From coffee to brief, from brief to logo

Translated from "Guiso gráfico con liqueed" by Gabriel Lopatin

The process of designing a logo usually starts with a brief. My experience goes along that path, due to the formal education I've had. But for this project I didn´t receive any formal document. Instead of that I was received with a populous breakfast. What about the brief? We shall define it now, together, between coffee and chipás.

On this first meeting the liqueed guys explained to me where they come from and where they want to go. They dream about wiping away strict structures, in order to evolve to a living and dynamic organism.

There is a lot of passion and creative energy all around. A lot of enthusiasm that they want to share with everyone else, so that others can take part of it.

Deep transformations, liqueed's engine

I met agile minds wanting to generate positive changes. They told me where the name came from. The link to the “deep transformations” they crave for. How it related to focus on the Ethos rather than on the Tools. The connection to liquid democracy, Bauman and their plans to change the industry status quo, in terms of value and work development. They talked about open, responsible and honest teams, about dynamism and also, and the most important thing, about people.

I left revolutionized, with lots of thoughts and questions.

What should the brand communicate? How can I build an identity where people are more important than the organization? How can I consolidate elements when “what is valuable is what can change”?

First, I was going to recopy some images that appeared during the first meeting. At least to let all that energy flow out.

My first idea was to write with a natural, spontaneous, continuous and human gesture. Simple and peculiar. Very personal.

Then, two concepts came to me: patchy and eclectic. Volatile. I imagined letters written on Post-its, but I ruled it out right away. Too toolish. So, I thought on recreating the human gesture on this too.

The two “e” side by side (emphasizing “together”, and creating a shift by replacing the “i”) gives me the possibility of creating a distinctive set, although it has been used several times.

Some logos emphasizing the “e”

Relieved from all those spontaneous impulses, I researched about the visual presentation that could already exist as a logotype, given that the root of the name is such a common word.

Compilation of logos with the same name or concept.

On the other hand, I started researching visual triggers that emerged when talking about “liquid”. Logically, the first ones were: water, drops, waves and splashes.

Visual references about “liquid”

All this graphic background allows me to understand which concepts and elements are common and which ones could turn out to be groundbreaking and peculiar.

I moved forward with my first impulse: the gestural expression. I explored strokes and gestures.

I composed and adjusted.

So I came out with the first version:

I was happy with this, but it was just the beginning.

I decided to explore typographies. I am a big fan of typography. I read blogs, I jump between font foundries and I am subscribed to many newsletters. There are some exceptional typographers and the field has grown up with time and new technologies.

I searched for variations on the gestural stroke, irregular and changeful. Or some that I felt expressed what I understood was liqueed.

Typography search

Having all this options together allows me to compare and analyze them on different aspects like: weigh, legibility, creativity, etc. As this creation process has the peculiarity of being open, I will share this with Alan, Ari and David in out next meeting.

Simón passed by, looked at them, and chose one quickly: “use this one”, he said pointing at the only one on color. And just like this he went away. “Obviously” I thought. I save that one in order to remember on exploring about color and that kind of decisions.

So let’s go.

I didn’t talk about color palette with the guys. I think about primary colors, as they are the starting point for creating the rest. Light colors or pigment colors. Any way they are three colors and liqueed has three founding members.

At the same time, I am looking for visual expressions that allow more resources to the different needs identity and communication may have in the future.

Until I selected:

At this time, satisfied and released, I think about the next step. I will have a conversation about all this process with Alan, Ariel and David.

Let’s see what the think. Let’s see how they feel.