Not sure if you are ready to witness what you are going to read and see in a moment. I won’t say I’m not bit stressed because it’s probably the most important project in my career (so far). Today you’ll hear the story behind the eEngine’s redesign, or rather… EENGINE’S.

Appearance of a company can be shaped in various ways and with use of different tools. Nowadays, the recognition of a brand is an extremely important issue. This topic applies to both large and smaller companies. In our case, the redesign’s topic was firstly  taken in 2018, and today we are still in the process of introducing new Corporate Identity in all materials. But first things first…

What is the logo

The logo is nothing more but a sign identifying  a given brand. Thanks to the logo clients are able to remember and recognize the company. It must be interesting enough for the recipent to make him do the effort of paying attention to the organization.  Giants like Nike or Coca-Cola, can even talk about the emotional attachment of their customers to their trademark. In our case, we must consider what business area we are from. It’s not a rule, but people tend to lean into  companies that look … nicer at first sight. The visual appeal of the sign increases trust. If we communicate the values ​​of our business with the help of the logo, it means, we really care about our clients, and want to be noticed and well read.

Why did we need a redesign?

The current logo has been representing us for the last 6 years (2012-2018). At EENGINE, the work culture is one of the most important aspects of our existence, and one day an idea was born to put in front  what is closest to us – values. Commitment to work, often emotional, caring for quality and relationships – to mention just few of them. Our old logo didn’t reflect this, and … it was a bit old. What’s interesting, we did observe that  not everyone could read or write the “eEngine” name at first attempt. Therefore, we also decided to simplify this element in line with the „less is more” principle.

We operate in technological industry and we always move with the times. That’s why, company identification should be adequate to what it does. The previous logo, although we have a great sentiment for it, was a bit … archaic. And we needed a bit of fresh air.

From the point of view of a designer who sometimes works  with CI elements , an important aspect of the work is a consistently prepared brand manual. Some time ago I had noticed a lack of it within our company/. It turned out that we didn’t have a coherent visual identity that our design projects needed. For example, when we were preparing a presentation for the client X, it was often created completely from scratch. The branding elements were „simultaneously-designed” instead of being a ready set of elements and rules according to which the presentation could be prepared. It’s a case of optimizing the production time of materials based on the designed scheme. Fortunately, today this problem is solved.

It’s worth noting that the logo redesign does not affect only the logo itself. It affects the entire company: from its perception outside, to identification of people with creating the organization with the organization itself.

What was the process of creating the logo

We spent about 40 hours doing all the activities related to the creation of the new logo. The total number of all projects that have been created is 68. This process consisted in gathering information and business requirements, and then brainstorming (sic!) ideas within our design department.

At this stage, we were unable to create any logo that would meet our assumed goals and make us feel „chemistry” to it. However, we have achieved one irrefutable and very important success. In the process of creating new characters, we have matured to determine what we do not want from the new logo.

To move on, we had to do a few things.

1. Cleanse the mind and free ourselves from the emotions that have accompanied creation of the previous projects.
2. Start our creative process from the scratch – out of the box we had put ourselves into before.. More on the principle of creating something from scratch than actually refreshing what we have known so far.

I also reminded myself what we were all about in the whole process. The main task was to combine the values ​​on which EE is built with the idea of ​​a new logo. Returning, from time to time, to my notes, created while preparing for the whole process of redesign, Icame across the statement:

This sentence perfectly reflects what we do every day. At least it’s a perfect idea of ​​our work. I wish such processes both to myself and to all who read this text, let them be as many as possible. A moment later I saw the new logo with the eyes of the imagination…

The genesis of the new logo

Before the design process, in September 2018, the entire EENGINE took part in the competence study – FRIS®. It was a big undertaking for the whole organization, and one of the key benefits was a greater understanding of how we think and how we operate. The next step was to extract individual styles and then enclose them in fris-like shapes. For all this to work, we decided to  use the technology of processing. It is based on Java and allows you to create powerful applications to simulate, process and present data and much more. In the case of generative art, in which the current visual identification of EENGINE fits in, Processing will fulfill its task perfectly. As a curiosity, I can reveal that they teach and use processing at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. So – also, artists can program as well :).

I came up with the idea to combine the results of the FRIS® research with the best asset of our company the people who create it. Everyone who works in an organization knows that he is a part of it, sometimes it has an impact on how the person develops, but would it not  be much nicer to be able to identify yourself and the company at the same time? This way of thinking has translated into the fact that now at EENGINE … everyone has their own unique logo! And when we amass all the logotypes together, they will create the main sign identifying our entire organization as a result of a synergistic combination of all members of our Team. How cool is that?!

What did we gain?

Thanks to this treatment we have created an „infinite logo”. And this isn’t a joke at all. The project will never expire if we don’t want to change its concept. It will always be hip because it identifies the whole team. We have also gained the convenience and continuous evolution of the logo together with the people who will create EENGINE. With new members of the team, the logo will update with the characteristics of that person depending on its style of thinking and style of action.

Having such a system of creating a logo, we have acquired the possibility of easy processing and creating company materials, external communication and building the company’s image. What’s more interesting, as for a software company, we’ve got a logo that will be programmed because we don’t put a mouse click on it to design it.

Hey! We are EE!

From today, we no longer identify as eEngine, but as EENGINE or simply … EE. We accomodated those who incorrectly read or said the name of our company. Each member of the Team received his (or her) unique logo, which will identify not only himself, but also the company. I hope you are as enthusiastic with the reception of this new project, as me and the whole team, during the creation of this logotype.