Starfish Named in Fast Company’s 2026 Innovation by Design Awards for Primary Wave Music Brand Transformation
Honorees include nearly 312 projects, products, and services from Google, Adidas, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and others
NEW YORK, NY, September 17, 2026 — Starfish is proud to announce that its brand enhancement work for Primary Wave Music has been named an Honorable Mention in Fast Company’s 2026 Innovation by Design Awards in the Best Design North America category.
Now in its 15th year, the Innovation by Design Awards celebrate the designers and businesses that address today’s most urgent challenges while anticipating tomorrow’s problems. The program is one of the most prestigious design competitions in the industry, spotlighting work that exemplifies originality, beauty, sustainability, user insight, cultural significance, and measurable business impact.
Ahead of Primary Wave Music’s 20th anniversary, Starfish set out to transform the legacy music publisher into a bold, contemporary brand that could reassert its cultural relevance while honoring the artists, estates, and managers at the heart of its business.
At the center of the new identity is “The Mark of Legends,” a reinterpretation of the familiar trademark copyright symbol that shifts the conversation from ownership to amplification. Embedded within the logo and broader brand system, the mark becomes an expressive, signature-like gesture that represents how Primary Wave protects, supports, and carries forward the cultural impact of the artists it represents.
Rather than functioning as a passive legal icon, the symbol acts as both a seal and a signature, flexing across artist campaigns, partnerships, advertising, and corporate communications. The result is a brand system that balances authority with humanity and gives visible expression to an often-invisible part of the music industry: the relationships behind every catalog.
Since launch, the new identity has appeared across advertising campaigns in Billboard, Variety, and HITS Magazine, as well as Primary Wave’s corporate communications, creating a more cohesive and recognizable presence across touchpoints.
The brand took center stage during Primary Wave’s 20th Anniversary celebration during Grammy Week, where the identity extended throughout the event experience, from environmental design to digital content. The Mark of Legends carried seamlessly across materials and attendee content, helping extend the brand organically through social media and press while remaining distinctive in a crowded, high-profile environment.
Beyond the launch, the identity gives Primary Wave a flexible platform for future partnerships, campaigns, and growth, sharpening the way the company communicates its role not simply in managing rights but in actively supporting and amplifying the cultural impact of the artists it represents.
Honorees were selected by a panel of top designers, business executives from leading organizations, and Fast Company editors.
“The Innovation by Design Awards have always recognized the ideas that challenge convention and show what’s possible when design is treated as a strategic force, not an afterthought. Congratulations to this year’s honorees, who demonstrate how thoughtful design can solve meaningful problems and create new possibilities for people and businesses,” said Brendan Vaughan, editor-in-chief of Fast Company.
To see the complete list, go to fastcompany.com/innovation-by-design/list, and read about the winners in the Fall issue of Fast Company magazine on newsstands September 22, 2026.
About Starfish
Starfish is a Branding and Creative Agency focused on Brand Experience that builds brands with the soul to move people and the coherence to govern AI. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in New York City, with offices in Paris and Boca Raton, Starfish works across four pillars: Branding, Experience, Marketing and Stewardship. Its unique expertise in Brand Experience has shaped work for clients including PwC, Gallup, Dunkin’, Samsung, Primary Wave Music and the Anti-Defamation League. Starfish has served over 1,000 organizations since 2002.
About Fast Company
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with fellow business publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.
