‘Back of the Napkin’

A helpful quick exercise to see how the different letterforms could play against and with one another.

Concept 0

The Good

Easy-to-use wordmark (fits 1:1 space, single-color)

The Bad


Doesn’t align with our adjectives
, and too consumer-y/startup-y
 feeling. Worse than that, it's not legible (reads like “Air”). With three short letters you don’t have as many context clues as you would with a longer name like Alternative. It's important here for the ‘t’ to have a full crossbar to ensure legibility.

Concept 1

The Good

Perfect text weight. With a three-letter logo, its important to be bold enough to put a stake in the ground (vs. too thin and look like it could be blown away with the wind). In juxtaposition, we can’t have anything too bulky and buff, or we lose the refined personality. This text weight is a perfect balance between both.

The Bad

Feels stale — not enough personality. Let’s see what happens if we add a long tail to the ‘t’ for added flair

Concept 2

Yuck!

“t” is too peppy, too much (& not the right type of) personality

Juuuust right
Personality

James Bond in a midnight-blue tuxedo whispering in your ear at a classy black tie event

Both quiet and bold

✓ Fits characteristics and adjectives

Appeals to the Masses
Timeless Design
Financial / Slightly Masculine
Ease of Use

Trustworthy
Smart
Professional
Refined
German/Swiss Design

By keeping all cap heights and ascender heights uniform, each word-mark feels like one unified shape, not to mention that Leore’s company portfolio has a nice rhythm to it.

Works in 1:1 ratio dimensions

The Alt team doesn’t need to dictate when to use icon, icon+wordmark, just wordmark, etc — in all touchpoints we can use the same logo, stress-free and consistently, like a stamp (even the favicon!)

Rich Color palette

Once the word-mark was complete, I could begin building out the supporting color palette. Deep rich hues exude mature masculinity. Soft powder blues and golds counterbalance with added sophistication. Feedback colors, of key importance given the nature of the product, are saturated and strong.
Black
Shadow
Gold
Tan
Seaweed
Navy
Levi
Light Green
Slate
Light blue
Powder
Lavender
Alice Blue
Snow
Success
Warning
Error

Abstract graphic style

I knew the Alt aesthetic should feel both modern and timeless... dare I say, vintage? Yes, Mid Century Modern is having a moment right now — but its for good reason! I recently visited Georgia O'Keefe's home filled with furniture gifts from her friends (Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, and the like). Nothing felt dated, and everything felt cool and easy.

The team agreed drawing inspiration from MCM design would cement our brand aesthetic and also clearly differentiate us from competitors.

Overlapping thin opaque lines and semi-transparent abstracted geometric shapes achieved this.


Team member placeholder graphics
Misc. Icons

Type pairing

With the classic wristwatch aesthetic as our north star, there was no way we couldn't incorporate Decimal — a new typeface by Hoefler&Co inspired by the distinct lettering style of nearly all wristwatches — into the mix. Peclet serves as a sharp and confident header font. . The repetitive use of minor angles and slightly disproportionate terminals complement the otherwise rigid typeface. Neue Haas Grotesque as a body font, basically Helvetica but with optical sizing thought through, is the epitome of Swiss  type design — clear and great for easy reading. Not to mention its more humanist feel is a great counter-balance to Peclet's less friendly personality.
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emikolodny@gmail.com