Figment | Fall 2024

ISSUE 02

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FA L L 2 02 4

A curious collection of ideas, thoughts, and projects from the imaginative minds at FIG IN DU STR IE S

We are makers of meaningful and strategic brand development that elevates ideas, changes perspectives, and transforms businesses.

Thank you for picking up the second edition of Figment. It’s our way of keeping in touch and sharing our current collection of thoughts and projects with you. I’m Deb Brandt, owner of Fig Industries, a marketing studio dedicated to making brands purposeful and memorable. We believe in the power of creative communication to change and shape the world, and we’ve been doing just that for the past 24 years. To reinforce our commitment, we became a Certified B Corporation five years ago because we believe that business can be done differently—benefitting our team, our clients, and our community.

Here at Fig Industries, everything begins with a story, a purpose, and a passion. My journey began—or rather took a turn—when I left my luxury goods career in NYC to come back to my hometown of Lancaster to find a way to use my skills in a different, more impactful way. It was a humble beginning in the attic of our 1850s farmhouse, planting the seeds of a successful business (and with babies on my hip). Fast forward a couple decades, three grown children, and a lot of hard lessons learned, I now find myself working in an old machine shop turned design studio alongside the most creative and invested team in the industry. As our studio grew, so did

my passion to help revitalize my hometown, which is why I founded Fig magazine to tell the powerful stories of our community. In addition to Fig Industries’ design and marketing work, we’ve produced this quarterly guide to independent businesses in small cities for 19 years. You can read the latest issue of our Lancaster edition at figlancaster.com.

In this edition of Figment, we want to introduce you to a few of our clients who are living out their purpose and making tremendous impact locally and globally. Like us, they want to make the world a better, more equitable place. For them and for us, it all starts with core values. We work by the values of Curiosity, Courage, Perspective, and Excellence every day, and you will see those values woven throughout these pages. We’ll also share our process for telling stories and communicating the passion and purpose behind our clients’ work.

We are grateful for your time as you learn more about the work of our curiously creative team, and we hope to meet one day soon, hear your story, and help bring your purpose to life.

Deborah Brandt Founder & CEO, Fig Industries

TH E F I G I N DU ST RIES T EAM, F R OM LEF T TO RI G HT

Back row: Lisa Farina-Lopez, Operations Manager; Merritt Gohn, Studio Administrator; Will Teodori, Senior Designer Middle row: Heather Stoltzfus, Senior Designer; Deb Brandt, Founder & CEO; Kaylee Masullo, Designer; Jason James, Creative Director Front row: Cara Walker, Managing Editor; Jaimie Russo, Account Manager; Meredith Michel, Digital Content Manager Not shown: Matt Brandt and Bill Forrey

Led by the creative leadership of Deborah Brandt, the Fig Industries team believes in the power of creative ideas to change and connect the world.

Meet our full creative team at FIGINDUSTRIES .COM

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Bringing Stories to Life Here at Fig Industries, we believe the heart of compelling branding and marketing is telling a great story. And in today’s digital age, sometimes that story is best told through illustration and animation.

Adding an illustration style to your toolkit enhances your brand identity, allowing you to capture your audience’s imagination and attention. Our team is well-versed in compiling all of the components of a client’s mission, heart, and brand to create a recognizable illustrative style, add dynamic motion, and bring your story to life.

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S TEP 01 : CRAFT A SCRIPT Like any great story, an animation starts with a script that concisely captures your message and inspires the visual language that will engage viewers.

S TEP 02: OUTLINE FRAMES & STORYBOARDS Each frame is planned in sync with the dialogue from your script while storyboarding creates a plan for how motion will move the story along and reinforce the points you want to make.

S TEP 03: ILLUSTRATE SCENES & ELEMENTS If a brand’s illustration style hasn’t been previously established, it’s important to create a mood board to establish a vision for that style. This will inform decisions like organic versus geometric, vector versus tactile, and so on, with special consideration to the brand identity already in place.

STEP 04: APPLY MOTION With frames and elements illustrated, motion is added to bring scenes to life and synchronize each piece to the script as well as background music. After final refinements are made, the animation is ready to share.

Our Services S T R AT E G I C CO M M U N I C AT I O N S

Annual Communication Planning Internal Communications Media Relations B R A N D D E V E LO P M E N T

Brand Naming Messaging & Statement Development Visual & Logo Development Brand Architecture M A R K E T I N G S T R AT E GY & D E S I G N

Integrated Marketing Campaign Planning Content Marketing & Copywriting Publication Design Collateral Design Web Design Digital & Motion Design

Learn about our creative approach at FIGINDUSTRIES .COM

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P R O J E C T F E AT U R E :

HOW WE HELPED:

High Foundation

• Brand Messaging • Campaign Development • Marketing Strategy

• Publication Design • Video Production • Social Media Strategy

“W e are on this earth for a

purpose that is larger than our own self-interests, and we must strive to make the world a better place.”

– S . DALE H I G H

Chairman Emeritus of High companies

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M I S S I O N S TAT E M E N T :

With a heart of service and a spirit of collaboration, High Foundation builds bridges to opportunity for individuals, organizations, and communities, striving for an equitable world of beauty, prosperity, and peace.

Since 1980, High Foundation has been the philanthropic arm of the High family, owners of High companies which have been a major force in shaping America’s infrastructure through bridge building for decades. In 2022, S. Dale High, Chairman Emeritus of High companies, emboldened High Foundation through an extraordinary act of business leadership and philanthropic innovation by transferring ownership of High companies from the High family to High Foundation.

Our team walked alongside High Foundation’s leadership team in preparation for this groundbreaking transition announcement, creating a communication roadmap with both internal and external stakeholders in mind. The cornerstone of the strategy was a Higher Purpose video announcement from S. Dale High, which we directed, followed by a rollout of communication touchpoints to the 2,000+ High companies coworkers, press releases, and a social media campaign.

A longtime partner of High companies, Fig Industries began work in 2020 to develop language and tools to communicate the scope of this organizational shift and its impact. “Higher Purpose” became the narrative used to anchor the messaging and communicate the expanded mission and shift in ownership.

Since then, we have continued our ongoing partnership with the Foundation, creating signature materials including an Annual Impact Report, communication pieces to support their annual grant cycle, and videos to tell the story of their good work.

“ Our goal was to craft a connection

between S. Dale High’s legacy of visionary leadership and philanthropy to this innovative act of servant leadership, reminding High coworkers that their work supports their communities and inspiring other business owners to follow this model of using business as a force for good.”

We are a studio committed to working with businesses and organizations who are paving the way for positive change. Fig Industries is honored to support the work of High Foundation, whose innovative leadership and impactful work will benefit generations to come.

– DEBORAH BRANDT

Read more project features at FIGINDUSTRIES .COM

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P R O J E C T F E AT U R E :

HOW WE HELPED:

The Baker Project

• Brand Naming & Messaging • Visual Brand Development • Microsite & Print Collateral

“ The Baker Project, inspired

by Ken Baker’s generosity, empowers business owners with technology and collaboration to embrace employee ownership— transforming lives, strengthening communities, and boosting business success. Together, we can make the world better.

– KE VI N M C PH I LLI PS Executive Director/CEO of The Pennsylvania Center for Employee Ownership

As a studio founded on the principle of “Business for Good,” Fig Industries has been fortunate to work with organizations striving to change the way business is done. Through these connections, the PaCEO (the Pennsylvania Center for Employee Ownership) came to us to rebrand and launch a new leg of their nonprofit that provides resources for employee ownership.

Our team was first tasked with naming the new organization, with special consideration to the endowment funder, Ken Baker. We proposed the word “project” to give a nod to the educational aspect of the mission, as well as speak to the ongoing nature of growing the employee ownership network.

With the name in place, we crafted important brand messaging including a mission statement to outline what The Baker Project will accomplish, a positioning statement to define their place in the employee ownership market, and a tagline to concisely convey who they are.

During our creative process, we take time to craft a mood board when developing a visual identity,

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where each image, color, and texture tie back to the brand’s core values to ensure we are on the right path to their logo solution. The chosen option for The Baker Project features a word mark with intentionally rounded typography to convey approachability. The accompanying icon communicates the idea of interconnectedness, using shapes that references infographics and research to form a ‘B,’ and incorporated into the negative space of the icon is an abstract ‘P’ resembling a speech bubble. The color palette is primarily blue, a common color to convey calm and trust, as well as a supporting green, which symbolizes growth and sustainability in the workforce.

To aid in the launch of this brand at the Center for National Employee Ownership Conference, our team also implemented the verbal and visual guidelines we developed on a microsite and fact sheet to spread the word about the global mission of The Baker Project.

P R O J E C T F E AT U R E :

HOW WE HELPED:

Natural Investments

• Branding Guidelines • Publication Design • Digital Design

Natural Investments is a national financial portfolio management firm that strives to heal humanity’s relationship with money. As a Certified B Corporation, they have been at the forefront of socially responsible investing for more than three decades.

ginkgo leaves and other organic shapes in greens and yellows to use in marketing designs. A paper texture is carried throughout the pattern, giving it depth and life, and the abstract nature of the pattern allows it to be used in a variety of ways and styles.

As a fellow B Corp, Natural Investments came to us in 2020 to develop their visual brand identity by creating a style guide to complement and enhance their existing logo. From this foundation, our team curated a mood board that embodied a path towards growth. A deeply green company deserved a nature-inspired palette of mixed greens and blues with bursts of warmer colors for contrast.

To complement the logo, we introduced two new fonts to their brand: a serif font with organic and traditional curves and a sans serif font to give a modern feel to the updated brand identity. Our team also created a custom pattern made with

“ We have been thrilled with Fig’s rebranding of our firm’s publications and website. The combination of colors, fonts, graphics, and design nicely complements our mission as a green and responsible business. Our clients have been enthusiastic about our new look.”

– MICHAEL KRAMER

Trust Steward and Manager at Natural Investments

Since their investment firm stands out amongst other firms due to their mission, we proposed a publication style that was equally as unique and reflected their legacy in the industry. With careful consideration of sustainable paper stock, scale, and creative data sharing, we helped redefine this piece to elevate its look and feel. Using large, impactful type and thoughtful placement of the custom pattern, the result was a more beautiful, human-centric piece.

As a longtime partner with Natural Investments, Fig Industries continues to refine and introduce new elements to each of their publications to keep their audiences engaged in their important work.

With the new brand identity developed, Natural Investments asked us to redesign their Annual Impact Report, which is sent to clients and stakeholders.

See our latest collection of work at FIGINDUSTRIES .COM

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103 South Duke Street Lancaster, PA 17602 Fig Industries is redefining success through social impact and environmental accountability to the communities we serve.

Figment is printed on Lynx® Opaque Ultra, which is made

by Domtar using responsibly-sourced wood fiber. Lynx® is proudly manufactured in North America at paper mills dedicated to preserving the health of the land.

Please pass it on or recycle it.

Our work is fueled by the four core values we seek to embody every day.

CO U R AG E

EXC ELLEN CE

CURIOSITY

PER SP ECTIVE

We believe true growth emerges from embracing the uncomfortable.

We bring our best to every endeavor, promising good and delivering great.

We never stop learning as we seek beauty in the world around us.

We listen with intent so we can see the world from different angles.

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P roud to be a Certified B Corporation Fig Industries is redefining success in business based on transparency, accountability, and purpose.

Ready to collaborate?

Let’s talk!

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