Logo and Branding: We Are Tonic

We Are Tonic, formerly McDonnell Haynes, is a Toronto based advertising agency with an ‘innovative approach to solving business problems by harnessing the brainpower of an “idea collective”’. Independent design agency Blok was commissioned to develop We Are Tonic’s visual identity, following the name change, that would reflect the company’s repositioning as a big agency alternative. Blok’s solution delivers an interesting contrast between a fairly neutral but slightly technical and contemporary brick-red logo-type built from tall, broadly spaced single line weight characters and underline detail alongside an unusual mix of organic, personal, and mechanical illustrative stamp-based detail set across a distinctive craft-like pastel, purple and cream colour palette, uncoated material choices, stickers and notepads. It is a solution that firmly establishes professionalism and practicality as the foundation but surrounds it with an individual quirkiness and creative personality that resonates well with the slightly abstract name.

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