Context

"Blue Sky Capital" is a fictional prestigious venture capital firm in present day New York City. It is the workplace of protagonist Cooper Connelly. The goal was to create a brand identity that conveys Blue Sky Capital as an established and respected firm. The brand identity was then used in signage, business cards, recruitment pamphlets, reports and pitch decks throughout the series.

Method

After gathering visual inspiration from the branding of existing venture capital firms, I consulted with the production designer, director and show runner about desired brand feel. From their input, brand directions were explored. A thorough breakdown of the scripts helped to understand how the branding will be used over the eight episode series to insure final design meet the story's needs.

Design Process

Logo sketches were digitized and refined using thematically appropriate stock elements and typefaces. Logo options were fine-tuned through feedback from the production designer, and then submitted to the director, show runner and producers for approval. Finally, after being cleared by Netflix's legal team, the Blue Sky brand identity was rolled out.

The Blue Sky Capital identity presents the company as positive and prestigious. The navy blue brand colour and serious serif font used denotes trustworthiness and grounds Blue Sky as an established and steadfast firm. The image of a bright beam of sunlight bursting through the clouds invokes feeling of hope and positivity - Invest with Blue Sky Capital and the sky's the limit! As Cooper extols during his recruitment speech to Columbia University students, Blue Sky Capital is not another stuffy investment firm - it is future thinking and on the cutting edge. The identity was applied to interior and exterior office signage, presentation decks, business cards, file folders, computer backgrounds, recruitment posters and pamphlets over the run of the series.

The final logo is featured on an establishing shot of Cooper Connelly; light breaks through the clouds and shines down from the heavens onto Copper. This visual metaphor helps reinforce that Cooper, the new man in protagonist Billie's life, is a safe, reliable partner, compared with her toxic past relationship with record producer Brad Simon.

The largest challenge when designing for film is getting the approval of multiple people in a very short timeline. The Blue Sky Capital logo went through multiple rounds of revisions, with near to one hundred logo options being proposed. The desired direction and look changed many times, due to conflicting feedback. Eventually, just days before filming began, the logo was approved and swiftly rolled out.