Umbel

Traditional acoustics consultancies are often product-led, focusing on the installation of commercially available acoustic panels, screens, tiles, and baffles to improve a space’s acoustic quality. In contrast, Detroit-based Umbel “approaches acoustics through the lens of shape,” collaborating with architects and interior designers to create acoustically superior spaces by intelligent deployment of the structure’s own materials and elements.

The studio takes its name from the botanical term for a flower cluster in which individual flowers propagate outward from a common point of origin. The mark was created entirely of typographic elements, and can be typed at a keyboard; slashes and backslashes represent sound waves. The type palette features our own Reckham and Ballinger Mono. The business cards were printed letterpress on unbleached kraft board to emphasize the studio’s focus on materiality. Website by Post Studio.