Brands for Those That Build: Multistudio's Amanda Harper on Pushing the Graphic Envelope, Finding Alignment, and Being Thoughtfully Bold

By Patrick Dimond

Amanda Harper joined Multistudio from an advertising background and has spent the last 15 years leading the Brand Experience practice, where she explores the intersections of communication and the built environment. Amanda believes design should be nimble, holistic, and a means to solve any business challenge. Amanda's philosophy is informed by hue, the handmade, and her passion for exploration. In her conversation with Patrick Dimond, Amanda talks about taking pause and being thoughtful, but also being bold, advising those just starting their careers to have confidence in their opinions, and to share them.

PD: Tell me about your foundational years; where did you grow up, and what did you like to do as a kid?

AH: I grew up across from Seattle on an island called Bainbridge. It's a decent-sized town, so it's not tiny. My dad was an architect, and my mom was a nurse; while growing up, my mom had several side hustles, from sewing children's clothes to working as a chocolatier. So, I grew up in a creative environment due to my parents and their passions, and pursuing creative outlets is something I have always done.

I was also very into children's theater, so I feel like that was a good foundation for being comfortable presenting and speaking loudly or taking on personas, if you will.

It was not a large part of my childhood, but being involved in those kinds of activities helped me prepare some confidence later in life when I needed it.

City of Phoenix, 7th Ave Streetscape. Photography by Nadar Abushhab of NBMA Photography.

I have an aunt who lives near the Dosewallips River in Brinnon, Washington, and my mom's business partner moved to Bainbridge, so I'm familiar. I have a feeling that the area is brimming with creatives. I love that your upbringing fostered those outlets.

There are so many creative types out there. There’s an annual tour where you can visit everyone's studios across the island. I think it was a great place to grow up and I felt tremendously supported in whatever endeavor it might have been.

There was always something for everybody. With my dad being an architect, I remember him going to projects and always coming back and bringing something exciting. We would always hang out in the model shop or the supply room or play with the Copic markers. I felt immersed in this industry at a young age, but he always told me never to become an architect.

So, I didn't become one. He didn't specify enough to say don't work in an architecture studio. Right [laughs].

I'm interested in how you chose to pursue graphic design; how did you veer into signage, wayfinding, and, more specifically, graphics centered around the built environment?

I feel like it was a bit of kismet, so to speak. I went to school and studied creative advertising. My background is rooted mainly in strategy, connecting with audiences and users, and understanding how to connect with people regarding a brand.

When I graduated from college, a friend and I had made a pact that whoever got a job first was where we would move. So, I applied to advertising and creative agencies on the coasts and thought that was where I would land. My roommate applied to four jobs, one being at ASU, so I thought, okay, here we go.

Growing up, my dad had a project in Arizona, and we would piggyback off some of his work trips and make it into an extended stay, so I was familiar. When I arrived in Arizona, I didn't have a job and applied to traditional ad agencies. But, I was also looking for graphic design positions and found an opening at Gould Evans that supported the marketing department. I knew about architecture from my upbringing, and with my advertising background, I thought I'll give it a go. It was my first interview, and there were about, not kidding, 12 people in the room that all sat in and asked questions, and I ended up getting the job. I believe it was the stars aligning.

“We found alignment around designing for possibility, something the collective whole could see themselves in...”

— Amanda Harper

Was there anything you realized about yourself during that time?

I think many people go into design and realize a lot about themselves because it is about experiencing the world, meeting different people, and hearing about their experiences.

Was there anything that dawned on you, or was it as a practitioner that you were influenced by design?

I think it was throughout my practice that I was more influenced by design. Studying it made me question my skills as a designer because there are so many strong designers and avenues you can approach or interpret design. Or the fact that design can be so subjective and that there isn't any one correct answer. So that exploration and process and how you get there was a revelation for me.

I have always thought the process was the most intoxicating thing, figuring out a design challenge and jumping into that element.

Tell me about your work and how it has evolved with you over time.

I mentioned that I had started at Multistudio first as a graphic designer who supported the marketing department. I also had the chance to collaborate in the office on traditional signage and wayfinding projects.

My first marketing project was for a proposal we were submitting for Alice Cooper — he had a foundation that supports youth, and they were looking to build a new center. A young architect and I suggested making the proposal in the format of an album cover. We went out and bought many vinyl pieces of Alice Cooper’s inspirational artists to incorporate into the proposal. Everybody looked at us like we were crazy, but we did it. And, for that to be my first project out of the gate with an out-of-the-box proposal, perhaps set my trajectory [laughs].

My first complete signage project was rather complex. It was for The University of Arizona College of Law, and there was a considerable donor component and many stacks within the library to consider. It was a sink or swim scenario, but I'm an incredibly detailed and organized, so to sink into those details was helpful to set a strong foundation in EGD.

I think that was a great start; I had a good flow with a good working partnership, where I could bounce between multiple projects and marketing. But, still, it wasn't necessarily utilizing my education. And so, another designer and I made a pitch to start a branding studio offering more traditional graphic design studio within the firm.

Harvest Retail Design Playbook. Photography by Rohener and Ryan.

As interesting as restroom graphics are, it isn’t my lifelong dream to only be doing restroom code signage [laughs], so we had this idea, and at the time, Dave Evans was practicing out of the Phoenix office, and was very supportive. He said put together a business plan, and let's see where it goes. My partner at the time and I went to Borders Books, wrote a business plan around building brands for those who build. We ended up making a pitch to identity these services separate from the architectural side because, at that time, it wasn't widespread for an architecture firm to provide graphic design services, branding services, or environmental graphic design.

We felt it was essential to have separate marketing, to get different types of clients or work. We ran through several connections and won a project with Aramark at ASU, which allowed us to build a traditional brand and graphic design portfolio. So that was how Canary started, which with Gould Evans has now evolved to Multistudio.

It was exciting to have projects outside of the traditional architecture work. I was most excited about working on different projects that were still rooted in an industry embedded in the built environment. I think that was something we leveraged well when competing against traditional advertising agencies, and it still differentiates us.

When we started with the idea of building brands for those who build, we thought our clients would have been architecture adjacent; it didn't necessarily end up being that way.

It broadened and was more about how we have a different perspective, how we look at brands with place in mind, and how they can be inherently tied back to architecture. We also consider users and how people engage with the built environment. All this to say, our work has been greatly influenced by working alongside architects, interior designers, and city planners.

I think the perception of advertising is an old boys club, and it's refreshing to see a women-led team shake those antiquated standards. Can you give me insight into what Canary, soon to be Multistudio, looks like and how it fits into an architecture studio?

Traditional ad agency services like media placement or campaign development won't be a part of our portfolio; those services are so nuanced and take a different kind of expertise. I see our role in strategy or brand development and how it parlays into several touchpoints: a website, print, or social media strategy, and, of course, systems built into the environment. A close relationship like ours, where collaboration across disciplines, will inevitably produce outcomes that are stronger than those that are siloed.

And I think that those two lines blur because, yes, we can provide more traditional services. But if you think about a brand ecosystem, it's all those things, right? You and your audiences engage with your brand differently within the built environment and beyond.

Many people say branding is a kind of therapy in some form or fashion. You must work out various personalities and opinions and the business, operational, and work aspects. The Multistudio rebrand started with the observation that we needed a new website. And we asked the question, what do we put on this new website? What's important enough to make the cut for such a public space. That was when we decided we needed a core committee with representation from our physical locations and multiple disciplines.

“...be thoughtfully bold and have confidence in your opinions. Do not be afraid to share and be fearless in those concepts, but make sure that your ideas are sound.”

— Amanda Harper

We hired a consultant to help us identify foundational building blocks of who we are, what we do, and how we do it.

One of the biggest challenges for the studio was that our studio is comprised of five geographical locations with five distinct portfolios. We have leadership at the helms of these spaces with their entrepreneurial spirit to develop all these lines of business, marketing tools, stories, or whatever it be. We needed to streamline all these voices into one identity while respecting the uniqueness of each studio.

We found alignment around designing for possibility, something the collective whole could see themselves in; I hope we got there. I hope everybody feels excited about it.

No, it totally does. I think it gives a lot of freedom to the fact that everyone's different. So the black and white font is justified, and it lets the different work speak for itself while delivering an impact.

What are you most excited about right now?

I'll answer in two ways. First, I'm most excited for Multistudio – for our studio to be more open to design as a whole. While for many years we have cross-collaborated, the intentionality of us moving forward and approaching each project from that Multistudio lens from the beginning is exciting.

Secondly, and on a personal note, my little one is going into kindergarten this fall. Seeing her grow into her own is so sweet and seeing her recognize more of me being at work or what I'm doing and taking an interest in what I'm doing on a screen is thrilling. I want to continue to be a positive role model for her and teach her that she can achieve anything. She is absolutely a girl with her own will, and hopefully, I'll raise a strong female.

Who are you admiring?

There are always so many. I'm always in awe of my mom, coworkers, and mentors. I'm also inspired by my daughter.

I think it's powerful to have accessibility through apps like Instagram to, say, check out a textile designer in Mexico City, or an embroidery artist in South Africa, or a weaver in Belgium. I recently took a painting pigment workshop with a woman in Santa Fe that I found through Instagram. I admire those artists who are sinking into their craft and sharing it on social media.

Yosemite Valley. Photography by Rohener and Ryan.

It's funny you say that because I’ve been fawning over a textile designer, Rebecca Atwood, who lives in Charleston. She worked with a creative agency called Fuzzco, which is also based out of Charleston. After doing a little sleuthing, an entire community of craftspeople settled down there during the 2008 recession. I have been following an architecture and interior design firm called Workstead, and they appeared on my radar during that renaissance.

I think the reason for that re-emergence was that designers were faced with limited budgets, and they needed to stretch their imaginations, and the results were wonderfully nuanced spaces. I'm convinced that all those seemingly disparate industries find inspiration from each other.

I want to end our interview with two questions: how are you making or going to make the world a more beautiful place?

I think about my work when traveling or in a new place. I'm always observing how things are done in those places. One time I was walking with a friend. She was like, you know, I've lived here forever, and I always appreciate walking with you because you see these details that maybe I never saw before, like the small graffiti art on the sidewalk or the way that a façade pattern was, or a beautiful historical kind of texture.

Pausing for those moments is important when I'm experiencing a place, whether in an environment or reading a brochure, or scrolling through a website. It's powerful when I can create something that causes somebody to pause and take a moment to be inspired or find a moment of connection. However brief it may be, that pause is significant, especially in a world where everybody is going a mile a minute.

What advice do you have for those starting their careers?

I don't know if it's any different for women, but maybe more emphasized, I would tell people to be thoughtfully bold and have confidence in your opinions. Do not be afraid to share and be fearless in those concepts, but make sure that your ideas are sound.

Thoughtfully bold. I love that this is how the interview ends. Thank you, Amanda, for speaking with me. I appreciate your time and advice.