Have you ever thought about what being “on-brand” means? Staff at Foursquare ITP are on-brand when it comes to embracing sustainable transportation. Several staff members went to Metro’s Silver Line grand opening just for fun. Ninety-seven percent of our DC-based employees get to work by transit, biking, or walking. I even met my now-husband for the first time on a Metro platform!
People have stories to tell. We all have an image in our minds of how we want others to see us. A company is no different, and the brand should be an extension of a company’s values, identity, and its story.
Foursquare ITP has rebranded. Why? This is the first time we’ve gone through a major revamp of our image in the 17 years we’ve been in business. A lot has happened in 17 years—the first iPhone was released, Taylor Swift has become a household name, and we’ve grown from two employees in one living room to more than 60 in four locations on the East Coast. Our original identity didn’t fit who we were anymore, so it was time to redefine ourselves.
What Our Story Says
A brand is more than a logo. It is our identity. It should tell Foursquare ITP’s story. Whether we are planning a completely redesigned bus network, developing expansion and operations plans for microtransit service, creating a performance dashboard, or helping a transit agency to plan strategically, we want to make sure we’re telling a consistent story. More importantly, we want to ensure that we’re telling a story that describes who our company is and where we want to go.
Our company name already means a great deal to us. You (hopefully) already know that Foursquare means “marked by boldness or conviction”—that describes who we are. Integrated Transportation Planning (ITP) is what we do. Put the two together—Foursquare ITP—and it describes who we are and what we do in a perfect package.
This has not changed. But over the past 17 years, our company has grown significantly in size and scope, so our story—and thus the brand that represents our story—needed to be updated.
The staff at Foursquare ITP remains passionate, dedicated, invested, and positive. But we are also innovative, resilient, intelligent, compassionate, supportive, and so much more. Therefore, we wanted the brand with which we represent ourselves to reflect these values. Our rebranding process was a journey, and like all journeys and all stories, there were obstacles and successes along the way.
The Journey Behind the Story
Foursquare ITP’s rebrand was performed almost entirely in-house with tremendous effort from every group. Designers agonized over fonts, colors, and layouts, while content marketers developed and edited website and video copy. Project managers provided quality assurance and quality control; almost everyone in the company could comment on drafts of various new elements.
We landed on a brand that better defines our values of forthrightness and integrity by using bolder and straightforward typography. We decided to use deep and rich colors inspired by nature to evoke feelings of sustainability.
Our logo incorporates four squares—symbolizing our core values—with a smooth line crossing through all four squares mimicking a transit line. We couldn’t think of a better way to symbolize what we do and who we are visually.
How You Impact Our Story
Foursquare ITP is more dedicated to our clients than ever—as well as our partners, stakeholders, and friends. We look forward to continuing to work with you and hope you love our new brand as much as we do.
If you’re not following us on LinkedIn already, please do so! We also have a brand new Instagram account, so you can follow us there too! With our new brand, we will be utilizing YouTube to share exciting client videos we’ve developed and tips and tricks some of our staff have learned. Like and subscribe to our improved channel so you’re the first to know when we’ve posted something new.
We are excited to share the rebrand with you and all it represents—a rededication to our core values, a commitment to sustainable transportation, and a focus on connections and communities.