Mr. John of Pittsburgh

Square peg, round hole

You can’t fit a square peg in a round hole, as the adage goes.

So, when it came to giving Mr. John of Pittsburgh a new look, SG&D followed suit, turning the company’s dated, square logo into a more modern oval with a retro feel, maintaining the integrity of Mr. John’s easily recognizable colors.

The new logo became the point around which new stationery items were designed, as well as a new 100+ page website, which launched on February 10, 2009.

THE LOGO:

When representatives of Mr. John first met with SG&D in late 2007 to discuss the possibility of updating the company’s logo, there were several concerns on both sides.

Mr. John was concerned about maintaining the company’s recognition among customers and other users of their products.

“When you develop a brand, the goal is to have people immediately recognize a company when they see their logo,” Mr. John President Michael McCarthy said. “Our biggest concerns, then, were readability and recognition.”

By understanding these concerns, SG&D Senior Designer Michael Seidl was able to create a new logo that maintained the company’s color scheme, which was very recognizable. He also changed the square logo into an oval-shaped brand, in order to maintain better brand consistency, as the signage on most of Mr. John’s units is oval in nature.

Also, by choosing a script-style font, Seidl was able to portray the personality of a family-owned business that has been around since 1964.

“The reaction to our new logo has been overwhelmingly positive,” Mr. John Vice President Christopher McCarthy said. “The most common feedback I get is that our new logo is sharp and professional, which is the exact result we were looking for.”

THE ‘SIDEKICKS’:

To accompany the new Mr. John look, SG&D also designed new logos for Tri-Boro Trailer and Aqua Flush. Mr. John is the parent company of Tri-Boro Trailer, while Aqua Flush is a product and service provided by Mr. John.

The Tri-Boro logo was designed to directly correlate with the new look of the Mr. John logo. Unlike the redesign of the Mr. John logo, maintaining recognition was not a concern, as the then-current Tri-Boro logo emulated a product line that the company no longer carried.

Later, when Aqua Flush was designed, it mimicked the Tri-Boro look, except with a more fluid appeal to better represent the product, which is providing fresh water facilities to areas where water is not typically available.

THE WEBSITE:

The next and most significant step was totally overhauling and expanding the company’s website. The previous site was difficult to navigate, as several menus and links were repetitive and the product lists were outdated and organized haphazardly.

Through a combined team effort between Mr. John and SG&D, the menus for the new website were created and organized, information about the company’s history and industries served was expanded, and new sections including a service area map, employment listings, and multiple online forms were added.

The websites for the two companies – Mr. John and Tri-Boro – were completely integrated in a seamless fashion, yet both can work as standalone sites with two separate and unique URLs.

In addition, downloadable PDFs are now available on the site for each product that Mr. John and Tri-Boro offers, providing an additional convenience to potential customers who no longer have to call to request printed items about individual products.

The site was also designed with expansion in mind. If additional products or items need to be added to the site, it can be done easily without disrupting the integrity of the current look and feel.

“Our new website has been a great success up to this point,” Chris McCarthy said. “The new site is a vast resource for current and potential customers as well as our own employees. Specifically the forms and contact information have been great additions, generating numerous sales leads, information requests, invoice requests and requests for employment.”