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Masuga

Since their inception, Masuga have offered customized web development solutions to meet their clients’ most challenging business objectives.

They’ve streamlined and simplified processes for websites and content. Ensured data stored in different platforms can be reliably shared and synced. Shown up as a collaborative partner, deeply knowledgeable and deeply committed to the people they help. Their specialty? Giving the most complex, expensive, and time-consuming problems the tailored solutions they deserve — efficiently.

They’re the ones companies turn to when out-of-the-box offerings don’t cut it.

Masuga hoped to come across as a cohesive entity, appealing not just to new industries, but new talent that might join them in their efforts. Their refreshed purpose and direction would make a strong bid to both.

Masuga Intro Image
Masuga Previous identity

Baseline Evaluation

Masuga came to Odi with excep­tion­al clar­i­ty about who they were and want­ed to be. And they were just as clear about what was hold­ing them back. For near­ly two decades, they had been focused on tech­ni­cal imple­men­ta­tion, doing web­site builds from sup­plied direc­tion. Now, they want­ed to posi­tion them­selves as sup­port­ing whole projects and cham­pi­oning their clients. They sought to offer a more com­pre­hen­sive set of ser­vices and to be seen as engaged in high­er-val­ue efforts like prob­lem solv­ing, strat­e­gy, and sup­port. Hav­ing pri­mar­i­ly served mar­ket­ing agen­cies, they had a new tar­get of North Amer­i­can SMBs in the soft­ware, enter­tain­ment, and hos­pi­tal­i­ty indus­tries, along with star­tups and entre­pre­neurs who need online strate­gies, web design, and development. 

We worked with the Masuga team to set­tle on Empow­er­ing, Vibrant, and Relat­able for their brand attrib­ut­es, which led us to their Sin­gle Most Impor­tant Thing (aka SMIT): Empow­er­ment in Action. The SMIT acts as our North Star dur­ing the project, guid­ing our deci­sions and act­ing as a bench­mark to stay focused.

Masuga Attributes
Masuga General Mockup

Verbal Identity

Posi­tion­ing

Masuga’s chang­ing focus called for updat­ed posi­tion­ing. We want­ed them to be per­ceived as solv­ing prob­lems spe­cif­ic to their ver­ti­cals; less about tools and imple­men­ta­tion and more about cre­at­ing tar­get­ed online strate­gies; and more than web-prob­lem fix­ers and day savers but atten­tive, col­lab­o­ra­tive experts and partners.

To achieve this, we ele­vat­ed Masuga’s cus­tomer-cen­tric dif­fer­en­tia­tor and explored ways of mak­ing it feel dif­fer­ent. How could we char­ac­ter­ize a work­ing rela­tion­ship with Masuga in a way that set them apart? 

We reframed Masuga’s posi­tion­ing to high­light its new ver­ti­cals and empha­size a rich cus­tomer expe­ri­ence: high-val­ue inputs and inter­ac­tions. Relata­bil­i­ty. And prob­lem solv­ing as an iter­a­tive jour­ney, not a sprint.

Masuga Verbal
Masuga Verbal 1
Masuga Verbal 2

Sit­u­a­tion­al Messaging

To car­ry Masuga’s val­ue for­ward, we craft­ed a USP and val­ue propo­si­tion that cap­ture, in short form, how a Masuga engage­ment would be experienced.

With­in the USP, the key phrase became “[to] put peo­ple, not just prob­lem solv­ing, at the cen­ter of every project.” This reflects all three of Masuga’s brand attrib­ut­es — relata­bil­i­ty, vibran­cy, and empow­er­ment — and assures clients that while arriv­ing at tar­get­ed solu­tions togeth­er, Masuga ensures they feel seen, heard, and under­stood in the process.

The USP’s promise is unpacked in the val­ue propo­si­tion, which we treat­ed as a short para­graph ver­sus a sin­gle state­ment. In this case, we focused on empow­er­ment, but our voice telegraphs relata­bil­i­ty. The val­ue propo­si­tion speaks to both future clients and prospec­tive employ­ees, con­vey­ing the nature of Masuga’s work in lan­guage that feels excit­ing: bold and cre­ative,” cut through com­plex­i­ty,” and talk like one human to another.”

Logo

We specif­i­cal­ly designed the Masuga logo­mark to feel spon­ta­neous and flex­i­ble. Despite seem­ing arbi­trary, with its ener­getic, oscil­lat­ing path, the mark comes togeth­er to form a sub­tle M” for an added con­nec­tion to the brand name.

Due to the amount of ener­gy packed into the logo­mark, we took a more sub­tle approach to the logo­type. A strong, stur­dy, geo­met­ric sans serif anchors the logo and pro­vides a sense of con­trol that bal­ances the ran­dom nature of the mark. We made some slight opti­cal adjust­ments for greater leg­i­bil­i­ty and round­ed key cor­ners of var­i­ous let­ter­forms to cre­ate cohe­sion with the round­ed angles found in the mark.

Masuga Logo Explorations
Masuga Logo Mockup
Masuga Final Logo

Visual Language

If there was one thing from Masuga’s pre­vi­ous iden­ti­ty we felt could stick around, it was the lead­ing col­or. Juice” is an evo­lu­tion of the lime green of old. We updat­ed it to be leg­i­ble on light and dark back­grounds and added a bit of yel­low for a more pecu­liar vibe. To bal­ance out the bold pri­ma­ry col­ors, we cre­at­ed a suite of sec­ondary col­ors to add depth and pro­vide more relatability. 

The lead­ing type­face for the Masuga iden­ti­ty, Fer­ro Grotesk, is a reflec­tion of the off­beat vibes cap­tured in the logo and col­or sys­tems. Semi-extend­ed, high­ly geo­met­ric, and just a bit weird.

The visu­al iden­ti­ty sys­tem is round­ed out with sev­er­al key graph­ic ele­ments that may be used sep­a­rate­ly or in a col­lage for­mat. A tape graph­ic ele­ment is extreme­ly ver­sa­tile, as it’s made to be bent and woven as need­ed, cre­at­ing inter­est and brand­ed moments in uncom­mon ways. A paper-cut style that feels as if it were hap­haz­ard­ly cut out with scis­sors can be used on pho­tog­ra­phy of peo­ple, things, or just as con­fet­ti-like adorn­ment. These graph­ic ele­ments, paired with tex­ture and doo­dles, hint to the craft behind Masuga’s work. The imper­fect, human-cen­tric lan­guage brings a vibe to an iden­ti­ty that is noth­ing short of a damn good time.

Masuga Big Brand Guidelines Grid
Masuga Color Palette
Masuga Primary Typeface
Masuga Secondary Typeface
Masuga Type Stack
Masuga Tape Language
Masuga Paper Cut
Masuga Mockups
Masuga Mockups 1
Masuga Paper Cut 1
Masuga Banner
You took what could be a scary, intimidating process and made it very smooth...and fun! I would recommend Odi to anyone serious about re-evaluating themselves through a rebrand.
Ryan Masuga, Owner, Masuga
Masuga Mockups 2

Post-Project Impact

We’d love to hear about your brand and business challenges, even if you’re not sure what your next step is. No pitch, no strings attached.