Many things have changed in the last 3 decades since Brad Nelsen founded Nelsen Partners. Our world, our technology, our industry, and not to mention we have evolved a great deal during this time. With all of this, it’s not surprising that our logo and brand would evolve with it.
We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane as we revisit our logos over the last 30 years.
1990.
Font: Times New Roman / Color: Black
Circa 1990 - Erston Senger designed one of our first logos. An iconic illustration reflecting architecture within the letter "N" was balanced with a traditional all uppercase serif font. Our two offices at the time, in Scottsdale and Dallas, were featured prominently.
2000.
Fonts: MS Reference Sans Serif + Arial / Colors: Pantone Black 6 C + 7755 C
In 2000, the firm adopted a more simplified logo, letting the graphic element fall out. A move to a straight forward and all lowercase san serif font was balanced with a Bronze Mist accent color which provided some variation to the otherwise simple font.
2006.
Font: Franklin Gothic Book / Colors: Pantone Neutral Black C + Warm Gray 3 C
In 2006, Brad Nelsen welcomed Philip Crisara, Erston Senger and George Melara as Partners in the firm, changing the name from Nelsen Architects to Nelsen Partners. To mark the momentous occasion, the logo was redesigned. This ‘no breaks’ approach used a more subtle color scheme to create hierarchy, with the bolder black reinforcing the name continuity against the new element in a lighter gray.
2016.
Font: Gills Sans / Color: Black
A big shout-out to Harry Mark and his team at RSM team for refreshing our identity in 2016, which we continue to use today. Using the Gill Sans font as the protagonist, this logo utilizes a stacked graphic sequence, highlighting Nelsen, as well as calling attention to our key services.
2020.
In 2020 we launched a secondary logo, building from the one created by RSM. This horizontal format offers a refined option for various presentations and collateral.
2020.
Fonts: Brandon Grotesque + Sharp Grotesk Medium 25 / Color: Pantone 285 C
As we approached 2020 – our 30th year in business! – we wanted to acknowledge and celebrate all the people and projects that made our successes possible. Part of this 30-year celebration included creating a special branding element featuring our signature ‘blue’.
Fun fact: Notice the resemblance to a drafting dot?
2019 — ?
In 2019 we adopted a Favicon featuring a bold ‘N’ in the same Gills Sans font to reinforce our branding presence on the web. This less-is-more approach has been a great addition to our branding toolkit and will be utilized to a greater degree as we look forward towards the next 30 years.