Caleb Sun

  • Phipps Botanical Gardens

    Brand Redesign and Repositioning, Identity, Marketing, Web

  • A timeless identity for a botanical garden that honors the past and looks eagerly towards the future.

  • Catching a brand up to speed to a conservatory with its eyes on the future.

    For nearly two centuries, Phipps has served as an urban oasis, providing respite from the hustle and bustle of industrial Pittsburgh. In the past 15 years, though, Phipps has pivoted into becoming a leader in sustainability, education, and regional community programs. This brand repositioning project breathes new life into the Phipps brand, with a focus on surfacing the diverse offerings the conservatory provides to the Pittsburgh community, and establishing Phipps as a global leader of sustainable conservation. At the core of this rebrand is an organization steeped in history and tradition, with a keen eye for modernization. A new logo that has the same bones as the time-honored original,a bold and vibrant color palette, and a botanical inspired patterning system create a sense of energy and leadership that reposition The Phipps as a global leader, establishing trust without ostracising younger audiences or coming across as overly corporate. These elements come together to create sub-identities for various Phipps verticals and gain more recognition for all that Phipps does.

    ↪ Read More

  • Type
    Time
    Role
    Credits

  • Personal Project
    7 weeks
    Sole Designer
    Special Thanks — Joe Reed, Alexa Sinatra

  • ↪ Custom logotype combining sharp glass-inspired corners with botanical curves.
  • ↪ Lively, nature-inspired colors that create subpalettes for different organizational functions.
  • ↪ Delightful web interactions that keep the sight feeling alive and highlight real photography.

  • Impact

    ↪ Shifted to a brand with dual identities that support Phipps core, as well as diverse Phipps functionalities
    ↪ Aligned visual identity with peer cultural institutions
    ↪ Developed a web strategy that aligns core navigation and content structure with principle customer jobs-to-be-done
    ↪ Created roadmap for Phipps’ marketing team to appeal to institution leadership for a digital redesign in the future

  • 〝 Caleb’s work was a true gift to Phipps Conservatory. On a short timeline, he was able to thoroughly assess the structure of our website, propose thoughtful changes to bring the most customer-demanded resources to the forefront, and find novel opportunities to bring mission-centered messaging and experience-deepening connections to the user flow. His work inspires us to prioritize a redesign in the near future by giving a vivid glimpse of the potential and possibilities. 〞

    — Joe Reed, Phipps Marketing Director

Strategically catching a brand up to speed with a conservatory with its eyes on the future.

Brief

Design an identity and strategy for the Phipps brand that aligns its external presence with customer needs and organizational goals.



Logo Development

Original

Process

I started off with just refining original logo in mind, but as the strategy for the brand repositioning developed, I decided to move away from type and shapes that I associated with the original. Using the goals of establishing