Blog

Revealing the thinking behind our refreshed brand

Date

29th January 2020

Read

3 min

Creator

Steve Ridgeway

Over the past few years‚ hedgehog lab has enjoyed explosive growth. The company’s development was recently highlighted by our inclusion in the listings of both Europe’s top 5000 and the Northern Tech 100 lists of fastest-growing companies.

Earlier this year‚ we also announced a more practical expansion as we revealed we’d extend our offerings to include the development of AI solutions. The move follows on from a successful manoeuvre into the immersive arena‚ with a number of VR and AR projects currently in development.

With our team now over 110 people strong and spread across 3 continents‚ our capacity constantly evolving and the company celebrating its 10th anniversary‚ we thought it seemed the perfect time to refresh our logo in a manner which reflects the progression of the company.

Evolution not revolution

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Given the long-standing values that have served us so well‚ we knew we didn’t want to completely reinvent the hog. Instead‚ we concentrated on how we could improve what we already had (without going full Michael Jackson and transforming into something totally alien).

Having taken the time to study our previous logo‚ we came to the conclusion that on the face of things‚ colours were a little dull‚ and that differing font weights left the logo feeling a tad dated.

More eagle-eyed readers may also notice that detail within the logo was a little fiddly and perhaps inconsistent‚ whilst there was also previously little structure between type and marque.

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To address the issues we identified‚ we introduced a number of changes. The most eye-catching alteration is in the increased vibrancy of the colours‚ helping our brand to really stand out. Paired with a more contemporary and consistent font choice‚ our new look is altogether more assertive.

Elsewhere‚ more consideration has been paid to the alignment and positioning of text in relation to the logo‚ adding a more definitive structure. The marque has been made more geometric‚ and by making our hedgehog more uniform – including the removal of hedgie’s legs (no hedgehogs were harmed in the creation of this logo)‚ we have ensured that detail remains visible when used in a smaller size.

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We believe that the improvements have led to the creation of a brand which remains bold yet friendly‚ whilst also appearing audacious yet professional. We have created something that will be familiar for our fans and is ultimately still ‘#bethehedgehog’.

What’s next?

With a number of exciting projects in the pipeline‚ we’ll also be hard at work to project our brand in a light which more accurately portrays the talent and attitude of our team. Our Lead Designer‚ Luke Medlock‚ has been hard at work since the big reveal‚ encompassing our values in a new set of comprehensive brand guidelines that are almost complete. 

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Elsewhere‚ our flagship event Innovate Now is continuing to make strides and is already arguably the region’s leading regular innovation event. Now approaching its fifth instalment‚ we have already welcomed speakers from brands such as Accenture‚ Amazon and Thales‚ and will enjoy hearing from Nissan’s John Ferguson at our next event.

Finally‚ it’ll likely come as little surprise that our new logo was just the first step in what is a full company rebrand. The highlight of this promises to be a new and improved company website‚ currently undergoing the development and expected to launch soon.

In all‚ it’s an exciting time to be the hedgehog!