Last week we had another L.A.B. session in which we dove deeply into our own brand. Who are we? Why do we exist? What were our first impressions of the company and how have they changed since weve been here? It was especially valuable since we had people who had been here just a few days and others for many years. Neat, right?

Demetrio led us through a few recently cooked up branding exercises as we ate our Vietnamese food for lunch. We explored these new models, told stories, drew pictures, asked questions, looked at where we had been and where we wanted to go. No hierarchy, no preconceptions, and we largely ignored where we had already been, since the company is radically different than it was just two years ago. And we did this together.

No one at the top decreed what our brand would be.

Let me say that again: No one at the top decreed what our brand would be.

Sure, I have a vision for the company and what I want it to do: Work in the social sector, only work with clients whose ethics align with ours, provide a community benefit. But Lime Red is way more than just my ideas for what business, and design for that matter, should be. It comes from all of us. This is what we all treasure.

Then, Demetrio wrote an amazing blog post explaining our exercises that day (which we recorded via video for posterity), and included all of our drawings and thoughts. But we were faced with a question how much of this should we share in a blog post? How precious is this information? How much of the thought process behind a brand should we give away?

I was tempted to give it all away, including the method for how we got there, but then I reconsidered.

We want to be transparent, but there are some things that are so valuable they must be protected. One of those things at Lime Red is our method: the many models weve developed to solve problems, like the newly created ones for the branding exercise. Weve invented these things.

Instead of giving away our most secret sauce, let me share with you the outcome of that brand definition process, our new shared values.

Our success depends on our differences

We layer our disparate interests and approaches in order to do the hard work of thinking together. The work of being creative problem solvers requires both collaboration and independent reflection, so its important to us to proactively grow our culture and embrace differences. Above all, we stick together and we make room to let other people and ideas in.

People, not data

We never forget that we are humans making things for humans. We have an insatiable curiosity for investigating how and why people interact with systems, interfaces, and ideas.

Be a pioneer

We are explorers and creators. We make the invisible visible. We develop our own models when the tried-and-true doesnt cut it. We are allergic to thats the way weve always done it.

We are the champions

We speak our minds about the things near and dear to us we champion our causes, our people, our community, and our friends. We share our most real thoughts we don’t hold anything back, even when things are hard to say. And when we see an injustice, we help.