White Orange Productions

Begun as a freelance side gig by the founder and chief director, Johnny Widner, White Orange has grown to a robust photography and cinematography studio serving a variety of clients in North Carolina and Illinois. Their clients constitute a diversified, eclectic mix, ranging from furniture brands to agricultural technology to intimate apparel.

While enjoying a large degree of success with furniture and industrial clients, White Orange found it difficult to connect with marketing agencies and design firms — which often provide opportunities for premium, award-winning work. As part of a larger effort to refresh their brand and make a broader appeal to fill this gap, the studio engaged The Design Office Of John Murph.

The resulting collaboration yielded a modern, minimalist identity that showcased the firm's work in a layered succession. The brand language leveraged the dynamic effects made possible by the fluid interplay of transparency — drawing on the film-based, celluloid origins of photography and cinematography. It was designed to appeal to the elite sensibilities of agency denizens and creative directors. And of course, the firm's name (and promotional equity) required an overt homage to the citric side of the color spectrum

The centerpoint of White Orange's new brand identity is the culmination of the above described minimalist aesthetic. Leaving a first impression of an abstract arrangement of arcs, the logo is a monogram hiding in plain sight. A reference to the titular orange is cemented by a leaflike accent positioned above the "O." The final mark bears a playful sophistication that would make Jonathon Ives proud.

With a new brand identity designed to cater to them, design agencies resonated with White Orange. This broadened appeal provided opportunities with the targeted audience, including a connection with venerable design industry stalwarts like Michael Vanderbyl.