If you love to get logo nerdy, then this article is for you. I’m going to dive into our process and explain how we came up with the new Baytek logo. If you haven’t read about the full rebranding we did for ourselves, you can check that out here.
It always starts with a sketch
One of our criteria for creating a successful logo mark is simplicity (we’ll discuss the others later on). The goal of simplicity is to embed the mark so deeply in someone’s mind that they could draw it from memory on a napkin.
The technique we use to test this is to actually start logo mark exploration by sketching. But it can’t be any sketch, it should be one that can be drawn in 3-5 seconds. If I can sketch it that quickly, anyone can (trust me – I can’t draw!). Speed removes complexity and quickly reveals whether an idea is truly simple or just decorative.
And just before we start putting pen to paper, we think about a few little ideas we can represent in the mark to give us a starting point. For the Baytek rebrand, these were:
- B (for Baytek!)
- Partnerships, Connections
- The Why
- People matter (our new tagline)
- Digital
With these ideas in mind, we started doodling away. Once we felt like we had something that could potentially work, it was time to move to the computer.
As you can see from the above image, we tried a few things. Some worked, some didn’t. We had already done some font exploration in the stylescape stage (more on that here), so at this point we were pairing each logo mark design with the word mark made from the Aspteka open source typeface.
We finally settled on a design that we felt worked and achieved what we set out to do. So, what did we do?
- We created an abstract shape that represents a number of Baytek’s core values – relationships, the journey (the why) and community.
- While the symbol’s base was constructed from a “B”, the intention of the mark is not to represent an obvious “B”.
- The rotational feeling of the mark also brings a sense of flow and progression, much more so than the previous mark which feels static in comparison. This gives an undeniable energy that was lacking from before.
- The warmer colour palette brings a more human, earthy element to the brand – feeling more empathetic and compassionate than before.
- The word mark, although still a sans serif font, brings more personality to the table, alongside a slight tweak to the crossbar of the “t” with a curve to match the same curves used in the logo mark.
How do we know it’s going to work?
Well, you never really know whether it’s going to work. We don’t have a crystal ball, so the next best thing is to ensure the logo design fits the following criteria. Is it…
- Relevant – it doesn’t need to spell out what you do, but it should feel right for who you are.
- Original – it doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel, but it can’t be confused with anyone else in your space.
- Memorable – it doesn’t need to shout to stand out, but it should stick in people’s minds.
- Simple – it needs to work small, large, and everywhere in between.
So when we look back on our logo design – does it meet all these elements? From our perspective, we think so! But we’d love to know what you think. Feel free to follow us on LinkedIn to get our latest updates, thoughts and perspectives.
