ID8 & Innovate

BRANDING | WEB DESIGN | CONTENT STRATEGY

Client Name
ID8 & Innov8 / Duncan Wardle

Website
duncanwardle.com

Market
International

Year
2018-Present

Categories
B2B, B2C

What if we told you that the creativity and wonder you had as a child never disappeared. That you can harness and use it to change the world – it just needs to be reignited. Interested?

In 2018, Loomo was brought on board to design a new brand and digital strategy for ID8 & Innov8, the company founded by innovation and creativity keynote speaker Duncan Wardle. Now, while you may not have heard of Duncan or ID8, we’re pretty sure you’ve heard of the company he used to work for.

It’s safe to say that when a former head of The Walt Disney Company gives you the green light, you shoot for infinity, and beyond!

Services

Brandmark Design
Graphic Design
Writing
Website Creative

Birth of an innovator

For over 25 years, Duncan Wardle had a long and illustrious career with The Walt Disney Company. Starting out as an Epcot representative for Scotland, Duncan rose through the ranks to become Disney’s Head of Innovation & Creativity. Yep, a serious player for the world’s most iconic brand. He even had Buzz Lightyear literally launched into outer space!

After years of helping people at the house of mouse come up with new ways to brainstorm and boost the creative process, Duncan realized that the toolkit he had developed was too important to keep contained. So, he struck out on his own to train people across the globe how to innovate in an entirely new way. 

A new web vision for ID8

We were first introduced to Duncan when he faced an issue that a lot of new clients come to us with. Unable to find a website design (look and feel) that stood out from the crowd, his agency – the indomitable Savage & Wiser – reached out to see if we could come up with a website design that could achieve two things: show off Duncan’s creative side while still speaking to the more buttoned-up corporate world. Always ready to take on a challenge, our initial style drafts (below) offered a range of options from literal to abstract.

Getting innovative

While Duncan felt we were headed in the right direction, he still wanted to push the boundaries even further and show a touch of what people can expect from him as a speaker. Never daunted, our design team put their heads together to come up with a new website user experience that coupled bright, vivid imagery with elements of Duncan’s own drawings used in every Innovate & Ideate session. As always, our focus on putting Duncan’s audience first ensured that content spoke to the corporations that Duncan wants to help most. 

The final result? Take a look!

Duncan-Wardle-Draft-Pages-scaled.jpg

However, we were challenged yet again to think even further, with the team posing the question: “How do you visually convey Duncan’s history and experience at the Walt Disney Company without getting too close to trademarked design elements?”

Heading back to the drawing board, Luke tried multiple variations of a new logo that coupled just enough of a nod to the original Mouseketeer with a touch of Duncan’s own style and panache, coming up with another version that hearkened back to his roots while adding his own cartoon character.

Remember Duncan’s lesson about watering an idea to see what grows? When we sent the latest versions through to Duncan and Jami from Savage & Wiser, if anything was growing, it was weeds. Silent, disappointed weeds.

Thankfully, as a team that can’t help but test out every option, off the side of Luke’s desk he had also been working on a concept using the original ID8 brand. Hoping for a “hail Mickey” he sent the following concept through to Duncan to get his feedback, resulting in the best email exchange ever.

For those who don’t know the vernacular (we didn’t, either), A.F.G. stands for Absolute F**king Genius! A logo had been chosen! Best. Day. Ever.

Now, it wasn’t an immediate “That’s a wrap”, but within a few days of back and forth, we had landed on a keeper. In the end, we ended up with an iconic monogram styled ID8 brand mark that alludes to the Main Mouse without being too on the nose. 

As you can imagine, had an incredible time working with Duncan and continue to support ID8 as the company travels the world, bringing unfettered creativity and innovation to boardrooms across the globe.

If your business is looking for the Duncan Wardle ID8 treatment, get in touch with us here.