Project Brief
Over two weeks, my task was to establish the visual identity of a fictional outdoor or sporting goods brand, including logo, style tile, app icons, and a finished style guide. I chose to design for a sustainable, wooden surfboard company, based in California.
Who are we?
"We are the only wooden surfboard company committed to producing environmentally friendly boards with the highest level of performance and craftsmanship."
Name & Logo Design
I wanted the name to evoke a sense of innovation, energy and a connection to nature. I experimented with word combinations, different languages and made-up words for the company name. Through word mapping and word association I came up with a few options, and decided on New Wave.
The Final Wordmark
After playing around with symbols and different shapes I decided on a simple wordmark. I used Hiragino Kaku Gothic Std for the typeface as it looks bold and modern, but it still feels fluid. To balance the boldness and keep the brand approachable, I chose to set the wordmark in lowercase.
Two Ws side by side was visually unpleasant, and including only one W made it unclear what the word was. I combined the two w's into one shape that gives the impression of two, without being overly repetitive.
Colour & Typography
Since New Wave is a high-end surfboard company, I wanted the colours to be clean and understated, but not cold. I used a colour palette that was modern but natural, mixing blues with browns, alluding to wooden surfboards gliding through the deep blue of the ocean under a clear blue sky.
For typography, I chose Oswald because of it's boldness and modernity. I chose Oxygen because of its roundness and friendliness, and as a contrast to the more upright Oswald.
Style Tile
Because the colours and typefaces are clean and stable, I used diagonal lines in the styling and UI elements to create a feeling of energy and movement. Icons are simple and linear, with a line weight that gives them solidity. Imagery focuses on the power of nature and the customer's desire to experience, explore and protect it.
App Icons
The app icons for iOS and Android have subtle differences, iOS being flatter and Android using cast shadows and higher contrast gradients to show depth. I added brown to the background gradient in reference to an early morning sunrise, and to warm up what would otherwise be a cool and sterile colour palette.
Style Guide
As a final step, I created a style guide to set the standards for voice and tone, logo usage, typography, colour, UI elements and brand assets.
Click the image below to see the entire guide.
