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Posts Tagged ‘sansserif’

Novabase to Expand, Grow Appendage

16 Dec

Novabase Logo, Before and After

Established in 1989, Novabase is the leading company in IT services, consulting, and implementation. It has 2,000 employees and revenues of over 292 million Euros. A hybrid of companies like IBM, Accenture, and EDS as our Portuguese tipster explained. Self-admittedly "Big in Portugal, but small in the world" Novabase is looking to expand its presence and recognition around the world. This month they introduced a new identity designed by Lisboa-based Albuquerque.



Brand video.



Footage of unveiling. Skip to 1:30 for the real fireworks. Literally.

It's unfortunate that the new logo is such an incomprehensible eyesore — actually, the logo might be an eyesore — because the rest of the identity is quite delightful. The illustrations, the colors, the pace of the animation all have a very nice retro quality but with a contemporary flair. Even if the illustrations are mostly abstract, they manage to convey a company making all kinds of connections and actively engaging in business. Back to the logo… although it's supposed to be just an "N" it certainly reads as "No" which is not a good thing, but let's assume that most people just see an "N," then what are we supposed to make of that giant wart? Is it an eye? A portal? An incubator of red eggs? The transition from sharp-edges to a hand-drawn effect within the "N" is not contrasting enough, so it almost looks like someone pulled the wrong bezier curves. The wordmark somehow also feels odd and not so well integrated with the icon.

Novabase

Folder and business cards (where each person draws their own version of the logo).

Novabase

Set of icons to represent their vision.

Novabase

Novabase

The logo makes just a little more sense when seen in the context of the whole system, which is much more engaging and interesting than the logo itself. The whimsical style is a rarity in big corporations so it's nice to see some of it start to seep into corporate identity.

Thanks to Manuel de Freitas for the tip.

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A More Royal Royal Opera House

18 Aug
Royal Opera House Logo, New

Nestled in bustling Covent Garden, the Royal Opera House is home to The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. In its third structural incarnation since 1732 — two previous buildings were burned in fires in 1808 and 1856 — the Royal Opera House is a preeminent international performing arts venue but, unfortunately, the same couldn't be said of its crest, which looks like it has survived its own set of fires.

Royal Opera House

Old crest.

Royal Opera House

New crest.

The new identity has been designed by London-based SomeOne, who worked with master engraver Christopher Wormell to update the crest. Simon Manchipp, founder of SomeOne explains the challenges of the project:

1) The old royal crest was not digitally adept, it struggled to be clear at smaller sizes and wasn't elegant when employed on large scale applications.

2) The word mark typography only reflected the more classical side of the organization.

3) There were no firm rules for coherent design systems across the multiple messages given to their audiences.

We solved their issues with a re-cut royal crest designed to be equally elegant on both small and large applications. A new typographic approach based in the typeface 'Gotham' that updated the feel of the communications. Finally a series of design principles, grids and systems ensured that all the print, pixel and press applications join up in coherent and flexible branded applications.

Royal Opera House

The bottom-right image, if you are wondering (as I was), is the woodblock itself with ink and ready to print.

Royal Opera House

Royal Opera House

Royal Opera House

Royal Opera House

It goes without saying that the new crest is simply fantastic and I'm not one to easily compliment crests. The previous lion and unicorn looked as if Bambi had eaten their families and had nothing but droopy, sad eyes to show for it. The updated versions are proud and strong. And probably ate Bambi. My favorite aspect of it is that they created two versions, positive and negative, to use on light and dark backgrounds — instead of just inverting the positive version, as the old one did.

Royal Opera House

Royal Opera House

Royal Opera House

As striking as the new crest is, it would have been easy to screw it up with bad typography or poor use, but SomeOne has created a really sophisticated and contemporary identity that gives more prominence to the name of the venue and provides solid ground to build on the striking imagery of the performers. Set in one of the lighter versions of Gotham this is one of those instances where you forget you are looking at Gotham, because its use is subtle in the role of supporting actor, giving a new-fashioned twist to the old-fashioned crest. As whole, the identity is a very successful evolution of a centuries-old institution. Plus, the Queen agrees:

Naturally "The Palace" was consulted before anything went out, they very kindly granted the branding with Royal approval on the first proposal.
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