Los Angeles water design firm Fluidity approached Thirst to design an innovative identity program and web presence that would best express their design approach to an international audience.
Led by founder Jim Garland, Fluidity sees themselves as architects and designers that just happen to specialize in the medium of water. The constant change of water’s visual form inspired us to design an identity that never appears the same twice. Ultimately, the identity is not one logomark but an infinite number of visual expressions inspired by refraction and behaving as one with the subject matter. Our design of Fluidity’s identity typography questions the need for legibility while placing a higher value on recognition.
Every business card’s logomark is unique; a great conversation starter when exchanging cards.
Digital stationery such as email signatures and Word templates contain code to generate unique logomarks for every document.
Even merchandise was considered for the next Fluidity softball league!
A short film announcing the identity was revealed at the 10th anniversary. Music by Xenankis
Thirst also design and developed a new web presence alongside the new identity to feature the firm’s portfolio. The logomark is dynamic of course, programmed in Canvas usingRaphaël JS. Images fill the homepage cinematically, showing the human scale of the firm’s work.
Projects are featured in an easy-to-use horizontal band sorted by name, place, or category.
When browsing projects by place, a unique map illustrates all the flight paths of the world visualized in thin blue lines.
Research
We wanted to capture the dynamic medium of water in ways that avoided the clichés of waves and ripples. This aligned with Fluidity’s approach. The physical effects of water became the most interesting, and we all became enamoured with how water modifies what we see: through distortion of refraction, through movement of drops and waves.
Still image, Purification, 2005, by Bill Viola
We are designers, architects, engineers who simply happen to specialize in the expressive medium of water. We are enthralled by our media, which very much seems endlessly interesting and engaging. Jim Garland, Founder, Fluidity
Page from Schiff nach Europa, 1957, Markus Kutter + Karl Gerstner. An experimental novel about a journey from New York to Europe.
During visual research, we discovered a typographic sample from an experimental novel designed by Swiss designer Karl Gerstner that seemed to speak to refraction. This inspired similar visual explorations, each expressing a different physical quality of water.
Exploration
These visual studies began to open a conversation as to how this “logo” should never be the same way twice, just as water never stands still. We wrote custom software in Processing that allowed for a near-infinite exploration of possible forms within a set of variables: density, distortion, and detail.
Refinement
Once the concept had been established, we worked with Fluidity to refine the finished identity system. Visual forms that felt too stylized or too complex were rejected in favor of those that were more graphic, more bold.
As water’s form comes directly as a result of the surrounding environment, all of Fluidity’s varitions are derived from its base form. Elephant Foot Glacier in Greenland.
Concept + Design
Rick Valicenti/3st
John Pobojewski/3st
Programming, Processing
John Pobojewski/3st
Cameron Brand/3st
Web Development
Cameron Brand/3st
One Comment
Your newest work: Fluidity Identity + Website and CCS / MFA are so compelling with comprehensiveness and with leading edge impact that I became teary-eyed from the satisfaction. My sincere compliments for a very fine 3st team effort.