Elsevier
Elsevier is a Dutch global analytics business specializing in health and science, with roots that trace back to the publication of Galileo’s Dialogo Systema Cosmicum in 1635. Over the decades, through organic growth and acquisition, the portfolio of Elsevier publications had grown unwieldy with little to unite the many different scientific and research journals they published. The unity and coherence of the Elsevier brand was at risk. Meanwhile, many of their publications enjoyed a dedicated following, making the task of unifying the Elsevier brand more daunting.
To solve this puzzle, OTTO and its Branding Business partners looked back to the roots of the Elsevier brand. One of the enduring elements was a dedication to fine typography. To bring together the many disparate publications under the Elsevier brand, the idea was to commission one of the world’s preeminent typographers, Martin Majoor, to design a new typeface for the Elsevier brand and its many component parts.
Q | OTTO BRAND LAB
How did you first hear of Martin Majoor?
A | David Kohler
We started establishing a list of the top dutch typographers while working with Elsevier’s global design team that’s based in Amsterdam. Martin was one of the typographers that came up. He was our favorite—particularly because we thought his typefaces were the most fitting with Elsevier’s brand.
We worked with Elsevier to not only to build the brand, but also to create its website. The website was a really key part of that. Elsevier is a company that grew over time, out of the acquisition of science journals. It published Galeleo’s findings, and have a long, strong history of using typography. Elsevier was like Guttenberg; he was a printer.
Q | OTTO BRAND LAB
How did you and Martin work together?
A | DAVID KOHLER
Once we got Martin onboard, we got on a call with him, the OTTO NY team, Mike Dula from Branding Business (who also worked with us), and Elsevier’s whole design team from the Netherlands. We discussed how the organization that traditionally had all of these print journals from over the years is now going completely digital.
In branding meetings, I would hold up my phone and tell these guys you won’t have logos anymore—they are going to exist in this and it will be in the navigation. What do you do in that situation if you’re not going to have static logos and we don’t have logos that pop up. It has to be a liquid system. Not only does it have to be a responsive site, but it all has to be digital HTML text. Our idea was to hire Martin to not only create the typeface for all of Elsevier’s communications, but also to create a type-making machine.
Q | OTTO BRAND LAB
How did you two arrive at a solution for unifying the brand?
A | David Kohler
It’s where the problem provides the solution. The only way we could do it was with a unique typeface. There’s no other way to do it. We all wanted it to feel uniform as part of the navigation system. You don’t want it to look awkward or jarring. You want it to feel like there’s a relationship with each part of it. Everyone was used to having their journals with identities from all of these different divisions within Elsevier. To take that away was a big shock to these divisions. To meet these people halfway, we told them that we are going to create a type-making machine that will create a unique logotype for you within the established system. It was definitely a digital solution, as well as a flexible solution. There’s also a practical side to it too, which is ownership.
Our idea was to hire Martin to not only create the typeface for all of Elsevier’s communications, but also to create a type-making machine.
Q | OTTO BRAND LAB
What makes the solution interesting or different?
A | david Kohler
Every single word would have a unique set of characters within it. Each one would be slightly different and one of a kind. It allowed us to add names to the different divisions of the organization, and it would be unique unto itself through our font maker.
Q | OTTO BRAND LAB
Do you have examples of some of the publications that were rebranded with the new typeface?
A | David Kohler
Nexus Sans Pro was the font he created for us. Scopus is one publication that was rebranded with this typeface. R&D Solutions, Clinical Solutions, Research Platform and Research Intelligence were all part of the system. It had to work with the divisions, and it also had to work with certain journals that were already so well known that they had a life of their own.
Q | OTTO BRAND LAB
How does this solution connect to Elsevier to the digital age?
A | DAVID KOHLER
The whole solution was a digital solution. The whole approach was tailored for digital use.
We kept the original wood block engraving in the logo but redrew the Elsevier word-type so the history and tradition is still there. Then we created the whole typeface system and maker for the digital world. One foot is still in the past with full respect and honor to the great history of Elsevier. We completely digitized it to become the Google of research and science.
Q | OTTO BRAND LAB
For this rebranding of Elsevier, what was the new brand positioning?
A | DAVID KOHLER
“Empowering Knowledge” is the positioning. That was developed with our strategic partners, Branding Business. This was a huge global effort so we partnered with Branding Business on how to grow and develop it. Allen Drew came up with “Empowering Knowledge” as the tagline.
Q | OTTO BRAND LAB
How does the new tagline “Empowering Knowledge” communicate the new positioning?
A | DAVID KOHLER
The new tagline is to me, exactly what Elsevier does. It provides the science and research that people use for developing future solutions. Graduate students can use it to base their research on since all of Elsevier’s research is certified. It’s the idea of taking the knowledge and digitizing it and bringing it to the world while empowering others through all of the information that Elsevier has.
Q | OTTO BRAND LAB
What was your favorite part of working with Martin?
A | david kohler
He was so thorough and so complete. Martin has an incredible work ethic. He was really somebody we admired, and working with him was just a delight. It couldn’t have been a better experience. He overdelivered on everything, and he was easy to work with—even took feedback really well. It was an honor for all of us to get to work with a client team who understood typography and had such a respect for it.