The branding and identity design for Idea Nerd had two main components that needed to be expressed through their visual mark. First, the mark needed to reinforce the name and give visual clues as to what the company does. Second, the style of the logo should reflect the owner's attitude and business philosophy- technical, geeky, and precise, but with a fun, self-deprecating sense of humor.
The idea for the visuals of the mark came almost instantly. The name lent itself to an immediate interpretation, with the image of a light bulb being universally recognized as suggesting a thought or an idea. The next logical step was to make the light bulb into a character, specifically one that was "nerdy" looking. As creators of software and mobile apps, Idea Nerd works on the leading edge of technology, so careful consideration had to be given towards how the style of their logo and subsequent branding would be developed. A number of concepts in different styles, colors, and moods were created, as seen below...
After assembling a virtual army of nerdy light bulb characters, and exploring the traits and styles of each, we chose the design that best combined the fun, self-deprecating sense of humor, with a clean and sophisticated cartoon style. This graphic mark is now used as a design motif for corporate materials, as well as the focal point for two different business card & stationery design sets.
