At the end of Q1, we have reopened 2 offices and introduced almost 50 new Nitronauts. In the first three months of 2022, a lot has happened for Nitro and more still in our global communities. With the busyness of day-to-day, how do we keep the spirit and high energy of a new year alive? More importantly, how do we carry the "Go Beyond" attitude past the initial buzz of Kick-Off?
Russell Gossett is the Head of Brand Design at Nitro. He and the design team are the creative minds behind the #GoBeyond theme, celestial visuals, and our favorite new hoodie accompanying the 2022 Kick-Off. But Go Beyond is more than a catchy phrase or hashtag.
C: What does "Go Beyond" mean?
R: “Go Beyond” is meant to extend across the brand and across the business. It is meant to represent all Nitronauts looking forward with confidence and curiosity. An inspirational mantra. GO BEYOND. GO NITRO!
C: Where did the idea of “Go Beyond” come from?
R: “Go Beyond” came out of the planning sessions for CKO this year. We began with phrases like “Elevate” or “Expand Your Horizons” which were inspirational but lacked a connection to Nitro’s overall mission. We knew we were entering “Chapter 3” of the Nitro Story (as Sam likes to say), where connection, our Nitro global community, and rapid growth were top of mind, so it made sense to think about where we are going now and into the future. The phrase resonated because we are not passive observers. Every single Nitronauts is an explorer, adventurer, doer, entrepreneur, hacker, encourager, and most of all inspirational in their own way. “Go Beyond” is a phrase that reflected that energy …also, a bunch of billionaires last year were blasting off in rockets, so we were already thinking about space!
C: How does the new Nitronaut relate to the “Go Beyond” theme?
R: The new Nitronaut doesn’t just relate, it’s the embodiment of “Go Beyond.” With its swirling bright textural brushstrokes, hand-illustrated by Carlie Russelle of Redstamp, the Nitronaut 2.0 is full of expression staring stoically out at the great frontier—space. What is on the horizon for Nitro? Don’t you want to put that helmet on and see for yourself?!
C: How does this affect our customers?
R: In July 2021 we launched our brand refresh. A newly designed website with new color schemes, typography, icons, and a design system. Since then, we have been focused on evolving all our other brand assets—products, ads, sales collateral, etc. all of it—to be on-brand. You may have noticed this. Now that we’ve started the revolution, we are continuing with the evolution, and “Go Beyond” is part of that evolution, enhancing our brand expressions in the market beyond typography and color. For our customers, they’ll see examples of our Nitronaut and “Go Beyond” theme as LinkedIn banners, messaging, and overall brand materials. Most importantly, we want them to understand the expressive nature of “Chapter 3” while not forgetting what is so important about our Chapters 1 and 2.
C: What do you hope this messaging instills in our employees for 2022?
R: First, we hope this messaging resonates with everyone. drop a line to Russ Gossett on Slack or design@gonitro.com. We/I’d love to hear from you. Second, we hope this resonates well beyond 2022. We would hope everyone with a @gonitro.com email address feels like they are a part of a larger community. One that celebrates their effort as much as their quality of work.
From a brand perspective, we hope it signifies a step toward broadening our communication efforts across the organization. Selfishly, we also hope it makes you think productivity workflows can look pretty freakin’ cool.
Lastly, we hope it inspires you to go beyond yourselves and uncover new terrain.
