Kearns Building

Can you build a modern brand for a Salt Lake City gem of the Art Deco and Art Nouveau eras to attract the workforce of today?

The Solution

Rising above Main Street between 100 South and 200 South, the Kearns Building is a Salt Lake City gem built in 1911. As part of a large-scale renovation effort to modernize both the building and the amenities it offered their current and potential clientele, we helped them undertake a rebranding and marketing effort. The goal of this undertaking was simple; let potential tenants know there’s a new office building in town, that’s stood the test of time, and drive leases.

Because this story of authentic history connects with our target audience: millennial-lead companies looking for purposeful office space, we wanted to ensure that the branding spoke to the genuine history. So we looked to art and architecture that was dominant during period around 1911: the crossover of art nouveau and art deco. We designed a building identity & color palette the used references to these art periods while also utilizing the typography from the building’s original signage

Using a modern adaption of art nouveau’s heavenly halo, we placed a centered main figure around a circular form, focusing the creative story on our hero.

An iconographic representation of the building was created from the window shapes of the outside facade and was used as a repeating element.