The Mercatus Podcast, Digital Grocer, was an arms-length thought leadership project. The existing identity looked dated and didn't express the expertise and character of the host, Sylvain Perrier. I was tasked with redesigning the logo and creating a brand that was distinct from Mercatus.
My research focused on exploring effective podcast and radio logos. What types of marks looked good at small scale, and in a square format? Which logos felt cramped or busy? Would including a person in the podcast draw listeners in?
My early sketches combined hand-drawn type and digital. Some of them drew on a text treatment used for a massive, multi-phase brand ad campaign. I was still working in the Mercatus brand palette, but weighted it heavily towards tertiary colors. Digital Grocer content would be cross-posted on the Mercatus website. I wanted the main brand and sub-brand to look similar but different.
After a few rounds, we landed on a wordmark made from two different weights of Gotham. The stacked and unstacked versions promised design flexibility. The boldness of the font appealed to the senior stakeholder, Sylvain Perrier. I began to design thumbnails in earnest, looking for a photography look and feel that I could start to apply to other assets.
On what was intended to be the last round of logo tweaks before I finalized the visual identity, senior leadership made an abrupt change. They wanted a completely different color palette. Something warmer, bolder, and more Sylvain-esque.
I spent the better part of the day scrambling to find an appealing set, focusing on food and autumnal hues. After an 11th hour meeting with the SVP of Marketing, I had my colors, plus two blues that harmonized with the Mercatus palette.
After final logo approval, we began the process of building the website. I wireframed the website out in XD, then handed it off to an external developer for the build.
As the main architect of the brand tone and voice, I'd opted for a playful and cheeky tone. I received carte-blanche for the social graphics on the new brand launch and beyond.
Concurrent with building the new website, I created the brand guidelines to keep Digital Grocer on track, added audio visualizers to old episodes, and animated the wordmark. Post-launch, I edited episodes and cut social snippets and a sizzle reel.
The wordmark is flexible, bold, and easy to work with. The visual identity is distinctive and straddles the space between tech and grocery with bold visuals and warm, food-like colors.
During its run, the podcast was well-respected in the grocery industry. Multiple prospects and grocers mentioned it favourably during the sales process. It raised the Mercatus profile and reinforced the brand credibility.
In 2025, the podcast transitioned from its own website to a mini-site on the Mercatus corporate site. Tone and graphic elements are similar, but the colors have been changed to match the Mercatus brand.