The archive · Design & Visual · Marketing decision · 2024
Standard Equipment's rebrand makes furniture into 'Tools for Non-Standard Living'
newkid positions furniture startup Standard Equipment as the makers of 'Tools for Non-Standard Living,' giving each product a standard and a non-standard usage.
Standard Equipment · newkid
What it had to solve
Standard Equipment is a new furniture company that combines utilitarian influences with a sense of fun drawn from the founder's background in toy design. The task was to establish the company in the design community at a moment when algorithms were driving an increasing standardization of taste.
How it works
Standard Equipment is a new furniture company that pairs utilitarian influences with a sense of fun drawn from its founder's background in toy design. The task was to establish the company inside the design community.
The context did part of the thinking: as algorithms push an increasing standardization of taste, a company name like Standard Equipment could sound like a joke about generic furniture. The design agency newkid read that as the brief.
The creative move was to flip the idea of standardization on its head. Standard Equipment would be positioned as the creators of 'Tools for Non-Standard Living,' and each product in the catalogue was assigned both a 'standard' and a 'non-standard' usage, giving every object a personality and the whole range a point of view.
Instead of running from its name, the brand made the name the message: the catalogue demonstrates non-standard living item by item. D&AD keeps the work in its awards archive under New Brand Identity; the page records no sales or engagement figures.
Why it lands
- A generic-sounding name is usually a weakness; flipping 'standard' into a philosophy turned the company's biggest branding problem into its message.
- Assigning every product a standard and a non-standard usage means the catalogue performs the idea, so the positioning is demonstrated rather than claimed.
- Reading the cultural moment — algorithms standardizing taste — gave the brand a reason to exist that was bigger than its furniture range.
- The founder's toy-design background made the playful non-standard layer feel authentic rather than bolted on.
What it did
The name that sounded like a liability became the brand's argument: the catalogue itself demonstrates non-standard living, item by item. D&AD keeps the work in its awards archive under New Brand Identity; the page records no sales or engagement figures.
What you can take
When a name reads as a liability, re-own it: a word like 'standard' can be flipped into a worldview, and the product range itself can act out the position instead of advertising it.
Since then
The identity was built around the Tools for Non-Standard Living idea, with each catalogue product carrying a standard and a non-standard usage. D&AD keeps the work in its awards archive under New Brand Identity; the page names newkid as entrant and design agency and records no launch or sales figures.
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