SMART Technologies dynamic brand exercise
A few years ago, the company I worked for went through a minor update on their logo. I thought I would investigate some other avenues out of interest. In this particular case, I approached the logo as a dynamic brand. The typographic wordmark remained consistent, but I varied the approach to the "scribble" icon in the background. Each product would have its own, unique scribble.
Taking it one step further, all products could be etched with a unique scribble motif. A coloured name badge could be applied over this mark with colour varying by product.
Pushing this a bit further, the corporate identity would not need to have a fixed scribble, varying it where possible without getting financially prohibitive. In the first few examples below, I used a fixed mark while exploring colour and text treatments.
SMART makes digital interactive technologies for use in education and business. It's software and hardware allow for real-time collaboration over distance, which is hugely beneficial to businesses that want to increase productivity, collaboration and brainstorming. Teachers love the technology because you can create lesson activities, save them and distribute them to their students over a network, as well as evaluate students' knowledge at any time and save the results. Students find the technology engaging, and enjoy interacting with it. They love to get up and write on the board with the board's pens, fingers, tennis balls, etc. Pretty much any object will do.
At the time, interactive touch technology was relatively new. When demonstrating the products, people would simply touch the board with their finger or one of the pens that come with it, and make a doodle or scribble. The reaction from people seeing this for the first time was overwhelmingly positive. It was a definite "wow" moment. This type of mark makes good sense as an icon for the company.
Scribbles are also the first marks humans make. Children derive great pleasure drawing random abstract marks on pretty much anything. It is an early act of creation that we have all been engaged by. This is another plus.
Finally,it represents a network, with interconnecting nodes where lines overlap. I felt this related well to the notion of collaboration or connectivity over distance, which could represent the company well in the business market.
I am still playing around with the idea and thought I would share a few bits here. I will be adding to this project occasionally.
In the meantime, I would love to hear what you think.
Taking it one step further, all products could be etched with a unique scribble motif. A coloured name badge could be applied over this mark with colour varying by product.
Pushing this a bit further, the corporate identity would not need to have a fixed scribble, varying it where possible without getting financially prohibitive. In the first few examples below, I used a fixed mark while exploring colour and text treatments.
SMART makes digital interactive technologies for use in education and business. It's software and hardware allow for real-time collaboration over distance, which is hugely beneficial to businesses that want to increase productivity, collaboration and brainstorming. Teachers love the technology because you can create lesson activities, save them and distribute them to their students over a network, as well as evaluate students' knowledge at any time and save the results. Students find the technology engaging, and enjoy interacting with it. They love to get up and write on the board with the board's pens, fingers, tennis balls, etc. Pretty much any object will do.
At the time, interactive touch technology was relatively new. When demonstrating the products, people would simply touch the board with their finger or one of the pens that come with it, and make a doodle or scribble. The reaction from people seeing this for the first time was overwhelmingly positive. It was a definite "wow" moment. This type of mark makes good sense as an icon for the company.
Scribbles are also the first marks humans make. Children derive great pleasure drawing random abstract marks on pretty much anything. It is an early act of creation that we have all been engaged by. This is another plus.
Finally,it represents a network, with interconnecting nodes where lines overlap. I felt this related well to the notion of collaboration or connectivity over distance, which could represent the company well in the business market.
I am still playing around with the idea and thought I would share a few bits here. I will be adding to this project occasionally.
In the meantime, I would love to hear what you think.
