In early 2015, the Raleigh Bicycles team decided we needed a parts and accessories brand to use instead of the 'Raleigh' name on the bikes. Device was a BMX-specific brand owned by one of our sister companies and no longer getting much use, so we decided it was worth exploring a re-branding so it could be used for multiple categories: Road, Mountain, and Cyclocross.
As a team, we agreed the "D" Lock icon was fairly strong and would create avenues for interesting application to the product, but that the wordmark was severely dated. So wile the Lock icon maybe only needed a slight tweak, the original wordmark would essentially be abandoned for something more contemporary and timeless.
Here is the original and what was chosen as the final concept:
And here's a slightly-abridged version of how I got us there:
Before my marketing/product guru and I had settled on the DEVICE name, were mainly focused on a mirrored icon, regardless of what we called the brand. Things like LEVEL and RSP (Raleigh Special Projects) were bandied about (and keep in mind these sketches were done in a bar somewhere):
After we decided on the DEVICE name, the mirror / palindrome idea was still at the forefront when I started the first round of rough digital concepts, and cyan was chosen as a new primary color to use as some feared the green was too love-it-or-hate-it:
Moving away from any mirror or palindrome idea, we decided to simplify it and try to integrate the "D" Lock into the wordmark:
This was the last set we had everything edited down to:
Some final detail work included experimenting with the length and width of the "D" Lock icon:
I then built the final wordmark from scratch. The entire logo was built around the I and the C, which ultimately dictated the linewidth and curvatures of the rest of the letters.
First I experimented with the diameter of the curvatures, and then built a grid and the rest of the logo:
The most time-consuming part was getting the base of the V to match the overall width of the C still have its base match the width of the I (instead of creating a sharp point).
Having the "D" Lock icon integrated into the wordmark was abandoned for readability, so the finalization was moving back to a clear icon and wordmark separation. And after we all decided to bring back the lime green in favor over the cyan, only a slight color option was left to decide: having the "D" icon a single color or two:
The all-green icon was chosen, which lead us to this being our final:
After weeks of back and forth getting the logo finalized, I started concepting the logo's application to the parts and components it would live on, as well as some very preliminary concepts of packaging to sell it aftermarket.
Sadly, our management team killed this project the second they saw it and immediately asked for a Raleigh-branded strategy. So one day some of this might see the light of day, but in a very different manner, and with a different name. At the very least, it was a great logo-building and branding exercise for me.
If you feel like checking out more (yes, even MORE) concepts and more of the process, please go to justinlobban.com
Thanks!!
