Design

Our New Visual Identity

Jun 14, 2020
·
3
min read

You might have noticed Humi looks completely different after the rebrand. Here's exactly what's different, and how they were designed.

Redesigned Logo

The only mandate in logo design is that they be distinctive, memorable and clear. - Paul Rand

When it comes to logo design, a lot of companies expect the logo to explain the business, or expect it symbolize some meaning. In fact, it's unnecessary. For instance, there is nothing about Apple's logo that says computers; or Nike's logo that says shoes. They become meaningful after years of marketing and advertising.

Quoting one of America's greatest graphic designer Paul Rand, "The only mandate in logo design is that they be distinctive, memorable and clear." That's what we were trying to do with this new logo. It's distinctive, it's memorable, and it's clear.

Initial logo ideas

The logo was designed in black and white first, to ensure the form is recognizable regardless of colour or production method. Then we added colour to as a mnemonic factor.

The form of the logo is designed so the logo remains recognizable in colour or grayscale.

It's legible when shown either on a large billboard or in a small video thumbnail. It works with all kinds of production methods - print, digital, embroidery, stickers, embossing, 3D printing, and even enamel pins.

Delightful 3D Illustrations

We designed five characters that we think represents a good portion of the Canadian workforce. They are all based on real people, some of them are even based on our clients' employees, so they look and feel like someone you know.

Compared to traditional hand-drawn illustrations, 3D enables us to create scenes quickly, consistently, and at a low cost, thanks to the free open-source 3D software Blender. Every illustration you see throughout Humi is created in-house. (Besides the 3D modeling of the characters which was done by Felic Art).

These illustrations are then stored on Notion as a database and shared with the whole company, and they are used across our marketing, product, and even internal decks.

Better Typography

Another thing you'll notice is the typography and the reading experience has improved dramatically compared to our old designs. We put so much effort into choosing the right typeface, comparing each family in various sizes and scenarios. Eventually, we arrived at two typefaces - Calibre and Untitled Sans.

Calibre is used in big headlines, because it has a friendly and welcoming character, yet it is clear and simple. Untitled Sans is used in body text and the product, because of its amazing legibility in small sizes.

We also spent a lot of time creating a typographic scale, detailing the text size, letter spacing, line height, font weight, and we use it as a guideline to ensure consistency throughout the brand.

A More Versatile Colour Palette

Our old brand colour palette was the typical tech-blue. It made the brand rational, but cold.

We want our visitors and users to feel warmth and care when they come to our website or use our product.

We decided to incorporate a wide range of colours, and adjusted their saturation and lightness so that they're not too bright and exciting, nor too dull and boring.

These new colours are then used in our text, illustrations, and images.

We hope you like the new changes. If you want to learn more, check out our brand guidelines.

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About the Author
Simon ShenSimon Shen

Simon is the Graphic Designer at Humi. He graduated from OCAD University with a Bachelor of Design. He joined Humi in late 2019 and has a passion for tech, design, and innovative products. When he’s not designing, he enjoys riding his Onewheel.

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