Creating a logo or a branding is an exciting process, maybe not so much when you have to do it for yourself, however if you are not too fussy and know what you want and how it should perform – it should not be all that hard. Said one designer!
Branding and logo for that matter, is a very simple and stylish representation of the company. Or is it? Great logos are a representation of a company's ambition, mission, vision and purpose all embedded into a simple visual – which is the art of branding.
The brief
Since this was a self initiated brief, it doesn’t mean that we didn’t have a brief or were chasing the best new look and trend to jump on the bandwagon. Many downfalls of the trendy logos are that they don’t have substance (strategy) to back the particular style and end up being decorative. But if both are met then that could be a powerful combination.
HEDON Studio logo needed to be bold in appearance to command in presence and importance, and at the same time it needed to show the analytical part of the brand designing process, such as growth. But most importantly, viewers should immediately be able to see the narrative and guess the meaning of it.
The branding studio is aimed at scaleups, the performance of growth branding and the offer of HEDON Studio services was essential to somehow be embedded in the mark as well.
The process
After a few initial ideas, we got to work to create a simple but meaningful brand identity that can scale to many platforms, and thought that we nailed it from the get go. Because the strategy was right there, and the visuals were too – but something else was lacking.
That was a visual language issue of how the logo will translate across platforms, what story it will tell and how people may engage with it. And simply how effectively it could be used on all sorts of promotional media and platforms of all sizes and will it stand out and demand attention. And it has failed this test.
After a few more attempts to capture the story in the brand identity from the various sans serif fonts, we’ve decided to stamp another meaning to the brand identity by crafting the original typeface. This would add the originality that was not in the brief but clearly was something HEDON Studio was striving for.
In doing so, the typeface had to be very legible, so we created a pixel grid to make sure the logo is perfectly aligned. We have manipulated the letter ‘E’ into an arrow pointing back to ‘H’ (homebase) and made this (H←D) the main feature of the logo, with a meaning ‘Design from homebase’.
The outcome
The creation of a logo and branding is like drawing a painting or writing a poetry. You may have ingredients, colours, words sometimes but when putting it together you also need to have a great master, one that can execute it – and even then the outcome can surprise you.
The most important skill in design is knowing when to stop, when things are done, and understanding when they are overcooked or under-delivered. In this instance, logo design was just right as it has hit the desired meaning, on strategy, with a bold look. We knew this was the winner by how well it performed and scaled across different platforms and mediums.
A capital, bespoke built typeface that symbolises originality and radiates its presence and importance is achieved from the brief and can be seen from a glance. The stylistic and simple arrow which replaced letter ‘E’ pointing back to letter ‘H’ as a symbol for homebase gives this logo a growth story.
Why go back to the homebase? The essence of any business is in its purpose, mission and vision and going back to homebase means that branding must be aligned with the core of what you are trying to communicate outward in your organisation. If there is a misalignment at the heart of your company, the business in the market will not be represented adequately, your employees will not understand its intentions and the company will stall in reaching its full potential.
Letter ‘H’ was also stretched almost double to create balance between the meaning of ‘strategy’ (H←) and ‘execution’ (DON as done) in the logo for better visibility. Registered symbol is added to protect the logo but also to further assure the quality of the strategic approach to growth branding.
The H←DON Studio mark also translates in plain Word documents and can be used in written text when graphical logo is not possible. But more importantly the graphic element in the logo can be playful and works well as a pattern, on merch, in social media and at a very small scale.
Does your brand identity have a story? Do you know why it was designed that way and what it means? We hope this case study of our logo design may resonate with you and your business. At HEDON Studio we believe that’s where the power of your brand lies, knowing exactly why your logo is created based on your mission, vision and purpose – and 100% aligned to your business. So that you can go to market and dominate. Give us a call if you want to talk more.
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