Signifiant Branding 2017

I designed and developed the branding for Signifiant, a company founded with a mission to support post-IPO startups. They aim to convey management wisdom and to diffuse various management philosophy. The project included the logo, brand guideline, business card, and the full website design for their media platform.

Product Owner:
Signifiant, Inc.
Role:
Art Direction, Graphic Design, Web Design
Sketch

Metaphor

Signifiant is a French philosophical term, which is a signifier that is the vehicle of meaning.

What feelings does Signifiant Inc. provoke to the entrepreneurs, who are the audience? My concept is “air”, like the atmosphere of an era, employee, corporate personality… People can’t see air, but it is a necessity for the living. And when the wind blows, we perceive the air. Let’s inspire new management wisdom into companies.

Metaphor

Symbol Construction and Color

I quickly explored various symbols to find the overall direction of the design. Next, the client picked the option on right side of the below. After that, I spent time fine-tuning the shape over and over. As a result of the research, I realized that older Japanese fund companies are often using a Japanese traditional color “Kon” (deep blue). I decided to use a pale blue, to reform an image that people think about investment funds.

Symbol construction and color1
Symbol construction1
Symbol construction2
Symbol construction3

Finalizing the Logo

Finalizing the logo
Finalizing the logo

Design Guide

Design guidelines

Preview

Business card for Signifiant
Web design for Signifiant media
Mobile web design for Signifiant media

Engineer: Kengo Hamasaki