Project Overview
The effects of climate change are becoming rapidly evident; higher temperatures, prolonged natural disasters and rising sea levels are forecast for the coming decades. However, with these pressing issues come new opportunities for growth and innovation. The rapidly growing climate-focused technology sector, or ‘climate-tech,’ is seen as the solution to mitigating the lasting effects of our changing climate, with climate-tech innovation giving rise to entirely new industries that may well determine the future of our planet.
Located in Sydney’s brand new Salesforce Tower and created by Venture Capital group Investible, Greenhouse is an innovation ecosystem dedicated to accelerating the collaboration, adoption and impact of climate technologies on a global scale. Their core focus is addressing the issues and opportunities introduced by Climate Change through new climate-tech solutions. As part of a government initiative with the City of Sydney, Greenhouse provides affordable space for Australian scaleups to accelerate their expansion and connect with like-minded groups, investors and partners across the globe. Their vision is to unite multidisciplinary knowledge and accelerate the businesses that will help us respond to pressing climate challenges and capitalise on the opportunities therein.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Emile Rastoll & Nick Sammut
Project Brief
Working with key stakeholders of the Investible team, TOAST was engaged to design Greenhouse’s brand identity, creating a footprint to generate awareness and boost global consideration for its climate-tech offerings. The Greenhouse brand needed to be respected by diverse vital stakeholders and gain credibility among corporate companies - their number one key stakeholder for success.
Greenhouse endeavours to create & strengthen new ideas, connections and businesses by fostering a culture formed on disruption. It is a place for growth with a mission to provide climate-focused technology companies with the right expertise and connections to scale. TOAST’s brand footprint and visual identity are needed to harness this innovative power and unwavering ambition - and communicate it globally.
Project Innovation/Need
Strategic industry analysis, research and stakeholder workshops informed Greenhouse’s overall brand footprint, building a brand that is optimised for growth and ingrained with modernity and creativity. By connecting diverse ideas, abilities and knowledge, Greenhouse allows for deeply collaborative innovation, and their branding suite builds from this founding concept.
Connecting groups, companies and visions in a multidisciplinary ecosystem, Greenhouse introduces the potential to create vast change through the immense power that is harnessed when working together. For Greenhouse, this comes to life through the power of ‘co-innovation’. Reflecting this core brand value, TOAST crafted the tagline “Connected. We co-innovate for climate action,” capturing their brand purpose of connecting the dots between people, ideas, and ultimately, countries to co-create innovative solutions that will mitigate the effects of climate change.
Design Challenge
We mirrored Greenhouse's highly prolific, climate-focused world in a visual identity that draws inspiration from the cycle of the sun, the ‘warming stripes’ climate barcode and soft colour gradients within nature. Our design concept reflects the innate power within our natural, interconnected ecosystem and translates it into the collaborative community that Greenhouse fosters.
Mirroring the agility and creativity within the business itself, the Greenhouse branding suite is versatile and highly dynamic. To reflect the ‘revolutionary’ approach of the brand, we utilised a free form colour gradient across the logotype and brand iconography. This gradient, with each colour connecting to ‘co-create’ something new, reflects Greenhouse’s unstructured, creative approach to tackling climate issues. Complementing this, a halftone effect is applied across the brand, a graphic approach which reflects the ‘connecting the dots’ culture within Greenhouse and the myriad elements which make up its purpose, reach and impact.
Future Impact
Beyond the visual territory, we sought to imbue their brand values across all aspects of the Greenhouse identity, exploring eco-fonts and climate-focused digital design.
An eco-font is a typeface designed to be as environmentally friendly as possible, achieved by reducing the overall weight of the font, using a sans-serif design and limiting the font width and its preset kerning. This approach minimises the consumption of ink and paper in print applications. It can reduce power usage by 30% in digital applications on Organic LED screens (increased further in combination with black backgrounds). Gilroy, a modern font showcasing a slim design with friendly curvature, was selected as the Greenhouse typeface. Its sans-serif structure connotes modernity and innovation, whilst its compact, clean-line design equates to smaller file storage and fewer pixels when digitally presented.
Introducing an eco-font to Greenhouse’s branding suite allows for a holistic representation of their brand values and emphasises the forward-thinking approach of their business.
Launching in 2023, Greenhouse will nurture a global, climate-centred community, creating an ecosystem driven by change and expanding connectivity across endless disciplines and schools of thought. Greenhouse will be a space for connection and true climate innovation.
Better Future - Environmental Sustainability
Projects that encourage a positive environmental impact through understanding and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
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