News: One Design Honored with 8 STA 100 Awards by The Society of Typographic Arts
CHICAGO, JUNE 10, 2025 — One Design is honored to announce that eight recent projects have been recognized through The Society of Typographic Arts’ prestigious 2025 STA 100 competition as among “the finest examples of communication design and typography created around the world.”
THE DETAILS
Branding work for S2G Investments; materials innovator, Lilac; real estate and construction firm, Merus; national produce distributor, Lange; biotech innovator, Dash Bio; film distribution company, Watermelon Pictures; the historic Pfister Hotel; and Branch, a generative typographic experiment, received awards.
S2G Investments
We led a comprehensive rebrand of S2G Investments, guiding the firm as it evolved from a focus on food and agriculture innovation to a broader mission: advancing innovation and compounding impact across a wide range of global sectors.
The new logo honors the company’s origins—investing in seed-stage ventures and supporting them through growth—while signaling a broader narrative of increasing impact over time. The typographic system is designed to meet a wide array of communication needs, from bold, impactful headlines to detailed financial data and beyond. Departing from conventional climate-sector palettes, the new color system embraces warm, natural tones—eschewing the overuse of traditional greens and blues in favor of a richer, more distinctive visual language.
Lilac
The world needs lithium to transition to a clean electric future. That means clean, sustainable, and cost-effective solutions for obtaining lithium are essential. Lilac is the leading provider of commercially-ready ion exchange technology solutions that help unlock faster, cheaper, and cleaner production methods to meet today’s lithium demand.
We worked to comprehensively (re)introduce Lilac. Built for the electric now. The custom typography in the new wordmark supports a bold, progressive vision. The dot in the “A” alludes to the process of lithium extraction.
A bonus: a flamingo mascot was developed as a symbol for the internal Lilac team—an emblem of the birds that flock to the brine lakes where their technology is deployed.
Merus
Over its 130 years in commercial real estate, Al. Neyer had evolved from a local, family-owned construction business into a national, employee-owned, vertically-integrated development company. But their name, brand, and website were stuck in the past. They needed a new identity and messaging that matched the progressive, multifaceted major player they had become in order to continue to attract the best talent, clients, and partners … all while honoring their 130 years of experience and brand equity.
We helped the Al. Neyer become Merus with a celebrated rebrand, website, and brand launch strategy and campaign, winning over heritage-minded stakeholders, and successfully navigating change management inside and outside the company.
Lange
The Tom Lange Family of Companies started out as a produce brokerage, growing to become industry legends with over 60 years of experience providing outstanding, full-circle customer service.
We repositioned and rebranded the Tom Lange Family of Companies, gaining internal alignment to consolidate three companies under one umbrella—Lange. This new parent brand enables the different lines of business to work together more efficiently, expanding their customer base and building the future longevity of the company. Last but not least, we developed a launch campaign for internal and external audiences to build confidence in the new Lange, while staying true to their roots and history in the industry.
The N–G ligature in the logo symbolizes their relentless pursuit of the best path forward, honoring 60 years of legacy while embracing growth.
Dash Bio
We crafted a dynamic brand system for Dash Bio, reflecting its tech-driven approach to clinical bioanalysis. The identity emphasizes speed and precision, aligning with Dash's mission to revolutionize drug development through automation and AI.
The Dash logo features a progressive mark symbolizing rapid progress and innovation. It captures Dash's commitment to accelerating biotech advancements, embodying their pursuit of efficiency and transformative impact in clinical bioanalysis. A custom dot matrix typeface was developed, alluding to plotted data points as well as assay pipette trays found in lab spaces around the world.
Branch
We created an experimental generative display typeface for a stealth biotech company. Using Slussen from Blaze Type as a scaffold, we built a generative system that fills each letterform with branching patterns inspired by the biological mechanics neural growth and Charles Darwin’s Tree of Life.
No two instances are ever the same—each pattern is generated from a randomized set of variables that simulate an environment of competition. As the pattern grows, each branch and node competes for survival, engaging in a two-dimensional battle of the fittest to see which can persist the longest and form the most extended arc. The result is a striking blend of organic behavior and structural rigidity—symbolic of the scientific precision at the core of the client’s innovation in biology.
Watermelon Pictures
Watermelon Pictures is a Palestinian-owned film production and distribution company founded by two Chicago-based brothers under a mission to elevate unheard voices and perspectives. A collaboration with our friends at Field of Practice, we crafted a bilingual visual identity system that offers a fresh lens on Palestinian stories in cinema.
The Pfister Hotel
We led a comprehensive rebrand for the Pfister Hotel, a century-old hospitality destination in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Our work revitalized the graphic identity of the city’s “palace for the people,” blending old world charm with a contemporary flair.
A subtle—and somewhat awkward—sans / serif pairing in the wordmark nods to the mixture of architectural styles present throughout the hotel. Geometric framing devices allude to architectural motifs present throughout the hotel spaces. And verbal expression breathes life into the hotel’s hospitality philosophy and character.
ABOUT THE COMPETITION
Now in its 46th year, The Society of Typographic Arts’ STA 100 competition seeks to identify and honor the finest examples of communication design and typography created around the world. The competition jury selects and presents only the 100 best examples of typographic excellence produced in the previous year.
ABOUT THE JUDGES
The 2025 jury of professionals included Jessica Hische, Jenna Blazevich, Cymone Wilder, and Chris Piascik; and represents a wide range of experiences and expertise that demonstrate careers of depth and substance. This year’s competition was chaired by Mary Kate McDevitt.
ABOUT THE STA
Since it was founded in Chicago on October 17, 1927, the STA has existed to encourage excellence and professionalism in all aspects of design, printing, and typography. Originally a chapter of the New York-based American Institute of Graphic Arts, in 1927 the Society of Typographic Arts created its own identity as an organization of Chicago’s leading professional designers, typographers, and printers.
Check out the complete slate of 2025 STA 100 award winners here, or focus in on the specific One Design projects that received honors.
And while you’re at it, take a moment to learn a little bit about The Society of Typographic Arts as well as the history of the STA 100 competition.
