The Client
Knowledge Management is an internal Business to Client Sales department within the Wayfair company. Members of the department refer to themselves as "wizards" thanks to their magical ability to answer the requests of the parent company.
It also might have something to do with them being Harry Potter fans.
On the left below is the original logo the client presented me with.
The Redesign
When a client asks for a design, ideation is often the largest portion of my job. When they ask for a redesign, the job shifts to execution.
Working with my own ideas, it's easier to see from the start how I can execute on them. Working with an idea so far along already presents some unique challenges. But constraints breed creativity, and lucky for me, this one was full of great ideas already.
The redesigned logo, on the right below, was a blast to work on.
The symbolism in the first logo is immediately clear. Fans of the Harry Potter series will recall the Sorting Hat, a sentient wizard hat tasked with assigning inbound students to one of the school's four houses. It peers into minds and makes the right decision almost instantly--much like the Knowledge Management department.
So the hat is a great idea, the only problem is the execution. There are a number of problems with the logo on the left.
Many of the elements are too fine.
There are too many elements overall.
The white space is a little unruly.
Of course, leading, tracking, and kerning need to be adjusted.
There are too many elements overall.
The white space is a little unruly.
Of course, leading, tracking, and kerning need to be adjusted.
And lastly, while the idea of wizard hat has plenty of identity, this particular hat does not. There isn't anything unique about this shape to set it apart from all the other knowledge wizards out there
Now first of all let me say it's a lot easier to criticize something than it is to improve it. Lucky for me, these are mostly technical issues. Here's how I solved them:
Too-fine elements:
I drew up cleaner vectors for the hat and quill. They have reduced complexity and a more recognizable style. The action lines in the hat create a swooping motion and the idea that things are moving forward within the logo (and the department).
I drew up cleaner vectors for the hat and quill. They have reduced complexity and a more recognizable style. The action lines in the hat create a swooping motion and the idea that things are moving forward within the logo (and the department).
Too many elements:
The Wayfair X logo has a purpose in the lockup, but it's competing for attention, so instead of including it outright, I incorporated the colors from the Wayfair logo into the elements of the new logo. Once again, reducing overall complexity while improving recognition.
The Wayfair X logo has a purpose in the lockup, but it's competing for attention, so instead of including it outright, I incorporated the colors from the Wayfair logo into the elements of the new logo. Once again, reducing overall complexity while improving recognition.
The stars on the other hand didn't have much purpose in the original. I reduced them to a single, larger star, which I lined up with the word knowledge and placed inside the outline of a person's head. Now the star has a clear purpose. It represents knowledge. Which brings me to my next point.
Unruly white space:
With so many elements in this logo, it's important to be conscious of what's happening in the white space. The first way I solved this problem was by using the outline of a wizard hat to create a face in the negative space. Tilted slightly upward, the gaze is pensive and wizardly.
With so many elements in this logo, it's important to be conscious of what's happening in the white space. The first way I solved this problem was by using the outline of a wizard hat to create a face in the negative space. Tilted slightly upward, the gaze is pensive and wizardly.
Leading, tracking, and kerning:
This is the second solution to the white space dilemma. The font the client chose was working just fine. However, by default, text is set with legibility in mind and the automatic settings are not the most readable when it comes to logo design.
This is the second solution to the white space dilemma. The font the client chose was working just fine. However, by default, text is set with legibility in mind and the automatic settings are not the most readable when it comes to logo design.
In this case, the excess space between letters, and the variation in baseline, which would normally help viewers differentiate each object, only serve to give the entire block a scattered look.
Some simple adjustments here are all it took to unify the business name in the lockup.
