As creators of premium storytelling content for brands and for the entertainment industry, Owner and Executive Creative Director Erin Sarofsky and her fellow makers at one-stop cross-media production company Sarofsky are extremely proud to announce the company’s rebrand, as brought to life in its redesigned and reimagined website: sarofsky.com.
The rebrand was led by Erin, along with Brand Strategist Kasia Deuling and Designer Magnus Deuling, with insights from the team, clients and collaborators of the successful woman-owned, Chicago-based company. Leaving no detail unconsidered, the total team effort leveraged the studio’s own highly meticulous processes forged in support of its all-star clientele. This expertly led deep dive brought the thoughtful group’s Mission – producing artful creations that advance client business objectives and inspire the world to see things differently – to the fore.
The reimagined brand presence also serves up many more of the group’s cherished personal values, and this shared Vision:
To maintain a diverse portfolio of cutting edge projects, to continue contributing to the bleeding-edge filmmaking community, and to keep evolving our working process so that it inspires collaboration and experimentation.
“One of the main objectives for the rebrand was to create a platform where the diversity of our work – stylistic and variety of clientele – would be showcased in a meaningful, beautiful way,” Erin began. “In addition to that we wanted to highlight our culture, our values and show off our deep investment into our process. I’m so proud of how all those aspects of our work and studio culture shine through.”
“Also,” added Executive Producer Steven Anderson, “we consider ourselves to be a teaching studio. Some of our greatest rewards come from growing talent, finding new talent out of market and with our ongoing commitments to our Sarofsky Labs workshops. Our site now reflects this much more effectively.”
Since the site’s launch on March 16, a great deal of feedback has focused on the amazingly in-depth case studies debriefing 50 of Sarofsky’s most iconic projects (all searchable by industry, specialty, or director). For anyone curious about the studio’s values, processes and/or craftsmanship, each case – cross-referenced according to craft, where each category is also clickable and given encyclopedic treatment – abounds with brilliant insights. As such, visitors can wade right in to learn the skinny on origination, design approaches, pitch elements and typography, and slip behind the scenes. From this expansive creative problem-solving hall of fame, Erin called out a few favorites.
- Guardians of the Galaxy: “I love this case study because we feature the work we did in both films. We show the titles, locators, end crawls and really explain the process and our involvement. It’s also really fun to see how the work evolved from one film to the next.”
- A Mystery to Me: “Most people probably don’t realize that we make longer format content. This case study thoroughly examines a documentary series we created, and even gets into some of the metrics for success.”
- Cherry: “Just released! The work we did in this blockbuster film impacts the overall tone and really was the foundation for all of Apple’s promotional work. In our case study, we show the complexity of the assignment and nuances of the decisions.”
Navigating through so much polished and thoughtful storytelling content, certain elements shine extra brightly. Having evolved over the past decade, the new logo form is characterized by its simplicity. The visual identity of the brand has been reduced to its core ingredients to make sure that what it is today will help plot a course to what it will become tomorrow. Like the company, it has grown and adapted to an ever-changing landscape, represented by its clear and striking visual language. Introducing videos like the studio’s mesmerizing new Anthem montage, the 2D logo takes 3D form, revolving to reveal an accordion-like set of structural ribs that fan out and dissolve, cleverly introducing what’s next. The logo also elegantly appears within the site, animating during key page transitions.
Throughout the site, visionary clients share their informed perspectives on Sarofsky. For anyone still wondering what sets the studio apart, read on to hear from Highdive Founders and CCOs Chad Broude and Mark Gross, Lionsgate’s SVP of Worldwide Television Creative Marketing Tom Gundred, Show Runner O’Shea Reed, Ogilvy Senior Partner and Global Group Creative Director Tereasa Surratt, and Director Anthony Russo. Nestled within the studio’s own story section is a dazzling IMDb rap sheet that is must-see.
In Erin’s words, “We are truly honored that these clients were willing to provide quotes about the studio and regarding specific projects. And beyond that, we are immensely proud that the site features our work in the best light and offers a clear picture of our culture.”
Credit for the new site’s development goes to Benjamin Miles, who shared these details. “Sarofsky.com is a WordPress site built on Sage (Blade/PHP) and includes a modern front-end workflow (NPM),” he said. “Each section of the site is accompanied by a bespoke set of levers and inputs allowing the team to really take control where it matters. This includes a robust, visual case-study builder internally named ‘Expo,’ a tool built on a series of custom Gutenberg blocks. Basically, we made our own version of Squarespace highly specific to Sarofsky’s needs.”
