Brand Chaos Theory
Since Bridge was founded in 2014, we have had some memorable highs. We’ve worked with an array of clients, all with a shared ambition to affect positive social change. We’ve been lucky enough to work with inspiring people and even picked up some awards along the way for strategic, creative work.
Our work on social impact covers a wide range of causes from acute malnutrition to gender-based violence, micro-finance to mental health. Audiences of our campaigns are often in remote, complex environments and our clients tackle humanitarian crises.
Like all organizations in Myanmar, we’ve also navigated a global pandemic and the national impact of a military coup. Like so many others, we have battled hard for survival, and - against all odds - survive we have. At the heart of Bridge’s resilience is a group of people who not only care about our clients and the causes we amplify but also about each other.
As we approached our first decade as an organization, we decided to take a moment to pause and reflect on our successes and failures, to process the change and upheaval. It was time to assess how Bridge has emerged from the chaos and complexity and to reshape our brand to represent what we have become and where we want to go from here.
The process began with a cathartic exercise in destruction. Using a scanner, the team distorted and deformed, bent and buckled, mauled and mangled our old logo. Whilst only intended as a form of art therapy, the process yielded some fascinating results. By manipulating the artwork across the glass of a working scanner, each and every outcome was original. Every slight adjustment of position created a unique adaptation. With practice, the results could be crafted into something beautiful. A collision of handmade and machined (what better way to represent the collision of artist and Adobe…) they seemed to conjure something of Bridge’s journey. However the scanner butchered the image, and something of value always emerged. Attractive versions of the logo came to life, ripples and artifacts appeared which then in turn morphed into interesting and original patterns.
Initially obsessed with boiling this all down into a single, final form, we decided to embrace diversity. After all, we are a diverse team working on varied causes in complex contexts. Out of the anarchy, suddenly the brand started to make sense in all applications.
Why only have one logo? Why not use them all? Not only does it allow us to keep the brand fresh but it also gives our creatives the freedom to explore new versions, each one with its own unique signature.
If the last 10 years have demonstrated anything, it is that whatever the work or the situation throws our way, there is generally a route through the chaos, but it is never simple. It demands adaptability, pragmatism, and a clarity of vision in spite of it all. This brand revision celebrates all of that.