West Monroe is one of the smallest consulting companies in the world’s top twenty, however, it doesn’t mean the weakest. The company has offices in several cities in America, Costa Rica, and London, and has more than two thousand employees.
The company was founded in 1913 – Arthur Andersen and his partner Clarence Delaney purchased a small company “The Audit Company of Illinois”. The new company was called “Andersen, Delaney & Co.”, and since 1918 – “Arthur Andersen & Co.”. For the next nearly 90 years, the firm’s business was successful – Arthur Andersen was first among the “Big Eight”, the “Big Six”, and towards the end of its operations – among the “Big Five” audit firms. By 2002, the company had $9.3 billion in annual revenue and a presence in 84 countries.
However after the scandalous case with the Enron Corporation, Arthur Andersen & Co. was turned away from almost all major clients. Within a couple of months, 785 of the 2,300 firms had abandoned its services. As a result, by June 2002, when the court ordered that Arthur Andersen be prohibited from auditing the financial statements of companies registered with the Securities and Markets Commission. In July 2002, Arthur Andersen & Co. ceased to exist. And four former employees, led by Kevin McCarty, decided to start a new brand. And so West Monroe was born.
The founders were able to apply their extensive experience in the consulting industry, resulting in West Monroe becoming one of the world leaders in its segment, and today positioning itself as a digital services business.
What is West Monroe?
West Monroe is the name of a multinational consulting firm headquartered in Chicago, USA. West Monroe operates in the professional advisory services market for companies in nine industries: banks and credit unions, capital markets, private equity, insurance, healthcare, science, energy and utilities, retail, manufacturing, and distribution.
In terms of visual identity, West Monroe is quite a progressive company, with the logo in a bright color palette and a mixed case of lettering. Everything in the badge represents confidence and determination.
The West Monroe logo is based on a combination of two colors, two elements, and two styles in one of them. Everything is in order: the badge is set in dark blue and yellow, and placed on a transparent background. The composition is based on bold lettering, accompanied by a delicate geometric emblem on the left. The wordmark is visually split into two parts — a yellow lowercase “West” and a dark-blue uppercase “Monroe”, with both in the same size. As for the emblem, it is a circle made of seven solid squares and one yellow, placed in the left part, pointing to the West.
The bold lettering from the West Monroe primary logo is set in a distinctive geometric sans-serif typeface, which looks quite similar to such modern commercial fonts as Sultan Nahia, or Avenirreg Next World.
The color palette of the West Monroe visual identity is based on an intense combination of a dark shade of blue and a bright shade of yellow, where blue emphasizes the professional qualities of the company, and yellow on the energy and progressive approach of its specialists.