Strangeworks Brand Development

Client: Strangeworks
Role: Brand Strategist and Lead Copywriter. Brand identity developed in collaboration with René Charles Arseneau (Art Director), Félix Arsenault (Illustrator), and Sid Lee Montréal / Sid Lee Los Angeles.
Timeline: 60 days

Deliverables: Strangeworks website and product copy, brand tenets (such as the Strangeworks manifesto), and copy and communication design for whurley’s SWSW Interactive Keynote.

Project summary: Strangeworks, an early-stage quantum computing startup and software consultancy, needed a way to soar higher in a market largely occupied by scientists and academics. Seeking a plan of attack to democratize the power of quantum and make its potential accessible to all, I collaborated with the founding team to create a strategy for the company’s brand and digital ecosystem, author live copy on the Strangeworks website, and assist in narrative direction and communication design of the founder’s SXSW Interactive keynote. Together, our work led to a $4M seed round led by Lightspeed Ventures later that year.

The beginning: Quantum is coming, and it needs our help.

In an industry with headlines as ominous as these, one thing is clear: people don’t always understand the complexities of quantum. But they do understand it’s powerful. And they’re starting to believe that power is, well, imminent. Before the rising tide of quantum computing headlines of the last year or two, the founding team of Strangeworks saw an opportunity in elucidating this polarizing industry for everyone. Well, more specifically, for the folks that don’t have PhDs in physics or computer engineering. They knew that the power of quantum would only improve if everyone understood it — and better yet, if they were compelled to be a part of the movement.

whurley was one of the early believers in quantum computing solving the problems humanity faces today. From climate change to medical research, he dedicated the next step of his career to harnessing the potential of quantum, and sought to crowdsource the momentum beyond the efforts of the kind folks at CERN. But to do this, the founding team faced a few challenges: how can we get people interested and engaged in quantum computing initiatives? And how can we explain complex (and at times, indeterminate) concepts in a way that’s true to the personality of the folks at Strangeworks, without PhDs in physics, who would be selling it?

The ask: Develop a brand that inspires everyday people to rally behind the power of quantum computing.

Quantum needed wind beneath its wings. And Strangeworks needed to establish whurley as an industry expert without putting him through a doctoral program. I was approached by the Strangeworks team to bring whurley’s vision down to earth through a compelling brand narrative and ecosystem. 

The framework for the brand had been established from a visual perspective when I arrived on the team, but the messaging system and brand voice hadn’t yet been developed. The Strangeworks team asked me to author the brand’s voice around several key pillars that had informed the creation of the sentinel quantum eye logo:

• Arcane, with an air of mythic mystery. See Dr. Strange, Stonehenge, runes, the Elder Futhark, Norse mythology, and the Pyramids of Giza.

• Monochromatic and straightforward to convey linear simplicity without being unapproachable.

• Snarky, sarcastic, occasionally impudent, but executed in a way that is never at the expense of anyone else. (“We have no rivals — we consider our competitors fellow knowledge bases.”)

Phase 1: Cement whurley’s identity as a quantum knowledge broker within multiple communities by virtue of Superposition.

Before writing the Strangeworks voice, we first had to define whurley’s own as a quantum expert. And to become a knowledge broker in the quantum space, he didn’t need a PhD in particle physics; he just needed to start writing and speaking. Superposition was conceptualized as a solution to bridge the gap in the public’s perception of the future of quantum computing. I created a strategy for whurley to convey his vision to an audience by first defining the problem and segmenting his hopes for the project into the goals above. Next, I created audience segmentation through research of current interest in this field. I generated multiple potential content structure formats through an analysis of other areas of thought leadership, and created a competitive analysis to match Superposition with its potential competition. Finally, I mapped several approaches to authorship based on prominent knowledge broker segments in similar spheres across a range of formats.

Phase 2: Establish Strangeworks’s brand tenets and initialize website content development.

Distilling the personality and flair of the Strangeworks team began with an exercise in mind mapping the outer bounds of what the team aspired to be. To generate the tone of voice we’d use to define Strangeworks moving forward, I worked with the founding team to outline how the brand would (and could) express itself. This map would continuously evolve over time, ultimately assisting lead brand designer Casey Barthels in developing a visual language for Strangeworks’s product.

I crafted a manifesto to imbue the Strangeworks brand with a set of values to carry forward Strangeworks’ goal of humanizing quantum simply, curiously, and in a way designed to engage skeptics and new quantum enthusiasts from all walks of life. With a nod to the arcane, mythic look and feel of the Strangeworks brand, I opted to do this through a tarot-style distribution of seven brand tenets. This would guide the Strangeworks narrative toward a quantum future moving forward, and flavored the tone of whurley’s SXSW keynote, too.

Phase Three: Hello, SXSW Interactive.

whurley had big plans to introduce Strangeworks to the world at SXSW 2018, where he’d be delivering a keynote to explicate the potential of quantum’s impact on humanity with our efforts combined. The challenge? The room wouldn’t be filled with people who already understood principles of quantum mechanics — but there would be nine of them in the front row offering friendly scrutiny. 

So with oversight from whurley and visual design efforts from Sid Lee Montreal, we developed a keynote that donned the same approachable tone that Strangeworks’s brand leveraged to achieve its goals for both the business and for the brand’s mission. The narrative framework of this keynote had a few simple goals: give quantum computing a friendly, refreshed introduction to the world through Strangeworks, establish whurley as a subject matter expert, and legitimately entertain people for all of the right reasons. 

To actualize those goals, we made sure to signpost each from the beginning, middle, and end of the deck, giving whurley a seamless storyline to follow and ensuring all goals were met from a visual perspective.

The outcome: Strangeworks gets funded.

Although we largely considered the Strangeworks launch in the greater Austin community an immediate success due to the reviews of friends and local news outlets, the true success of the Strangeworks story followed a $4M seed investment in the company by Lightspeed Ventures, following a road tour by whurley to gain investor interest with the same deck, brand, and speaking points he’d used for SXSW 2018. With a solid direction on product thanks to the addition of a product manager and multiple developers, the brand successfully established Strangeworks as a stand-out brand, choosing a unique and distinctive approach to tackle quantum computing from a humane perspective.