Fresh out of the design studio, here is our new logo and branding for ApexThis:

Old Logo

New Logo

Why

To start, the goal was to create a brand identity that can be adjusted over time. In 2020, I am pushing through with executing on projects I’ve been wanting to get done and out the door. That means publishing. I felt it important to at least have an actual logo in place before I start publishing books.Furthermore, I added a task to update the logo and branding in Jan 2018. This would now make it 5 years since the initial design. It was due for a refresh.

Logo

We (I) sent our design intern (me) to do some training and we are happy to say that he (me) is now our Principal Designer and was able to keep the branding update in-house instead of hiring externally. The logo took a while to explore and came down to a triple bar-style during a lettering class I took. Thinking about what ApexThis was and what the future looked like, publishing was at the forefront. Audio & Paper. I incorporated a digital waveform and a stack of books. The middle bar I opted to add the accent color to really make it stand out that it is a book while also softening the corners. I thought it was a good representation of my focus to publish print books and ebooks, as well as audiobooks and podcasts but hopefully not making it too on the nose.

Logo Variations

Identity

The original logo used a similar color scheme, grey with turquoise. The type was Verdana and it was created in Photoshop which was completely the wrong tool to use. With the new logo, we have opted for Franklin Gothic URW for the primary type using Demi and Book for the weights. As the secondary type, I have selected Open Sans. The secondary type does morph to a primary in the event I use tools where Franklin Gothic is not available.

Typography

The colors have shifted a bit by using a darker grey, a deeper red, and turquoise. A neutral color was added to make it more flexible with the accent colors of turquoise and red:

Color Palette

Social Media

For use with social media, I pull the colors, type, and style, to create templates that I can use for specific purposes. This also pulls in a piece of the identity from the logo and that is a paper style. The templates colors do have a bit of grit and texture to make it resemble paper, soft shadows to show depth and layers with multiple colors or sheets that “slide” back to reveal an image or text leaving a preview of another page on the edge.Not every post will use these templates, but, it’s an identity system I am creating for use to make the brand recognizable. Here are a few social media examples:

Podcast Art

Along with the branding was new podcast art that followed the same identity system. First, here is the old podcast art:

Old Podcast Art

Now, the new podcast art using a paper cut-out style:

New Podcast Art

It was really fun creating the podcast art and it allowed me to learn new techniques in Illustrator. For starters, I love paper art. And I wanted to continue this “paper” design from the social media templates to the podcast cover art. The art features a cutout design, with texture over the colors, and soft shadows to show depth. I also wanted the brand colors to reside under the cutout with ...