Previous case studies have already detailed our logo design process: in the Ribbet case study, we discussed the logo for the photo editor; in the PassFold case study, we detailed the logo for the mobile app that stores and manages tickets and passes; and finally, we introduced you to our own Tubik logo. All of these examples demonstrate how meticulous and complex logo design should be. In user interface design, branding, and, by extension, the effective promotion of a product, a logo—a sign with profound symbolic meaning—is essential.
This time around, we’ll go over the steps that Arthur Avakyan of Tubik Studio took to create the logo for the Saily app.
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Process
You can buy and sell used goods with your neighbors using the Saily app, which is part of a local community. I guess you could say it’s an e-commerce app with a strong emphasis on communication. Notably, the app’s development team places a premium on design and culture as cornerstones of their operations. Tamara, a designer at Tubik Studio, was tasked by the client with creating an app with a lighthearted and entertaining user interface. In order for the logo to harmonize with the overall design concept, it had to adhere to the same standards.
Since the app’s branding was initially based on variations of the font, designer Arthur Avakyan began the design process with those variations. Historically, the process began with hand-lettered versions, with particular focus on the initial capital letter S because of its possible future usage as the application icon.
Instead of connecting the initial and last letters as in the previous version, the following version used simpler lines to display the other style’s lettering, resulting in less of an integral connection. It seemed more reasonable to have the first letter of the S stand out from the rest of the letters in this version in case it was chosen for the icon or another logo variant.
Animal symbol
Similar to our earlier case studies on the Ribbet and Tubik logos, the second stage of branding involved creating the corporate character. Having an incredible legend behind it, this time the mascot was a ghost, which served to both entertain and support the application’s goal for the target audience. The original concept behind the Saily app was a friendly ghost named Casper who had a hard time finding a good spot to sleep due to the clutter in people’s houses. Therefore, in order to make Casper happy, the Saily app suggests that users sell their unused stuff.
The first version, based on rounded forms and smooth lines, had an outlining of the body and hands, and had a friendly and adorable appearance; the designer had taken into account the app’s tone and the primary requirement to make the mascot as adorable as possible. Square icons with a variety of background colors and the mascot itself bore the image.
Although the client’s overall vision was capture, she wished to pursue additional possibilities in order to attain a charming and fashionable appearance. Keeping the icon simple and uncluttered, another version shows various ghostly forms and images by omitting details like hands.
Images
The images were fashionable and intriguing, but there was still one more step to the process. In addition to e-commerce features, the app’s developers opted to incorporate a strong gamification element and a plethora of illustrations to bolster the brand’s image as fun, adorable, and cool. In light of this, the designer provide an additional variant that, while maintaining the same instantly identifiable shape, could utilized in a wide variety of contexts and serve a variety of functional purposes within the game. Because of this, the new ghost was flatter and more rounded, and it looked great both inside the icon form and on its own as an element in any setting. The consensus was that this approach was the most adaptable and generalizable.
Numerous screen illustrations and the app’s featured game further adhered to the approved design solution for the corporate mascot. Our next case study will focus on the user interface design for the Saily app, and it will describe the design process in greater depth.
In this logo design case, a lot of creative energy went into coming up with different versions that would be expressive of the app’s personality, versatile enough to serve a variety of purposes, up-to-date with design trends, and unique enough to make the app’s branding stand out.