Last week, Eirik and I presented the concept for the updated MW identity to our CEO and heads of design and sales. First things first: the concept was approved.

How we made the concept

First of all, we defined what characterizes today’s identity, and what is good and not so good about it. We found out that the main problem is the amount of wave metaphors it relies on. It is flushed by illustrations, names and graphic elements all translating the word “wave” to incoherent visual languages. There’s nothing wrong with them, but combined, they make MW’s profile fuzzy and weak.

Also, we wanted the identity to progress from an array of metaphors to a bold statement of self confidence. This calls for a merciless killing of darlings.

How we have worked so far

So far, Eirik and I i have worked mostly without a computer. We have collected clippings, found objects, color samples and sketches, and laid them out.

Eirik Langås, seen while touching real stuff.

• Working on paper has some great benefits:
• It allows to see and compare a lot of objects and ideas at once.
• We can stand and walk while we work, and use walls, tables and floors.
• We are able to touch real stuff.
• It’s easier to collaborate on paper sketches.
• Maybe most important -  it prevents us from finalizing products. While sitting at a computer, I often start tweaking and adjusting sketches when I should be producing more of them. You can’t tweak with scissors, tape and markers.

Clippings

So, where’s the new logo?

I won’t show any sketches on the blog yet. The identity project is deliberately undemocratic. MW is crowded by design conscious people, but making an idenity we all can agree on would be impossible. I don’t want to start an uncontrolled discussion on what the new identity should look like before the project group has approved on the finalized concept and first implementations.

Now that’s quite arrogant.

So far we’ve had a workshop involving heads of all departments, to find out what products we should design first. We did this becuse Erik and I don’t have the entire overview of all products. We did not, however, discuss the development of the identity in this group. Just as accounting is not subject to a democratic process, design problems are best solved within a small, designated group of decision makers an specialists.

I noticed this actually sounded a bit arrogant, so to be sure: We want opinion. But to be able to keep a steady progress, we will have to decide what opinions we need, and when we need them.