Announcing our new brand!

Why Rebrand?

A new brand is rare, especially for a 111-year-old company.

For us, announcing a new brand is a little scary but a lot exciting. This brand aligns us more closely with who we really are and who we want to be — a good neighbor and a great design firm. We've lived that mission for a long time, and now we announce a brand that reflects our values.

Key to the rebrand is our home, here, in East Tennessee. We have operated continuously from Knoxville since Charlie and Ben founded the firm in 1915. We acknowledge our legacy while continuing to build on it. Our history guides our innovative, curious spirit. We've been defined by East Tennessee, just as our craft has shaped the city and region around us. We love this place. We are this place.

The rebrand also honors our craft — our devotion to great design, not for its own sake, but to make our community a better place for us all. Our pursuit of the highest craft possible leads us to beautiful spaces, yes, but beautiful spaces that meet the needs of our clients. Through design, we balance rigor with creativity and joy with intentionality.

Finally, the rebrand reflects our diverse people and the services we offer. We are not just architects. We are also interior designers, planners, stewards, community volunteers, and servant leaders. We're curious. Connected. A little intense. A little colorful.

We're still Barber McMurry. We're more Barber McMurry.

About the Rebrand

We partnered with TOKY, an award-winning creative studio that specializes in brand strategy and brand identity design. The TOKY team conducted exhaustive, in-depth research, including interviews with our team and clients.

We sought to leave behind the restraints of the blue box and the BMA acronym. We identified the aspects of our brand that we wished to retain, and that had emotional resonance — in particular, the Barber McMurry name.

The rebrand concept was shaped by four pillars we felt were foundational to who Barber McMurry is and wants to be:

• Place — our home, right here in East Tennessee
• People — our unique, collaborative, intense team and culture
• Craft — our curious, detailed design approach
• Legacy — our history in this region and how it shapes our future

The Big Idea

From there, we generated our Big Idea — a singular manifesto that represents us:

About Our Name

Barber McMurry has operated under the same name since 1915. The rebrand drops "Architects" from the name and abandons the acronym "BMA." These changes reflect the diversity of our studio and services, honor our founders, and separate us from the sea of sameness — design studios whose names are reduced to three letters. There are many BMAs. There is only one Barber McMurry.

The Visual Identity

The visual identity is built around themes of Excellence in Craft, Quiet Confidence, and Curiosity. We wanted every element of the visual identity to be approachable, human, trusted, and sincere. Disciplined, but not stiff. Understated yet sophisticated. And above all, we wanted the visual identity to reflect the spirit of East Tennessee.

The Logo

The custom logo features an arrow notched directly into the "B" of the firm's name, reflecting our innate connection to East Tennessee. The letter forms of the "r" and "y" are customized to also mirror the arrow notch. Horizontal and stacked versions of the logo, in multiple colors, are inherently flexible.

The Geomarkers

Supporting the importance of place, the use of geomarkers throughout the brand is a visual reminder that every place, and every design, is unique and contextual.

The Arrow

The arrow is refined from the "notch" commonly used alongside geomarker tags.

The Color Palette

The color palette is inspired by East Tennessee — the tones of the ridges, valleys, and waters that surround us. Native flora and fauna are represented, in tones like Hemlock, Tulip Poplar, Goldenrod, Firefly, and Persimmon. Regional materiality and craftsmanship are represented in tones like Tennessee Marble and Blacksmith. And you know we had to have Biscuit.

The Typography

The main typeface is Area Normal, which carries a modernist label yet traces its roots to the 1800s. Like Barber McMurry, it carries a legacy forward with understated, contemporary expression. The secondary typeface is JetBrains Mono, a structured and technical font that nevertheless reveals a little discipline and quirkiness.