What 1E got right, and what held it back
You liked the 1E colourway. The mark and the font needed work. Here's my read on why, before changing anything.
- ✓The colourway. Near-black with electric cobalt and a soft periwinkle. It feels techy without being cold, and very few solar brands use it.
- ✓The dot. The customer, the lead, and now Ovi, your AI operator. It's the most useful idea in the whole round and it stays.
- ✓It works at 16px. 1E was the simplest of the six and held up best as a favicon.
- ✕A ring "O" is too close to Ovia. Softriver's client uses a ring-shaped o for a similar name. A ring with a dot is also a common shape, so it's hard to own.
- ✕The font was a stock choice. Red Hat Display is fine, but the wordmark was just text typed next to the mark.
- ✕The mark and the name didn't share anything. The dot in the mark had no link to the dot on the i.
What the best brand builders teach
I looked at the people behind IBM, Chase, NBC, FedEx, the New York subway and Mastercard, and at the main research on how brands get remembered. Eight lessons shaped this round.
Paul Rand
IBM · UPS · ABC · NeXTA logo gets its meaning from the quality of the company behind it, not the other way round. Its job is to identify, not to explain.
Chermayeff, Geismar & Haviv
Chase · NBC · PBS · Nat GeoAim for a mark that's simple, appropriate and memorable. Their test: could someone draw it from memory after seeing it once?
Massimo Vignelli
NYC subway · American AirlinesDiscipline over decoration. Use very few typefaces, set them with care, and aim for timeless over trendy.
Saul Bass
AT&T · United · MinoltaA symbol should sum up the company in one shape. His line: design is thinking made visual.
Lindon Leader
FedExThe hidden arrow in FedEx: a second meaning you don't need to see, but feel rewarded when you do.
Michael Bierut
Pentagram · Mastercard · MIT Media LabMeaning is poured in over years of use. The best identities work as systems, and the best marks can one day stand without their name, as Mastercard's circles now do.
Marty Neumeier
The Brand Gap · ZagFind your "onlyness": finish the sentence "we're the only ___ that ___". When the whole category zigs, zag.
Jenni Romaniuk
Ehrenberg-Bass InstituteA distinctive asset needs fame (people link it to you) and uniqueness (it doesn't bring anyone else to mind). Both come from consistent use over time.
One sentence, then five tests
OVIOS is the only business OS, built by installers, that runs a service business from first click to finished job, with Ovi keeping everything on track.
The mark's job: show that something is always looking after the customer.Four evolutions of Orbit
Each one keeps the idea you liked, a dot travelling around an O, but uses solid shapes instead of a thin ring. That's more ownable, it's further from Ovia, and it holds up better at small sizes.
A better typeface, and the dot comes home
Every option below gets the same custom treatment: the dot on the i is swapped for the brand dot, in cobalt, sized to match the mark. Tracking is tightened so the word reads as one shape. Red Hat Display, the 1E font, is shown last to compare.
The i carries the dot
The tittle is removed and replaced with the brand dot. It sits a little higher and is a little larger than a normal dot, so it reads as deliberate.
Lowercase, tight
Lowercase feels approachable to a 55-year-old MD and to a 25-year-old surveyor. Tight spacing keeps the five letters together as one shape.
Works without the mark
Because the dot is in the name, the wordmark can stand on its own on vans, polos and email signatures.
Mix it yourself
Pick a mark, a typeface and a background. The "In use" mock-ups below update to match. Download a PNG to share with Jason and Dan.
The brand at work
Mock-ups only. Names and numbers are made up. Everything here follows the playground above.
This week
The loader is the logo: the dot does a lap while Ovi works.
LoaderNew lead from your website. Ovi has booked a survey call for 10:30.