asset starter kit
- Priority advisory through broader market launch
3 rounds + ongoing advisory
All packages include final files in print, digital, and full vector formats. Optional add-on: original commissioned photography shoot, scoped on request. We’re happy to tailor any tier to fit how GigBench wants to phase the work.
09 — Next Steps
Let’s give GigBench a face the industry trusts.
You’ve built the strategy and proven the model in beta. We’d be glad to build the visual system that carries it into the market, and to walk through the full enterprise case, including everything held back here, live.
01 Align on scope & tier
02 Set up agreement
03 Schedule early-June kickoff
04 Begin Phase 1 — Align