EST. 2019
CHICAGO BORN
Most brands don’t fail from bad design, they fail from indecision.
A brand that waits for a founder to answer every question never gets made, and clarity makes the answers easier. Your brand is the long-term strategy blueprint for your business. We decide, then build.
A branding studio for bold founders building their next big idea.
EightySeven builds strategy, story, and design as one piece of work, so every decision after it gets easier. Most studios hand over a logo and a PDF. We hand over something you can run the business with.
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“EightySeven didn't just create a beautiful brand identity. They helped us articulate the soul of our business.”
Dyala Madani
Owner & CEO, Purée Juice Bar -
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"We have a fully branded, beautiful, high quality product that we can be proud of. Back when we began I didn't know what this thing was going to be."
Gage Vernon
Co-Founder, Karmic Wine -
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“This isn’t something AI could do for us, the human touch, the depth of content, the human understanding translated into brand permeates the outward expression of our business.”
Steve Gaudio
CEO, Co-Founder, Molly’s Dog Care -
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“They captured the meaning and emotion behind the brand in a way that gave us confidence to proudly share the deep ties between our company and our family.”
Jake Kuper
Founder, Little Sundays -
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“They didn’t just deliver ideas, they built something aligned with how we operate and how we continue to lead in the Apple device buyback space.”
Scott Pauga
Founder & CEO, Second Life Mac -
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“They have eye-opening ideas, and I really feel like they care about the growth of our business on a personal level. Our business wouldn’t be where we are now without them!”
Serena Rodriguez
Co-Founder, Pufftown Bakehouse
WHY EIGHTYSEVEN?
Your brand isn’t a last step… It’s how you make your first ones.
Launching a new idea or business?
A complete brand in five weeks. Positioning, two directions to choose from, identity, social, and homepage design. Built for founders with funding in place and a date on the calendar.
Grown past your brand?
For businesses where nothing’s broken, but everything feels slower. We keep what you’ve built and update the look, the messaging, and the materials your team uses every day.
Becoming something different?
New leadership, a merger, or a new direction. We get your leadership team on the same page first, then rebuild the brand around where you’re headed.
MEET OUR FOUNDER
Over a decade helping business leaders launch their big ideas.
EightySeven is led by Maxwell Billings. He spent ten years at advertising agencies leading client teams and winning millions in new business. All while teaching marketing, design, entrepreneurship, and advertising at Chicago Portfolio School, AIGA, and Columbia College Chicago. In 2019, he went independent and started EightySeven around what those rooms got wrong: too many layers, too many people who weren’t there when the decision got made.
The person you meet on the first call is the person in the room when your brand gets decided.
OUR CLIENTS
The founders we work with are:
Invested in the brand
You’ve built something before. You know what a slow process costs, and you won't pay for it twice. CPG, hospitality, or B2B, the brand decides whether people get it the first time.
Fired up and ready to go
The concept is real, not a maybe. There’s a date on the calendar: an opening, a buyer meeting, a launch. The brand shouldn’t be running behind.
Decisive by design
You’d rather pick between two real directions than scroll through forty logos. You want the call made, then you want to move.
5x
retail footprint expansion for Metropolis Coffee after our rebrand and packaging updates.
13+
Restaurant locations for Fuel Shack, refreshed from our brand system.
100+
brands built across CPG, hospitality, B2B, and more.
