Lookback

We began with an eval­u­a­tion of Look­back as a com­pa­ny: its audi­ence, com­peti­tors, dif­fer­en­tia­tors, and more. By bet­ter under­stand­ing the indus­try land­scape and the future Look­back envi­sioned, we were able to iden­ti­fy visu­al oppor­tu­ni­ties to help the brand achieve its goals. 

We worked with their team to set­tle on three attrib­ut­es for the Look­back brand: Intu­itive, Hum­ble, and Approach­able. The eval­u­a­tion, paired with the attrib­ut­es, informed the three direc­tions pre­sent­ed in the first round of ideation. We knew indus­try clich­és to avoid, oppor­tu­ni­ties to explore, and ele­ments to recommend.

Three con­cep­tu­al direc­tions were pre­sent­ed: ​“Dynam­ic,” ​“Bridg­ing Dig­i­tal & Human,” and ​“Friend to Discoverability.”

“Dynam­ic” spoke to the iter­a­tive process of user research, sur­fac­ing the right insights (usu­al­ly between the lines) to build use­ful prod­ucts. The geo­met­ric mark pre­sent­ed in this option paired with a col­or com­bi­na­tion showed Look­back was dialed in, intel­li­gent, and intu­itive. ​“Bridg­ing Dig­i­tal & Human” used a mixed sans-ser­if/serif logo­type to set a dig­i­tal tone and con­vey the human spir­it. Final­ly, ​“Friend to Dis­cov­er­abil­i­ty” evoked curios­i­ty in an approach­able way through its play­ful logo­type and col­or palette; dis­cov­er­abil­i­ty makes a prod­uct great and doing the work of user research takes curios­i­ty and ambition.

After the Look­back team chose their pre­ferred direc­tion — ​”Bridg­ing Dig­i­tal & Human” — we began refin­ing that direc­tion and build­ing out the visu­al lan­guage. We explored typog­ra­phy, col­or palettes, and pho­to styles over the fol­low­ing weeks. As the visu­al iden­ti­ty took shape, we applied it to dif­fer­ent instances and medi­ums, test­ing the bound­aries of the new iden­ti­ty.

The Look­back word­mark focus­es on the busi­ness name for brand recog­ni­tion. The pair­ing of a serif and sans-serif type­face embod­ies the Look­back mis­sion to bridge human and dig­i­tal.

The brand type­face, Newzald, is a well-bal­anced serif intend­ed to feel human and sin­cere. The sec­ondary type­face, Inter, sup­ports Newzald with­out being over­pow­er­ing, and Inter offers robust options for typo­graph­ic glyphs to cre­ate dig­i­tal expe­ri­ences across mul­ti­ple languages.

Final­ly, the Look­back team received their Brand Style Guide­lines. The guide­lines includ all the ele­ments need­ed — logos, type­faces, col­ors, and more — to cre­ate a con­sis­tent tone, look, and feel for Look­back­’s mate­ri­als. Guide­lines ensure visu­al con­sis­ten­cy and pro­vide a clear­ly com­mu­ni­cat­ed frame­work for brand appli­ca­tion as Look­back grows.

The final logo­mark takes ele­ments from the refine­ment phase and push­es those ideas fur­ther with a light­bulb. It builds on Look­back’s attrib­ut­es and rep­re­sents that​“light­bulb moment” so com­mon after user research. 

Look­back­’s pho­tog­ra­phy style is nat­ur­al but curat­ed. It care­ful­ly cap­tures peo­ple and envi­ron­ments in a nat­ur­al set­ting with min­i­mal edit­ing. The authen­tic pho­tog­ra­phy style works to build trust and approachability.