Digital Design Branding Instructor Maria Kennedy remembers first hiring Matthew Clark over a dozen years ago; he was fresh out of school, keen, and new to the design industry.

Clark has since risen to become a Partner at Subplot Design, an award-winning Vancouver-based studio that counts among its clients the Vancouver Aquarium, Okanagan Spring Brewery, Vancouver Police Department, and Caffè Artigiano.

Subplot’s Story

After sitting in and offering feedback on student branding project presentations, Clark spoke about Subplot as a kind of anti-agency agency — a four-person operation that primarily caters to more entrepreneurial clients, or those who haven’t been satisfied with the processes of larger companies.

He took students through the four basic phases Subplot typically goes through when working with a client. First, it’s all about discovery.

“At this point,” Clark explained, “we’re just gathering whatever’s out there, and trying to bring in as much information as possible.” That information, which can include a client’s previous design work, is then used to create a plan going forward — the second stage.

“We’ll usually warn clients that things will be very boring for a while”, Clark said. It takes Subplot about four months to do all the research and strategic planning before they get around to showing the client any visual work. This, he explained, is because a branding project is about more than just a logo; it involves everything from how the consumer perceives the brand to competitive opportunities not yet realized. Everything must be taken into account.

The fun begins in the third phase. Clark and his team hand-draw design concepts which they bring to pitch meetings. “You can’t trick them with computers… It’s about the idea.” Once the client signs off on the work, Subplot enters the final phase where they hand over all branding guides and designs to ensure the client can maintain the new look and approach on their own — essentially putting Subplot out of a job (as Clark jokes).

Case Study: Okanagan Spring

Clark finished off with an in-depth case study of Subplot’s complete redesign of Okanagan Spring beer. Taking nothing for granted, they did extensive market research to gauge consumers’ impressions of the previous brand.

“[Okanagan Spring's] mind was blown,” Clark said, referring to an exercise where they asked long-time Okanagan Spring beer drinkers to draw the company’s logo. No one came close — one of many signs that it was time to rethink the company’s brand. You can see the result of Subplot’s work in beer stores.

Many thanks to Matthew Clark for visiting Digital Design!