Bringing the Brighte spirit to life on our walls

At Brighte, we have five core values we all live and work by every day. As a sustainability-focused business, we’ve created something unique and meaningful for Australians and we like being reminded why and how we’re doing it, so our spark never dims.

Putting those values up on the wall to be seen – big, bold and green, just like Brighte itself – was an exercise in creativity and passion. Our mural artist, Angelica, is a vibrant talent who can inject personality into any space. As she says, she takes the time to ‘give life’ with every stroke of her brush, and the results of her work are definitely a testament to that!

We’re thrilled with our fantastic mural now adorning our office wall, so we thought we’d ask Angelica and our Brighte Designer, Eileen, who developed the project concept, to tell us a bit more about their creative process and why the mural is such a perfect reflection of our company spirit!

Thanks for chatting with us Eileen and Angelica! Eileen, how did this mural come about in the first place?

Eileen: It kicked off early this year. Our CEO Katherine is a big fan of murals and wanted our five core values up on a wall to be seen, big, bold and green. So, we made a shortlist of local artists we liked and I started reaching out to potential candidates. We didn’t know back in March that we’d be organising the whole thing during a lockdown though!

I think we ended up going through four concepts before we reached the ‘final_final_final_final.pdf.’

What made you choose Angelica?

Eileen: I’d seen Gellie’s work at my local café Happyfield. It’s bright, it’s yellow and it’s happy, all the things we’d hoped to bring to our office space. Choosing her was a godsend. She’s so flexible, creative and easygoing.

Can you tell us a little about your design background, Angelica?

Angelica: Well, I’ve spent over ten years specialising in brand identity and publication design. My heart has always belonged to the quirks and character of the olden days of design. Society has adapted to modern design tools, but I’m all about bringing back the dying crafts of signwriting, gold leaf, and more. I’ve actually undertaken extensive mentorship and workshops with signwriters all over the world.

And how did you develop your vision for our Brighte mural?

Angelica: After my first meeting with the Brighte team, I could tell Brighte was such a positive company and I wanted to bring that through in the design, as well as reflect the company values. My inspiration for the mural was the bright colours of its brand identity, the fun usage of icons and emojis throughout their marketing material and that Brighte goodie bag full of green happiness at the end!

I also believe we completed our collaboration at the best time because it was when we were welcoming staff back to the office after the lockdowns. What better way to give back the joy of 'real' interaction than a colourful mural to uplift the office space?

We think you’ve brought it all to life absolutely perfectly! Eileen, you’ve been living the Brighte experience as a designer and problem-solver since early 2021. How would you describe our culture?

Eileen: As a business, we're in this sweet spot where we're not too small and we're not too big yet, we're just right. Our culture is one of possibility. We're constantly being asked to question initiatives or give feedback.

It can make me nervous, putting my hand up and offering my opinion, but also excited that everyone's opinion is valued and will be heard here.

And how do you see us living our values day-to-day? How do our values resonate with you personally?

Eileen: I love ‘Be Human.’ I see that every day in the lovely bunch of humans I work with all around me.

Then there’s ‘Call the Ball,’ which asks us to use initiative and challenge ourselves and the status quo. I have some pretty crazy ideas (it's expected in the marketing team), and when I suggested we ask type designer Jessica Hische to help tidy up our logo, it actually happened! I was on a Zoom call with Jessica Hische! Life goal unlocked. I feel like anything’s possible here – you just need to ask.        

Another value is ‘Think Big, Stay Green’ which obviously can be interpreted as being sustainable – we’re on a mission to make every home in Australia sustainable. But it’s also about staying scrappy and being a bit of a hustler. My boss Zach lives this value daily, and you can find him on any given day whipping up a new website, or shooting sales videos, or creating new brand guidelines. I don't think I've ever heard him say 'No'. There's always a way and he's always keen to figure it out.

As for ‘Deserve the Customer,’ we really do love our customers – we even have meeting rooms named after them! We just like to celebrate them in any way we can.

And finally, ‘Brighter Together.’ This one’s really in the spotlight right now because we’ve had this big growth spurt in 2021 and there are a lot of new faces. I’m looking forward to lots of collaboration and energy in 2022!