Alberta Carbon Grid branding

A joint-venture between TC Energy and Pembina, the Alberta Carbon Grid is designed to provide an integrated approach to managing the transportation and sequestration of CO2 captured from sources like industrial facilities, storing it deep underground.

Prior to my involvement in the project, a logo and website for ACG had already been created, however there were no branding guidelines to accompany them. I was tasked with defining brand parameters and creating examples of brand execution across different mediums.

Defining the brand colours

I observed that the logo and its existing colours did not adhere to web accessibility guidelines. In an effort to minimize disruption, I modified the brand colours as subtly as possible to comply with WCAG 2.0 standards while maintaining a close appearance to the existing in-market materials. This was key to reducing discrepancies between old-brand content and the updated, accessible materials. Three more colours were then selected to be used as a secondary palette. When the client was happy with these design choices, I determined appropriate CMYK and Pantone colours to match their RGB counterparts, testing different mixes with a variety of print providers.

Choosing typography

My next step was to define the typography. It was important for me to identify a clean, open-source typeface that would work well in both print and digital applications. After some searching and more than a little trial and error, I landed on Albert-Sans, a sans-serif Google font which cuts clean, modern lines without pretention.

I decided a secondary typeface could be strategically used for emphasis, calls to action, pull quotes, etc. For contrast against Albert-Sans, I turned to a slab serif font called Pridi, another Google open-source font.

During the process of testing fonts, I came up with the tagline the project adopted: ''Capture. Transport. Store.'', along with a treatment of font weight gradients from medium to semibold.

Design elements

I developed a design language for Alberta Carbon Grid that was inspired by old bauhaus designs, which feature bold and blocky shapes, bright colours, interesting use of textures and collage elements.

Using the 'C' shape in the logo as a jumping point, I came up with a few other simple geometric elements that can be used for everything from textures to framing elements to overlays. This allows for flexibility in layouts across print, digital, and video applications.

I devised a few other abstract line-art shapes to be used as embellishments to create a sense of depth and scale. These elements offer more than just a passing nod to the bahuaus inspiration.

Empowering with PowerPoint

Once the brand guidelines were signed off by all stakeholders, I created a robust PowerPoint template that employs all the branded elements, colours, overlays, and embedded fonts in one place. This allows non-designers to unlock the full potential of the new brand. The deck contains 44 master slides in a variety of layouts, each containing placeholders for text and image placeholders as brand shapes, allowing users to bring in or modify images without needing complicated graphics programs to create image masks.

The ACG brand in action

Below are some examples of the brand in use within digital and printed mediums...

Branded display at the 2023 Carbon Capture Conference

I designed the panels and visual elements featuring Alberta Carbon Grid's branding at their booth which was a prominent fixture in the 2023 Carbon Capture Conference in Edmonton, Alberta in September 2023.

The ACG brand in video

As the first real-world test of the brand guidelines, I outsourced video production work to a talented colleague named Victor Zapatas. Armed with only a few animated examples I put together alongside the brand guidelines, he knocked this video out of the park and delivered a flawless execution of my vision for how the Alberta Carbon Grid brand would look in video format.