dw /a is a multidisciplinary design studio led by architect Deborah Wang. This super talented renaissance artist asked Design Holmen to create a new brand for her newly opened architecture studio. However, Deb is also a curator, designer and community leader (for example, Artistic Director of DesignTO: a non-profit arts organization that produces Canada’s leading and largest annual design festival). It was strategically important to give her a system that could speak to all of her pursuits and to create a point of differentiation for her studio.
The brief was as simple as the solution: create an identity that feels minimal, elemental and precise.
Designholmen customized a typeface and created letterforms that felt sparse but distinct. Starting with the dw /a acronym we separated the person (dw) from the practice (a) and created a system that could be changed depending on Deborah’s pursuits.
The colour palette supported the identity with soft blacks and soft whites.
The identity can be written the way it’s designed: dw /a, which reinforces the brand even in its written form.
Collaborator: Deborah Wang