Design Sojourn Rebranded!

Our Facebook fans had a little treat last week, when they caught wind of Design Sojourn’s new look. Developed together with my friends from Black Design, this rebranding initiative was targeted to coincide with our first massive Workshop Project.
Since our consulting work has taken up most of the time required for articles here at Design Sojourn (Sorry!), I thought it would be nice to share some of what we have done with all of you.

A logo design has to work in both black and white.
In our effort to redesign our brand we looked at Design Sojourn from both sides of the lens, i.e. the customer and the organization. From the organization’s point of view, we wanted the logo to reflect Design Sojourn’s core belief that every Design activity or process is a unique journey, and that we are here as your guide in this journey. In other words, we help brands, businesses and organizations to connect the dots or find their way, so to speak.
On the other side of the lens, we wanted the design language to not only communicate this journey but also communicate a sense of authority, trust, and precision. Our old logo, while great for a blog, did not accurately portray what we wanted for our company. The old logo gave a more relaxed vibe, when what we wanted was to come across a little more formal. We are also all about the spread of Design knowledge and know-how.
We kicked off the project looking at a number of concepts on how to represent a “journey” graphically. We explored maps, train tracks and even how stations were represented by a row of connected dots. This row of connected dots eventually formed the inspiration of our new logo design. We liked it as it was simple and universal.
I was however unsatisfied. I wanted more edge to the design, as I was uncomfortable with the minimal (perhaps too minimal) feel. I pushed the team to consider not just a train journey but also a visualization of the design process. This was a reflection of where the original Design Sojourn logo came from, and how it was inspired by a design process.
As a result of this prodding, the design team devised a very cool branding concept that has now been reflected across all my corporate collaterals. I think I’ll shut up now and let the rest of the images below tell you the story.


Exploring the branding concept. Connecting the dots, but not always in a straight line.


We even played around with geographical grids etc.


The branding concept applied to the templates of our PowerPoint slides.


This has to be my favorite of all my collaterals. I felt that connecting the dots or path finding in a design journey was like finding your way through a maze. The design team then created this “With Compliments” slip for my clients to have a little fun and hopefully leave a lasting impression when we say goodbye.


Every touch-point was designed, including all our communication graphics. The new Design Sojourn brand has to be consistent across all collaterals.

Well I hope you enjoyed this design story and also this small insight into what I have been up to in the last 6 months. The brand development activities will not stop here. Black Design and I have planned a whole range of marketing and PR activities (including updating this website) to leverage and take advantage of this new brand concept. So do stay tuned for more goodies to come!


Bonus Image: As we ran out of budget, I took the social media icon they developed for me and turned it into a company chop for official documents.