#14
Behind the New Secret Atlas Website

Nick Steyn, co-founder and partner at branding agency Anew, talks us through the creation of the new Secret Atlas website and brand style.

Last May I was in the freezing white wildness of the Arctic. A wondrous, timeless, precious place. The kind of place that reminds you that the world is mightier than we are. That we are frail, that we are temporary – that sometimes we have to graciously bow to things greater than ourselves. 

The Arctic is definitely the place to ponder these matters. It was also a place where I was working. 

I was there with eleven other guests, exploring the remote Arctic archipelago of Svalbard with Secret Atlas, creators of the Expedition Micro Cruise, to see for myself, up close, the uniqueness of their expedition-style cruise experience. Call it a factory visit. Though this one featured walruses, puffins, icebergs, a small crew of amazing people, interesting guests from across the world… oh, and a baby polar bear.

The company’s owners – Michele D’Agostino and Mariano Curiel – are keen seafarers and polar devotees. They share a strong conviction that ship expedition travel can be done differently. With backgrounds in business, exploration, and sailing – and motivated by a profound respect for the environment and a desire for authentic, high-quality, meaningful experiences – they have been delivering enriching experiential travel on the world’s northern and southernmost oceans since 2019. 

Their 'sailaway' success required a sharpening of the company’s brand strategy and visual identity, on which to base stronger messaging, website design, logo evolution and ship naming. 

Anew, working with SO Creative, were tasked with communicating the Secret Atlas story, conveying the benefits of their micro size, pioneering spirit, authenticity, personality, and uniqueness. ‘Big adventure, small footprint’ for short.

Through interviewing the guides, team and guests – and my personal Arctic adventure – we learned that the brand story combines two themes. 

First, there’s the rational narrative, spanning history; real expedition ships that offer real experiences; the smallest group sizes in the Arctic and Antarctic; passionate guides; a flexible approach to access-all-areas, no-wait-time exploring; and the foundational nature of ecological concerns. 

Running alongside that is a powerful emotional narrative, encompassing beauty, wonder, awe, uniqueness, fun with a sense of gravitas, a connection to nature, and an enriched travel – indeed life – experience. 

We conveyed these themes in the following ways:

We refreshed the company logo, making it more clean, elegant, and direct. The words ‘Secret Atlas’ are strong, evocative, and inspiring by themselves, so we developed the design and typography to be more impactful.

The website design is the summation of the new brand style. The art direction and photography addresses the scale, but also intimacy, of the expedition experience. We developed a bold, confident look that channelled the clean lines and open spaces of the polar regions, along with the more abstract concepts of freedom, time, and purity. 

The colour palette, also connected to nature, is earthy, subtle, and stands outside the typical ‘Arctic colours’. The site’s design elements include the minimalist use of contour lines which speak to the dimensions of adventure, discovery, and history.

We hope all Secret Atlas guests, partners, and staff enjoy the new website. More than that, we hope they feel that connection to the beautiful lands they explore and the unique way Secret Atlas encourage us to see the world. 

So, forget the two weeks on the Spanish Costa this year. Take to the world’s wilder places and discover your inner Shackleton…