Visual profile for Sweden's main encyclopedia NE Nationalencyklopedin. The brief was to bring the current profile into the digital realm by adjusting the logotype, create a color system that works well on screens, and replace the old typography with something more screen friendly.
The logotype is a throwback to a version that was used in the 1900's. The frame symbolizes both an open book and a digital screen, thereby connecting the previous and current distrubution channels.
The old wordmark was pixel adjusted to increase sharpness on certain screens.
Instead of working with shades of gray, we defined a scale of light and dark transparency. On a black or white background they become grays, but on colored backgrounds and photos they blend with the underlying colors. That makes the basic profile all about stark greys, but also provides us with opportunities to play with colors.
This color wheel was developed to give the visual communication space to experiment. Instead of creating just one profile color we defined a whole suite of harmonizing colors. This gives us freedom to brand individual products or events, and to associate colors with meaning in interactive media.
We chose to work with these excellent fonts from Hoefler & Co, which give us access to advanced OTF features on a cloud delivery platform.
Render of a business card concept that uses the logo as basis for the format and style.
Screen grab of NE.se using the new visual profile.
