BRAND | HEADWAY ENVIRONMENTAL
ACROSS THE DIVIDE
McMillan builds a brand to connect business and the environment.
Challenge
A new company helping land developers meet environmental regulations and keep their projects on schedule wanted an identity that says collaboration in a sometimes confrontational line of work.
Insight
The company takes a distinctively proactive and inclusive approach to connecting a host of stakeholders and regulators earlier in the project approval process to ensure a smoother path forward. We needed to build a brand that delivered this message.
Solution
We gave the company a name that communicates its promise: Headway. And what better symbol for that promise than the sun? And what better device to help clients reach that promise than a bridge?
The Design System
The Headway Environmental design system is based on two distinct elements: The rising (and setting) sun evokes the natural environment, and the bridge span evokes the built environment. The interplay of straight lines and curved shapes gives the system a buttoned-up sophistication in the midst of free-flowing nature.
The color palette proceeds from the deep richness of nature to the complementary grays that express the engineered aspects of the business. The orange brings a unique pop of eye-catching vibrancy to compositions otherwise dominated by the colors of the earth, water, and sky.
![](https://images.prismic.io/mcm-website/41e5c399-cc8d-4f1d-b6ea-8445976131ba_headway-hq-1.png?auto=compress,format)
![](https://images.prismic.io/mcm-website/9d0a1678-cfdb-4c3e-8f2b-0e922f3127c6_Group+607.png?auto=compress,format)
![](https://images.prismic.io/mcm-website/b66bf4e6-d144-4b71-b0b9-ea644d58f79a_headway-hq-3.png?auto=compress,format)
![](https://images.prismic.io/mcm-website/11dc4e13-239a-418e-a22e-d2be17b28a39_headway-applications3.png?auto=compress,format)
![](https://images.prismic.io/mcm-website/e5025378-1b17-4d7a-8978-c0c87fe6654f_shapes.png?auto=compress,format)
![](https://images.prismic.io/mcm-website/9cb9e46b-301a-45a8-a52d-71c94ec5ca75_PWE-9793_HEADWAY+Brand+guidelines_V1_Page_18.png?auto=compress,format)
![](https://images.prismic.io/mcm-website/5ba73b40-4a3d-4796-9376-f53220c3bc30_headway-assets-v3-1.png?auto=compress,format)
Website
![](https://images.prismic.io/mcm-website/52cd6937-1aa9-4a3d-8fd0-9585794b7b28_headway-applications-1.png?auto=compress,format)
Brand applications
![](https://images.prismic.io/mcm-website/8af65ee3-18f7-4e8c-8f31-d6977d01c4ef_headway-applications-2.png?auto=compress,format)
![](https://images.prismic.io/mcm-website/8c998a61-9d84-418a-bdd6-9e7b39f5134e_headway-applications-3.png?auto=compress,format)
![](https://images.prismic.io/mcm-website/dddc9769-6659-40e5-ab84-95b961ad4bdf_headway-applications-4.png?auto=compress,format)
![](https://images.prismic.io/mcm-website/64fc3419-9eb8-41a5-af89-6a625077d5eb_headway-applications-5.png?auto=compress,format)
![](https://images.prismic.io/mcm-website/edacd638-3cb6-48d1-b8ba-4916180ab816_headway-applications-6.png?auto=compress,format)
![](https://images.prismic.io/mcm-website/3f056f54-302c-4038-91d9-6f2be6c97c79_headway-applications-7.png?auto=compress,format)