Amy Glassow portfolio

Project type: Branding / Industry: Manufacturing

Hunter Industries / FX Luminaire rebrand journey

Project objectives

This rebrand started with one singular focus but ultimately expanded into something much bigger. In the beginning, I was brought in to uplevel the brand and marketing materials for a landscape lighting company that had been acquired by Hunter Industries, called FX Luminaire. Those efforts went well and garnered approval from internal stakeholders, but it quickly became clear that we needed to integrate these two brands together visually, establish how they could go to market together – all while handling all of our regular day to day work. During this journey of brand integration, I was tasked with sourcing and making recommendations for the hiring of two senior designers capable of contributing to what ultimately became a full-scale rebrand. Meanwhile, I was promoted as an Art Director over this team of 5 designers (web and print), 1-2 freelancers at a time, and a copywriter.

So this page is less about a standard one-off portfolio piece and more about a journey of professional growth, collaboration and valuable experience contributing to the brand transformation of a really great company.

Phase 1: Upleveling FX Luminaire's visual identity

Old FX Luminaire logo

This is what the FX Luminaire logo looked like when Hunter acquired them. It had brand recognition in their industry so I didn’t throw the entire brand equity baby out with the bath water. But much of that metallic bath water did have to go bye-bye. :)

Old FX Luminaire logo

Old FX Luminaire logo

This is what the FX Luminaire logo looked like when Hunter acquired them. It had brand recognition in their industry so I didn’t throw the entire brand equity baby out with the bath water. But much of that metallic bath water did have to go bye-bye. ☺︎

Trade show walls and bannerstand

Phase 2: A Marriage of Strengths

After the immediate need for marketing materials and at least some interim brand identity refresh for FX was established, I proposed the messaging concept, A Marriage of Strengths, to begin to talk about the pairing of Hunter and FX Luminaire’s product offerings. At first glance, these products seem very different as categories, and they are. However, they really serve the same types of spaces but at different times of day, which naturally led into a day vs. night approach in graphics that featured both offerings.

*Included with every Hunter purchase

After the Marriage of Strengths messaging was well-saturated in the market, I developed a new concept – *Included with every Hunter purchase. There are a number of things that are always included with a Hunter purchase and longtime, loyal Hunter customers are familiar with these brand promises and count on them. Hunter isn’t just some faceless brand. It’s an actual family who started and built this business. There’s a personal touch to the way they serve their customers, the level of support they bring, and the standard of quality that they maintain. For customers who have used and preferred Hunter products for years, they like not only the products, but the people behind these products. These people are known in the industry. So when we put this ad out, the response was phenomenal. Customers called our headquarters with messages of “Hell yeah!” and all around praise and approval. It resonated strongly. So, I kept iterating and expanding the concept to other things that are included with every Hunter purchase.

Design details taking shape

You may notice some differences in the design details between the very first “Included with” ad and the subsequent ones. This is because these details of the brand visual elements were being worked out in real-time during the time that these ads went out. Ultimately, the later ads are most reflective of the final brand look and feel.

This is what the FX Luminaire logo looked like when Hunter acquired them. It had brand recognition in their industry so I didn’t throw the entire brand equity baby out with the bath water. But much of that metallic bath water did have to go bye-bye. :)

Final brand direction on the trade show floor

I often handled most, if not all, of their trade show graphics year to year and the walls below are from my final year with them. They are another clear reflection of the new visual identity at work.