Accompany’s zesty brand for Round and Round is paving a path for a circular, more sustainable future

“We’re all about a culture of collaboration to amplify the sum of us,” says Linda Jukic, Accompany’s Founder & Executive Creative Director. Working closely in tandem with each other is second nature to the Sydney-based design studio. It’s a practice that extends to their commissioned projects, as well as ones they initiate within the studio, such as Round and Round – a digital platform carving out a better future, by providing tips on how to go circular, and collating actionable information on better consumption and waste management practices for Sydney residents.

“We were talking about doing something beyond our everyday work, which could give us an opportunity to contribute to a better future and provide a platform for our learning and development,” Jukic tells us. When the team researched and joined some dots, the idea for Round and Round emerged. “Our research told us that communications dealing with waste and consumption were often so serious, dull and teacherly, people didn’t take notice or couldn’t be bothered following through.” Cut from a different cloth than most sustainability ventures, Round and Round is structured around three key circular actions: reuse, repair and rehoming. “We want residents to develop habits and prioritise these actions over recycling and disposal,” notes Jukic. To fuel “a social movement, drive behavioural change and encourage Sydneysiders to step up,” each category within the website showcases information and service providers in a snackable format, providing ease of connection.

The visual world, however, needed to be pulled together by a distinct, bold identity. Jukic’s team leaned heavily on illustrations – with chalky, textured linework – and a delicious palette of eye-catching hues. “The identity had to be timeless, as we want to appeal to a breadth of Australians,” shares Jukic. Energetic illustrations – made in-house – and bursts of motion underscore the Round and Round brand. Case in point – an illustration of a hula-hooping man on the website’s landing page, quickly transforms into a chain of bobbing heads, circling around the globe. Laced with a sense of optimism and playfulness, the project was designed and refined painstakingly by the entire Accompany team; a fact that nods to the collaborative spirit within the studio. “Throughout the process, we were catching up, openly reviewing the work, hashing out details, mashing up ideas, and even passing the parcel (which is what we call when someone starts something and someone else builds on it),” reveals Jukic. 

The approachable, friendly tone of the project draws its essence from both the typographic treatment, and the suite of colours dotting the project’s universe. “We laboured over the typography and worked elementally,” shares Jukic. Baryton, a characterful serif from Coppers and Brasses was chosen for the wordmark for its “exaggerated features, which expressed the energy that we were looking for, and contrasted well with the illustrations, linework and colours,” she says. The system was rounded off by Pangram Pangram’s Right Grotesk (which “sits happily alongside Baryton”) and the utilitarian sans serif, Neue Montreal, as supporting typefaces, used to punch more personality into the identity.

The other detail that took a while to define was the colours, which set the tone for the brand. “Colour can really make or break a vibe,” shares Jukic. While developing the graphic language, the team looked at “using thick linework, a black and white dotted pattern, and sections within the illustrations and layouts, so we needed to think about how colour worked with this,” she notes. Rather than having all colours operating at the same value, Accompany pushed and pulled the tones, “so we have some muted, deeper colours like the brown and green, and then some really poppy hues like indigo, pink and yellow.” Stringing together the different visual strands dexterously, Accompany delivers a fresh, vivid brand for Round and Round; one that proves that advocating a sustainable agenda doesn’t mean you can’t have a bit of fun too. 

Accompany

Round and Round