Fluvial Solutions Brand Refresh
It was 2004 when we first worked on branding for Fluvial Solutions. We were excited when we heard from them 20 years later about a brand refresh. While the name stayed the same, we needed to bring their branding into a more modern design landscape—and make sure the brand could appeal to a number of audiences who have a role in their projects.
Note: If you’re not in the green infrastructure industry, their name might not be enough to convey what they do. The most distilled version is that they provide construction services for stream and wetland restoration along with green infrastructure builds. It’s complex work, but the goal for the new identity was to be clean and effective.
The Logo
In the previous version of the logo, we’d gone with a very industrial, techy font choice. This version also included the word “incorporated,” plus an abstract visualization of water ripples. It was a great starting point for a brand new Fluvial Solutions—but eventually, the styles became outdated, and the long logo became challenging to deploy online.
Our challenge this time was to keep the focus on “Fluvial” but create a more flexible logo lockup with a logomark that was more informative about what they do. However, we couldn’t get too complex: Fluvial’s most successful competitors and partners have very tidy logos—sometimes even sparse with just text. We could do a few things to help them look like part of that crowd while maintaining a unique look.
First, we reworked what’s included. While including the full business name is tempting, “Inc.” isn’t always helpful or informative in a logo. It’ll often be too large for scalability reasons or so small for less emphasis that it becomes unreadable in smaller designs. Together, we determined it wasn’t necessary to include it in the logo. That left us with a much lighter type stack, opening up other possible word arrangements. We ran with all caps to really pack a punch and used italics to convey a sense of flowing forward.
The second step was reworking the logomark. Fluvial Solutions is largely about moving water, but they wanted to make it clear they’re in green infrastructure. So, we found a way to combine a water droplet with a leaf, forming a whole that is simple enough to be iconic but more meaningful than just water. It anchored well on the left with a tilt to match the italicized letterforms.
For full color design work, we have a gradient treatment on the logomark. For other spaces, we have two color and single color options included in the kit.
And we didn’t stop there! Even with these simplifications to the logo, we knew they’d need a version that could work for social media avatars and other tiny spaces. Their variable logo kit now includes a secondary logo in the form of a seal.
Color Palette
Blue and green were natural choices for the Fluvial Solutions rebrand based on their line of work. We developed a robust palette focused on nature, with some brighter colors they could mix in for emphasis as needed.
Collateral Typography
Like many folks, Fluvial Solutions’ team is busy. So, we made their collateral type a breeze by selecting a free, Google-hosted font: Public Sans. It pairs well with the font in the logo, plus it’s a very clean and professional choice in other design settings. You’ll get to see the full effect of their collateral type when we post about their brand-new website, which is coming soon!
The Results
With the brand in place, we were able to mock up some swag options by request and kick off Fluvial’s new website project. While the website is in progress, you can enjoy these branding examples:
