2M Creative Inc.

Logos, brand systems and websites for early-stage companies

Graphic design for startups has been the focus of 2M Creative since it opened in July 2003, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It focuses on branding, logo design, print and custom websites, and says its main audience is startups and growing businesses. Its founding idea was to give smaller companies the quality associated with large agencies by keeping overhead low enough for a modest budget.

Starting with the logo

The agency treats a logo as the first element of an identity system and the foundation of a brand. Its view is that a well-made mark draws in new customers, reassures existing ones, and helps build a culture that faces both inward and outward. Marks are designed to be simple and versatile, so that they work across print and screen.

Building out the brand

After the logo, the agency develops the wider system: imagery, color, typography, layout and voice. The goal is an identity that holds together in print and in digital form and reinforces the reputation of the company using it. The same approach covers print pieces and other marketing tools that a business needs when it launches, grows or changes direction.

Websites from scratch or from a template

For the web, the studio designs and develops sites from the ground up, with graphics and imagery chosen for the brand. It will also work from a template that the client has already picked, and it takes on redesigns to modernize an existing site. The stated aims are a user-friendly layout, responsive pages, sensible navigation and attention to search visibility, speed and security.

How a project runs

Work begins with discovery. The agency studies the client's goals and business objectives, learns who the audience is and researches competitors, then shares its findings and possible directions. Before any design starts, the client receives a written summary of the work, a timeline, payment terms and a contract to approve.

Using what it learned, the studio prepares a first round of designs and takes the project through several rounds of revisions, so that the client's input is built into the result. Only when the client is fully satisfied with the creative does the project move into production. The agency says it works closely with clients to understand their markets and products, and that it aims to deliver on time and within budget.

2M Creative Inc. is a graphic design agency in the San Francisco Bay Area, set up by Mehdi Anvarian in July 2003. It concentrates on branding, print and custom websites, and much of its work is for early-stage technology companies.

Products and services

• Logo design: marks designed to work across print and screen as the starting point of a brand.
• Brand identity: colour, typography, imagery and layout rules that form a consistent visual system.
• Website design and build: sites designed from scratch, or developed from a template the client picks.
• Print design: printed materials that match the brand identity.

Clients

Startups and growing businesses, from new ventures to established firms in the Bay Area, as well as communications and PR agencies that bring it in on client projects.

Key facts

• Based in: San Francisco Bay Area, United States
• Founded: 2003
• Founder: Mehdi Anvarian, previously a design director at a Palo Alto design firm
• Process: discovery and research, design rounds with client feedback, then production