It’s not everyday that the President of the United States shares the stage with a deliverable we executed for one of our clients. But that’s exactly what happened last month at Business Roundtable’s headquarters in Washington, D.C!
So, how exactly did the President come face-to face with our work?
I sat down with Jason Tennis, Alipes’ Creative Director, to talk about the Business Roundtable project and to learn just how Alipes was integral to the logo we see today behind President Biden.
Business Roundtable was established in 1972 as an organization for chief executives of leading enterprises to collaborate on issues affecting the economy and business. The organization’s influence in policy and enterprise set the tone for our design: we wanted to create something refined yet approachable to represent Business Roundtable’s identity as a leader in public policy and advocacy.
According to Jason, Alipes’ overarching objective was to use a transparent and engaging design to complement the conversation between business leaders and the rest of the world; considering how our client’s members would be in conversation with others and how the implementation of digital tools could play upon and improve that communique was central to the iterative process.
The re-designed and re-invigorated Business Roundtable logo was just one part of the multi-year re-imagining of the client’s visual identity, which included an updated tagline, creating a color palette, and crafting a messaging strategy.
Check out Business Roundtable’s previous logo alongside the current refreshed logo designed by Alipes.
While modernism and minimalism were central to the design, this is no simple logo. Behind each element is a deliberate choice to create something elevated, yet accessible. With its streamlined silhouette, the mark emphasizes Business Roundtable’s integrity and leadership as its own entity, while also seamlessly integrating with the brands of their members. Ensuring that Business Roundtable’s logo was able to honor its own tradition was critical.
The history of “the roundtable” and its contemporary connection to the Business Roundtable were at the forefront of our minds. King Arthur brought together his most trusted advisors to sit together and guide his leadership, much like how Business Roundtable advises, shapes, and directs public policy with the insight that comes from its community of chief executives at leading American companies.
As policy creation is at the core of Business Roundtable’s work, the arc system uses an interchangeable color palette to distinguish between different policy areas while remaining instantly recognizable. This gives the brand a consistent identity across various policy areas without a cost to functionality.
By incorporating decorative elements of a serif font, the end marks on the B and R evoke a dynamism.
In his own words, Jason says “I’m proud of the mark and proud that it is the kind of mark that can take its place next to the President of the United States. I was so excited to see it really big, right there behind the President. I think that the logo succeeds in setting the tone of exceptionalism in American business and also reflects its modern and progressive nature.”
Just as King Arthur gathered with his esteemed advisors, our entire team was delighted for our work to take its place at the Roundtable side-by-side with the President of the United States.