Mazer Agency is a senior and executive recruiting agency doing things differently in the staffing world — allowing for more transparency & putting prospective employee & employer on equal footing. They partner with some of the world’s most recognizable and innovative brands, startups and agencies.

They tapped Shampoo Studio, and brand design shop based in Portland, Oregon, to create a brand identity that communicated their commitment to success, and also conveyed the progressively collaborative spirit of the creative industry today.

Shampoo created a flexible identity system for Mazer Agency that includes a duo of marks, one evocative of old-fashioned agency style à la Mad Men, and another grounded more in contemporary studio culture. Creative agencies today have taken on a less formal posture, but they work as hard as ever, and we wanted that work-hard-play-hard spirit to shine through.

Likewise, we chose a color palette and type palette that mixes midcentury era design with more up-to-date and unique elements. The combination of marks and flexibility of the system allows for variable design choices across many applications, while still appearing cohesive, as well as dynamic.

Representative of a first meeting and a deal done, a handshake anchors the brand to visually represent both partnership & professionalism, two tenets that Mazer Agency strongly values. Cheeky in nature but clean and legible, the handshake icon packs an immediate punch that delights and invites.

The resulting brand identity is both playful and polished, a surprising combination of characteristics that increasingly go hand-in-hand.