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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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“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.

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.

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.