All New Branding
*Reader’s Note: You can view more images by hovering outside the right side of the image and clicking.
Before we got started redesigning the new product, we also decided that we desperately needed a better logo (the old one was more of a placeholder). So, we thought we’d share some of the explorations, design decisions, and lengthy conversations that took place to get to our new branding. We think the new logo accurately represents the new product and the new company.
What did we want in our new logo? It had to look gorgeous and function well in the application and on new business cards (these letterpresses cards are going to be pretty rad). It had to be fun, approachable, and polished (something our current one wasn’t). I think the exact conversation went like this, “the new identity should pretty much be awesome”…which was followed with “and should play on the word ‘cage’, be fun, clever, and have some color.”
After looking at several designers’ portfolios we landed on Mauricio Cremer (SGNL Studio). His work is fantastic and well-rounded, and he also happens to be a local designer and good friend. He moves seamlessly from print and illustration to web and interactive, so we knew he could handle the project we were about to throw at him.
Explorations of the Mark
Challenge: With a name like Cage how do you brand it without using a literal cage? Cage is so much more and we wanted the viewer to understand that in the first few seconds.
Solution: It had to be something clever that fit our mission (simple collaboration for designers). When considering this mission, we kept coming back to a pencil because it is one of the most fundamental tools used in designing, sketching, writing notes, signing off on approvals or crossing to-dos off your list. The angled position demonstrates the pencil in action. Back to the logo needing to be clever, the shape, lock and lines also depict a traditional cage. We went through several iterations to get to this and we feel like the new mark is a great representation of everything we wanted in this re-brand.
Choosing the Typeface
The typeface we opted for in the new Cage logo is a slightly modified ITC Avant Garde. Because we wanted to stick to lowercase and a heavier weight, this font worked perfectly for us. The shapes (lots of circles) worked well together and felt cohesive. Mauricio modified the “a” and “g” by adding the points (to emphasize the point of the pencil).
Inside the “app” we’re using Proxima Nova, which we’re equally excited about. With its multiple san-serif weights, we feel that Proxima Nova is a really nice compliment to the logotype.
So there you have it. Here’s a few pics we took along the way and what we arrived to. Enjoy! We certainly do. Stay tuned for the all the new Cage - coming super soon.
