Designtranslatesstrategyintoexperience.

Level is an award-winning, full service creative agency specializing in strategy, branding, and design. Our team operates under the belief that great solutions require personal investment. That investment takes the form of listening, learning, and responding with an ambitious hands-on approach — evidenced in successful strategy and brand expressions for a broad range of clientele that spans over twenty years.

Founded in 1997, Level Group focuses on the development of brand experiences across all media. Our work emphasizes the development of an integrated strategy and critical thinking as essential parts of the design process. Project leadership and the development of relationships based on mutual respect are hallmarks of Level’s collaboration with its clients.

 

CAPABILITIES

Branding & Identities
Brand Strategy
Naming
Brand Identities
Marketing & Campaigns
Social Media
Content Creation

Websites
Design & Development
UX/ UI Design
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Analytics Analysis & Reporting
Product Design
Touchscreen Interactives

Environmental Design
Signage
Wayfinding
Supergraphics & Interiors
Displays
Exhibition Design

Print Communications
Book Design
Editorial Design & Annual Reports
Package Design
Brochures
Stationary Systems
Posters

Presentations & Decks
Pitch Decks
Business Presentations
Capabilities / Sales Decks
Charts & Graphs
Info-graphics & Data Visualization
Reports

Film & Motion Design
Title Sequences
Title Cards
Animation
Motion Graphics

 

process makes perfect

Each brand we work with is unique, as are the projects we collaborate on. Whatever the challenge and goal, our process can be broken down into three main phases: Discovery – Strategy – Creation.

Strategy is at the core of our work – understanding audiences, crafting messages, and translating them into meaningful experiences.

phase 1: discovery

Our clients are diverse, as are the goals they ask us to help them achieve. Every project begins with a Discovery Phase during which we learn about your organization through meeting with your key stakeholders, and research. Understanding your perspective as a business is essential — what you do, your goals, your target audience, and competitors.

PHASE 2: STRATEGy

Whether we are developing brand positioning, or the architecture for a web experience, the focus of our work is strategy. What we learned during the discovery phase is paired with the goals to be achieved in formulating an appropriate and effective strategy. What venue or medium would be best for a particular audience and context is paramount. We ask questions to keep our work on track: Does our solution provide the right point of view for your message? Does it keep the target audience engaged so that the message is communicated? 

PHASE 3: creation

In the Creation Phase, strategy is translated into solutions – visual, linguistic, and experiential. We develop content, create imagery, compose language, organize information, develop maps, user experiences, color palettes, prototypes, wireframes, write code, conduct user testing – and then develop and refine further.

 

Level is award-winning.

We have been told we're overachievers — a label absolutely reflective of our studio culture.

Our clients successes are our successes. We are an award-winning firm recognized by Graphis, Print, UCDA, Core77, 50 Books | 50 Covers, and more.

 

AWARDS

2022 American Graphic Design Award, GDUSA
Green Frontier Capital

Graphis Design Awards 2023
Superior Concrete Identity, Silver Award
Bridgepoint Capital, Silver Award

Graphis Design Annual 2022
Side Gig SuperSalt, Gold Award

2021 American Graphic Design Award
Kapur Investment Partners Branding

Graphis Design Annual 2021
Potamkin Branding, Honorable Mention

2020 American Graphic Design Award, GD USA
Side Gig SuperSalt Packaging

2020 American Web Design Award, GD USA
The Potamkin Prize Website

Graphis Design Annual 2020
Gold Award, Lily Auchincloss Foundation Identity
Gold Award, Minus Space Identity
Honorable Mention, Express Newark Website
Honorable Mention, C6 Real Estate Branding

GD USA American Graphic Design Award 2019
Lily Auchincloss Branding
Minus Space Branding

49th Creativity International Media & Interactive Design Awards
Silver Award, Express Newark Website

Graphis Design Annual 2016
Silver Award, Pratt Graduate Communications Design Book “In Dialogue”

2016 American Graphic Design Award, GD USA
Indi Surfs Website

46th Creativity International Media & Interactive
Design Awards
Bronze Award, Arts Assessment for Learning Website

Core77 Design Awards 2015
Professional Notable Award, Pratt Graduate Communications Design Book “In Dialogue”

45th Creativity International Media & Interactive
Design Awards
Silver Award, Indi Surfs Website
Bronze Award, Brennan Development Website

45th Creativity International Print & Packaging
Design Awards
Bronze Award, Brennan Branding

Design Observer/AIGA, 50 Books | 50 Covers Competition
Pratt Graduate Communications Design Book “In Dialogue”

University & College Designers Association
Pratt Graduate Communications Design Book “In Dialogue”

Print Regional Design Annual Award
Pratt Graduate Communications Design Book “In Dialogue”

 

leadership

Jennifer Bernstein
Principal, Creative Director

Jennifer directs the design process at Level Group. She is particularly interested in the role of medium in the constantly-changing scope of communication design. Medium or venue is an integral part of how a message is communicated, and therefore has an important role in developing a strategy for every client and communication challenge.

Jennifer is also a dedicated design educator. For the last 16 years she has taught at all levels of undergraduate and graduate design education. She is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design with tenure at Rutgers-Newark, and has also taught at UArts, Pratt, SVA, NYU, and MICA. She was an invited speaker at the 2015 AIGA National Design conference in New Orleans, LA, and was a speaker at the 2017 MODE conference in Columbus, Ohio.

She recently contributed an essay to the book The Theory and Practice of Motion Design: Critical Perspectives and Professional Practice  (R. Brian Stone, Leah Wahlin, Editors) to be published by Routledge (an imprint of the Taylor Francis Group) Summer/Fall 2018.

Jennifer received her BA from Brown University magna cum laude, and her MFA in Graphic Design from the Yale University School of Art.

"A passion for knowledge and research, background in theater, desire to reach and affect others, conceptual mindset, strong creative and professional drive, and fascination with the potential of storytelling has led me to where I am today." — Jennifer Bernstein

Nicholas Hubbard
Principal, Creative Director, Managing Director

Nick is the big picture guy at Level Group, leading the development of creative strategies for clients. He has an uncanny ability to understand many types of businesses, and the nuances of a client's goals. Nick believes that the best way to develop brand experiences is to delve deeply into the DNA of those businesses, and to use that knowledge as fodder for Level Group's strategy-led design process.

Nicholas is a regularly invited guest critic in the graphic design programs at the Parsons School of Design, The School of Visual Arts in NYC and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Nicholas studied film at NYU in New York City.

"A metaphor I like to use when beginning a project is, 'We want to know what you had for breakfast...'" that way we can learn about what motivates them to do what they do, and allows them to speak in depth about their aspirations and goals. — Nicholas Hubbard

Eva Beckendorf
Art Director

Eva is interested in exploring the intersection of narrative and design — packaging information into meaningful stories across all forms of media. She approaches projects with wide-eyes and open-mind, discovering potential in unexpected places and crafting memorable experiences.

Eva believes that great design solutions are first a product of immersive research and highly-conceptual, comprehensive strategy. Her ability to analyze complex subject matter and see the “big picture” is equaled by her attention to details. Her design process explores both traditional, hands-on, and digital art-making techniques which yield inventive and original design solutions.

Strengths include: photography, motion, illustration, drawing, painting, paper engineer-ing, and coding. Her work has been published in Drawing for Graphic Design. Eva received her BFA in Graphic Design from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and holds an AAS in Illustration.

 
LEVEL & POTAMKIN RECOGNIZED BY 2020 AMERICAN WEB DESIGN AWARDS. Thrilled to announce that our website for The Potamkin Prize (@potamkinprize) received a 2020 American Web Design Award from GDUSA! . We have been delighted to collaborate with Pota
Cheers to two of our favorite people! Then as it is now, it is amazing to know and work with you guys. 🙌🙏 . Repost @minus_space with @make_repost ・・・ #tbt To 2008 and our big survey exhibition at MoMA PS1 curated the singular Phong Bui. The exhibit
We join the Potamkin family in celebrating the outstanding work of Dr. J. Paul Taylor, M.D., Ph.D., this year’s recipient of The Potamkin Prize, a prestigious award bestowed in partnership with the American Academy of Neurology and American Bra
We are thrilled to share that our website for Express Newark is featured in this month’s GDUSA Magazine — in print and online! (Thank you @GDUSA!) #americanwebdesignawardwinner #gdusawinner #userexperience #webdesign #webdevelopment #gra
 

Client List

Finance & Real Estate
Allegiant Real Estate Capital, Ackman-Ziff Real Estate, Ascend Real Estate, Bank of America, Barclays Bank, Brennan Real Estate, Bridgepoint Capital, Convene Capital, C6 Real Estate, Deutsche Bank, GLC, GP Renewables, Granite Partners, Green Frontier Capital, KPG Partners, Morgan Stanley, Morgens Waterfall, Potamkin Development, Prudential Douglas Elliman, Rabina Properties, The Versant Group, Zilkha Investments

Food & Beverage, Fashion
Side Gig, Staubitz Market, SoHo Guggenheim Salon de Thé', Sunbury Textiles, INA, Smart Apparel, Enve Salon

Education
Express Newark, Rutgers University-Newark, Arts and Athletics, Eduse, New York City Department of Education, RaceYa, Re-Create

Culture
Arts Connection, Cultural Services of the French Embassy, DARPA, Museum of Art & Design, The Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Minus Space, NYFA / New York Foundation for the Arts, Opera America, The Nature Conservancy, The National Guard, The National Immigration Forum, The New York Public Library, The Newest Americans Project, The Painting Center, Pratt Institute, P.S.1 / MoMA, Potamkin Philanthropies, The Potamkin Prize, Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Sotheby’s, New York, Yale University

Healthcare
Aetna U.S. Healthcare, Bayer, Merck, MetLife, Daggerwing Health, CMC / Center for Motivation & Change, EHE International, Glaxo Smith-Kline, The Opening

 

Entertainment & Film
ABC Family, A&E / Arts & Entertainment Network, Camerini-Robertson Films, CNN, DigIt Audio, Docuclub, EMI Music Publishing, Epidavros Films, Fox Network, Frontline, P.O.V. / Point of View (PBS series), Santa Chaira Films, The Gospel Channel, Tracknine Recording, Universal Television, We TV, GreenStreet Films, NBA / National Basketball Association, The Outdoor Channel, Red Hook Post

Industrial & Construction
DBI, Superior Concrete

Corporate
AT&T, Avive Technologies, BI Media, Lever Brothers, Omnicom Media Group