SERVICES
Strategy, Identity, Design, Illustration, Story
AUTODESK
THE
DESIGN-
LED REVOLUTION
OUR FUTURE IS A DESIGN OPPORTUNITY
The global software company Autodesk makes the tools with which architects, engineers, and product designers build much of the world we see today. So naturally, they’ve built their brand on the promise of product excellence and technical expertise. That’s great for selling tools, but the company sees an even more urgent challenge on the horizon — with 9 billion people soon to inhabit the planet, we’ll need to design a world in which everyone can live well and live within the limits of the planet.
Together with Free Range Studios, we began by helping Autodesk create a brand platform that gives the software giant a leadership position in the field of sustainable design. Before we could dream big with what sort of new Autodesk platform could be, we embarked on defining the epic challenges our world faces — water, resources, energy, urbanization, education and health — and the design principles that can overcome them. Once clarified the brand's position on these complex topics, we built a suite of tools including identity design, messaging guidelines, manifestos, videos and infographics to name and claim the emerging Design-Led Revolution.
Autodesk can’t create that world alone. To do that, they’ll need to enlist millions of designers in shared passion and purpose. That's where Drew and Free Range stepped in – to help Autodesk radically redesign their sustainability platform and design a strong identity to match such an epic endeavor. Working together, identified and named the Design-Led Revolution. Now, instead of only talking about their own sustainability commitments, Autodesk communicates a core purpose: to support the emerging power of designers everywhere to shape our future. What’s emerged from their deep collaboration is a brand platform that will change the way the world sees and engages with design.
The Design-Led Revolution is helping Autodesk claim a position as a values-based leader in the field of sustainability. In a world where brands with clear purpose lead the marketplace, that will be rewarding for business.
Here’s a video from the series “sustainability workshops” an educational series used in colleges across the globe to empower budding engineers and architects to design more sustainably. PS “Mr. Imagination” is your truly playing a court jester. It was a wild ride making over 17 videos and over 1000 sketches.