Brand and Visual Identity
UW–Madison's official brand guide
An office space showing a conference room with chairs, a large red entry wall with the UW–Madison crest logo, and a corridor

Case study

Designing a Brand-Driven Workplace

Last year, the Office of Strategic Communication got word of a renovation of our above-the-bookstore space in Library Mall. Once complete, we were left with a fully rebuilt office — and fully blank walls.

As UW–Madison’s central marketing and strategic communication team, we’re responsible for defining and expressing the brand across the university. But our own workspace didn’t yet reflect that fact.

We set out to change that.

Architectural schematic of the Bookstore office space

The challenges

Budget

Our modest budget was built into the overall construction costs, so we had to be intentional about every choice. This environmental design is not simply decorative; it also needs to serve important functional purposes, including clear identification for our office, meeting spaces, conference rooms, and way finding throughout the suite.

Time

Once the physical space was renovated, there was no time to waste. We knew we needed a clear plan ready the moment it was go-time, to minimize disruption. To keep the timeline moving, we handled the strategy, content development, and the project coordination ourselves, allowing us to make decisions quickly, streamline approvals, and maximize every available hour.

Humans

The office space accommodates nearly 50 people who work across the fields of marketing and communication. People need to be able to take photos, do research, collaborate, and make sales calls in the space. In addition, people have different light, sound, and overall aesthetic preferences. And in a space full of creatives, those preferences come in hot.

So how do you design a cohesive environment for a group with strong opinions, competing needs, and limited resources? You build a winning design strategy.

The approach

Start with behavior. We approached the space as we would any brand system: starting with questions, not aesthetics. Through a collaborative working session, we mapped how the brand should show up not just visually, but behaviorally. On other words, how should it feel to work here?

We discussed most-loved places on campus, working needs, and tonal and visual preferences. The brainstorm brought to light competing assumptions about the space (and workplaces in general).

From those tensions, a clear strategy emerged.

A visual representation of a slide deck for the Bookstore office branding brainstorm.

Three red photos of whiteboards from a brainstorming session.

The strategy

Embrace the tension. During this research and brainstorming phase, staff consistently expressed needs that appeared to be in tension with one another: calm, reflective spaces but also lively, energetic environments. Appreciation for history, but with a forward-looking vibe. Institutionally recognizable, but not stiff. What to do?

Rather than forcing a single aesthetic solution, we embraced the tension. We divided the office into design zones, with each area offering a different visual and emotional experience. Individual designers worked on specific spaces, interpreting the UW–Madison brand in distinct ways. This allowed for creative exploration across materials, styles, and techniques while still maintaining a shared visual foundation.

Each area feels unique in tone and execution. Together, they read as a cohesive system.

The results

The iconic entry

As the office entry point, it was important to highlight the UW–Madison brand, placing the crest front and center. At the same time, we introduced visual interest connected to UW in less literal ways: the pattern behind the crest references our intramural fields on campus as seen from a drone, as well as those iconic black architectural elements on the outside of Sewell Social Sciences building.

Before photo of a red entry wall in an office setting without branding applied

After photo of a red entry wall in a office setting with branded patterned wall paper with a UW–Madison dimensional crest logo on the wall.

The calm and focused corridor

The mural uses simple shapes and mostly gray tones with red highlights to create a calm and focused feel, especially near meeting rooms. Visuals reference a wide array of UW locations, signature accomplishments, and environmental elements. The effect is countless moments of interest, wit, and wonder, without visual clutter.

Before photo of a long corridor without any branding on the walls.

After photo of a long corridor with a detailed mural featuring a large badger and Bascom Hall.

The quirky wall

Playfulness is part of our culture. And the design of this wall leans into it, juxtaposing iconic UW elements in unexpected, humorous ways. The result is a visual expression of the UW brand personality: smart, fun, and distinctly ours.

Before photo of a blank wall in an office space

After photo of a large-scale photo illustration on an office wall. The illustration features UW–Madison iconic imagery: ice cream, the band, hockey stick, flamingo yard sign, Lady Liberty, cheese, a football player, Bucky Badger, and flowers.

The circle feature

A central architectural feature became a canvas for a more human, expressive approach. Doodle-style graphics contrast with the surrounding geometry, introducing movement and approachability into the space.

Before photo of a plain circular architectural feature within an office space.

After photo of a circular architectural feature within an office space with red doodles depicting UW–Madison icons such as a cow, a pendant, bicycle, a bus, and a food cart.

The magnetic W wall

A large vintage W, applied with magnetic paint, anchors a major thoroughfare. At the same time we reinforce brand identity (that is one huge W), we also create an area to display Polaroids taken by team members. This interactive element encourages team engagement, camaraderie, and a sense of play.

Before photo of a blank wall on the right while looking down a hallway

After photo of a wall with a large painted "W" on the surface

The conference and meeting rooms

Focusing on “wit and Wisconsin,” we named conference and meeting rooms after beloved Wisconsin items — foods, places, and cultural touchpoints. Memorable, iconic, and playful, they help us hit the sweet spot that sings Wisconsin. The design applies brand color blocking and graphic elements for consistency, keeping things cohesive in the space and on brand.

Two small offices with sliding glass and wooden doors

Vinyl label reading "The Huddle" on a glass door to a conference room

The painted mural

We chose a bold, warm color palette for the mural, to bring energy and warmth into a space otherwise dominated by white and gray. The simple, graphic forms made the design hand-paintable while still impactful at a large scale.

Staff participated directly in the mural’s creation, turning a design element into a shared experience, and reinforcing the sense of ownership over the space. In both execution and outcome, the mural highlights community aspects of UW, ultimately celebrating education, place, and identity in a modern, welcoming way.

The lessons

Clear strategy matters more than a large budget

This flexible “zone” model shows how institutional brand environments can support diverse working styles and personalities while remaining visually cohesive and not breaking the bank.

In-house talent is a multiplier

This project relied on the team’s ability to balance cost, creativity, and execution, translating brand strategy into a physical space efficiently and effectively.

Constraints are part of the deal

Some things just cost money. And there were lots of ideas we had that just didn’t make the budget (living plant wall, anyone?). But working within constraints pushed the work to be sharper, more intentional, and more resourceful.

And trust is priceless

Could this work have been outsourced? Yes. But this project demonstrates the value of in-house creative — deep brand knowledge, strategic alignment, and the ability to translate UW’s identity into lived experience. Leadership trust made that possible.

Large-scale illustrated mural in black, white, gray, red, and yellow featuring UW–Madison icons: a badger, Bascom Hall, radio tower, football helmet, bratwursts on a grill, a fish, a satellite, microscope, corn, DNA, a book, a lake, and flowers.
A schematic of the entry windows to an office suite showing measurements with a photographic mockup of those windows.
Painted mural design of Bascom Hall, the Wisconsin Capitol building, a cow, three students, an ice cream cone, a sail boat, and a flamingo.
Two diagrams of doors with designed vinyl room names on the windows of the doors.
Flat designs of room names on red backgrounds with a wavy gray graphics behind them.
Photo illustrative mural featuring iconic UW–Madison imagery: graduation cap, bicycle, Lady Liberty holding an ice cream cone, a sailboat with a cow on it, a yard flamingo with a hockey stick, band members blowing flowers out of their trumpets, a badger, and a football player running with a block of cheese
A black, gray, red, and yellow illustration of a street lamp in a dark sky with a path beneath marked with badger paw prints.
Red and gray doodles of UW–Madison icons: a cow, the state of Wisconsin, Lady Liberty, cheese wedge, a bus, food cart, sail boat, etc.
A red design with the UW–Madison crest logo on top of a wavy patterned background
A large wall diagram showing measurements and a large gray "W".

Our office now functions as a living expression of the UW–Madison brand, one that supports the team in both creating and experiencing the brand daily. It’s where we work — and where the brand works, too.