Everyone’s life can use a little more optimism.

At least, that’s what we thought when we started a year-long sprint to create Letter Run: our own interactive, Webflow-based — and award-winning — 3D clubhouse.

If you haven’t already explored Letter Run (go ahead, we’ll wait right here!) the idea is pretty straightforward. As our adorable little Edgar Allan character (named Edgar, of course), you can explore an open world formed by the letters of our logo. When you search for in-game items and complete the scavenger hunt, you get a real-life prize in your mailbox to enjoy.

On the surface, Letter Run may appear to just be a fun way to spend a few minutes out of your busy day.

But dig a little deeper, and Letter Run is a true representation of the way we work, how we work, and why we work.

At the heart of this project is our own brand.

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First of all, what is a brand?

As a brand-to-build Webflow agency, we define “brand” differently.

It’s not a physical place, or a structure made of concrete.

We believe a brand is a club that you join, centered around an idea or an emotional connection with the people you’re going to find there. Brand is a feeling that makes you want to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Brand entices you, draws you in, and tells a great story.

Hear Kendra Rainey, Edgar Allan’s director of strategy and content, explain the importance of brand in this Webflow Conf 2022 presentation.

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We empower our clients to tell their brand story through the Webflow platform, because as a content management system (CMS) Webflow allows them to own their marketing layer and react to their audiences, quickly and creatively.

This process often starts with a first (and very important step): brand design.

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So, what is brand design?

We actually have a pretty interesting take on that, too.

The purpose of brand design is to help flesh out the emotional connection between you and your audience, through brand strategy, content design, a Webflow website build, or any number of our other services. We like to call these offerings Webflow+.

In much the same way that we approach every client project, Letter Run started with a search for a feeling of connection within our remote team; a sense of community.

This was driven by the extremely difficult decision made early on in the global 2020 COVID-19 pandemic when we had to let go of our physical office. It was an amazing place that we literally built from the ground up — built on the foundation of optimism, and the vision we had for our growing agency.

We were a creative group searching for a way to be close like that again. Obviously, it wasn't going to be a physical space this time. But by thinking about brand in a new way, we realized that this project — a virtual clubhouse — could fill that gap. What would become Letter Run was really an exercise for us in both brand building and club building.

As a story-driven company, we work from the idea that everyone has a superpower, and when everyone works from their point of strength, as a group we make space for amazing things to happen. This is where innovation comes from.

Edgar Allan is a multitalented, multifaceted, and truly international team, and Letter Run is a story-driven experience that enabled us to all jump in the pool together.

Yes, it utilizes a collection of evolving technologies like Blender, Spline, React, and Three.js, all wrapped up in a Webflow website. But those are just some of our tools, a means to an end.

We learned how our different skills and abilities make our team stronger.

We commiserated our pain and celebrated our successes.

We also broke a lot of stuff.

But in the end, we persevered to create a space we all can enjoy, no matter where on earth we live and work.

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We’re thrilled to be able to share it with you. Our hope is that you find more than hidden items, and uncover the core feeling of building with optimism that defines us at Edgar Allan.

If you’d like to share your hopes and dreams for your next project, or learn more about our take on brand design, make sure to say hello and visit our blog (or you can always find us on LinkedIn and Twitter).