Aragon Brand Refresh
Aragon's brand has gone through dozens of incremental changes since the project began. These incremental changes affected every part of the brand: the logo, colors, typography, illustrations...
Rather than refining, the design language started to diverge. Today we are introducing a reimagined brand identity, rooted in principles and systems that produce a coherent design language. A language that promotes consistency without compromising on style.
New logotype
In the world of logos there is universal truth: The more variations you have of your logo, the less likely people will use those variations correctly.
Today, the main logo has various subtle forms accumulated over a few versions. Many have a shield, but some are circular. Some have gradients, some don’t. We have so many variations of the same logo floating around that the latest or most appropriate version is rarely used.
The first standardization on this front will be to define a simple logo to serve as the base. We have proposed the use of the circular logo and a simple alternative version in monochrome.
The various offshoots of the main brand (including the token) must follow the same pattern.
The logo has been reformulated to a circular shape and rebalanced negative space. The interior curves have also been refined and the gradient has been distributed more efficiently.
The logo will only use the primary colors for improved simplicity and coherence among logo variations. We have decided to eliminate the black color of the logo, which makes it easier to integrate within other visual ecosystems.
New color palette
Choosing a good color palette is crucial in defining a brand identity.
The current problem is the lack of norms and rules within the main colors of the brand, and being used in different unofficial versions. In the secondary colors we find a variety of shades not reflected in the style guide.
To start, we are defining a primary palette of two vibrant and accessible colors.
The secondary palette takes a color from different bands of the color spectrum that also align with the primary palette. The idea of having colors so different in their tonality is based on the concepts of plurality and dynamism.
New typography
We currently have two typefaces defined in the Aragon ecosystem, one for products and another for communications.
We wanted to unify our typography under a single typeface.
During the research process we explored hundreds of fonts with a clear list of characteristics this new typeface should have:
- Values close to our brand
- Readability and cleanliness
- Variable typeface
- Open source
- Great interface integration (including numbers)
This font is a crossover of different font types: it is semi-condensed, semi-rounded, semi-geometric, semi-din, semi-grotesque. It employs minimal stoke thickness variations and a semi-closed aperture.
Manrope has wide language support, covering most Latin and Cyrillic languages. The digits are also perfect for interfaces and displaying data.
New shapes system
Shapes have always been a very useful resource in the visual brand universe; these shapes can go from representation of a concept, to a pattern, or simple decoration.
Nowadays there is no clear standardization of these shapes, using more realistic and other more abstract shapes. These shapes are not aligned with the brand values and their use is currently very limited or almost non-existent.
The idea is start from the basic geometric forms
Using this geometric base we can create different shapes
And with all these forms we can create a visual system where all these pieces fit together, creating new ecosystems
There are many types of shapes, each one for different situations but always speaking the same design language. Shapes can be used and adapted to our entire new color range
All shapes are presented as LEGO pieces, simplicity is its key piece and can be used together to form compositions and patterns or separately as icons.
With this brand refresh we have managed to add more consistency to the main logo, align it with our values, and make it easier to integrate. We have improved the chromatic range through more accessible and harmonic colors. We have chosen a single font, which will connect communication and product. We have created a shape system that will help us express the brand in a much more beautiful and dynamic visual environment.
There is still a lot of work to do, brands are living things that must always adapt and evolve. Aragon’s brand now has a unified foundation on which to grow for years to come.