One for all
The Macy’s Inc. identity had evolved over many years without unifying principles. In the lead-up to announcing a new CEO succession plan, I oversaw the first corporate branding of Macy’s Inc. to represent all three brands equally including Bloomingdale’s and bluemercury. The work was completed in agile sprints for visual identity, corporate collateral, the website, and recruiting campaigns. Within five days of the announcement, WWD reported that J.P. Morgan had upgraded Macy’s stock, and gave a shoutout to the new branding.
The logotype was designed with Macys Sans, a bold custom font developed for digital impact. The iconic star, a symbol of guiding light first introduced by founder R.H. Macy, moved to the “inc” to shine light on the collective entity.
The color “Sunshine” was added to the primary palette, representing the commitment to creating brighter futures for colleagues, customers, communities, and business partners. The full palette included a signature color from each of the three retail brands.
A pattern derived from the “m” letterform signified both the flexibility of an individual thread, and its greater strength when united with others.
The signature color bar, supergraphic shapes (also derived from the “m”) and pattern brought modern energy to event swag, the corporate site and email communications.
A corporate-wide recruiting campaign with the tagline “Bring your amazing self to work” celebrated individuality with ads featuring colleagues and the fun personal facts they chose to share.
