Drew Warshaw

Our Money, Our Fight

We were commissioned to create a brand identity for Drew Warshaw, a first-time candidate running for New York State Comptroller. The NYS Comptroller controls a $270 billion pension fund and serves as the state’s chief financial watchdog, one of the most powerful offices that most voters have never heard of. Our task was to build a campaign that could introduce both an unknown candidate and an invisible office to voters while making New Yorkers care about where their money goes.

Politics
Government
Finance
Accounting
Public Sector

The Challenge

Drew Warshaw brought serious credentials to the race. As the wunderkind who helped orchestrate the turnaround of the World Trade Center project, he’d also co-led the largest affordable housing nonprofit in the country. But impressive résumés don’t win elections, especially when you’re a political newcomer running for an office most people don’t understand. We needed to build a brand that helps connect abstract financial concepts to real-life issues that affect people’s everyday lives.

Blacked Out

Drew wanted something that felt authentically New York, even if it broke political convention. We built the brand around black, a color politicians typically avoid, because it represented the candidate’s roots in New York City. Black is a “through line” in New York. We balanced the black with cream and a burnt orange that provided bold contrast and added warmth.

Visible Power

Connecting $270 billion in invisible financial power to kitchen-table concerns and daily cost-of-living struggles

Type & Color

The typography reflects the city’s working-class industrial history. We drew inspiration from vintage union signage and classic New York typography to create a system that felt both historical and forward-looking. This approach complemented the editorial clarity we wanted to express through the typography. The identity features Commercial Type’s “Control” font paired with IBM Plex, establishing a tone that is minimal enough to allow the messaging to dominate but bold enough to challenge the status quo.

Results

The campaign drew immediate attention from the press and donor circles. Within two months, the candidate had raised over $1 million using materials built on this identity, reportedly three times more than previous comparable campaigns. More importantly, New Yorkers could immediately see this wasn’t politics as usual.

Ready to Begin?

For founders and brand teams shaping brands with intention and purpose — and ready to step into deeper clarity and distinction.

We offer more than design. We offer partnership, perspective, and a process that empowers brand leadership with confidence.

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Thank you to our incredible team for the time and care you gave to this project. Together, we make things shake for our clients, so we’re giving you your flowers! We appreciate your fantastic work and are grateful for your commitment, self-motivation, and talent that truly inspired us all.

Creative Direction:
Shar Biggers

Brand Strategy:
Shar Biggers

Verbal Identity:
Tyne Oberlander

Design:
Elizabeth Carey Smith
Brittany Xinyu Liu

Photographer:
Mikkel Vang

Producer:
Jill Taymany

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Brand Strategy, Brand Positioning, Brand Identity, Messaging/Copywriting
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