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Case Study
Strange Particle: New identity, website and product logos
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BACKGROUND
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Strange Particle will provide entertainment software
products. Initially they will focus on audio software
for technical-savvy musicians, and are considering
eventually expanding into gaming software. Gary,
the owner and VERY talented programmer has developed
and tested the first product, midiWormhole. audioWormhole
is in production.
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CHALLENGE
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Indentity: Gary liked the idea of basing
his company's identity on a "strange particle"
— a real scientific term for a type of quark.
Since he will be offering entertainment software,
he wanted his identity to be a bit playful yet
professional. He also required two logos for his
initial products. The logos will be used in packaging,
on the website, and as desktop icons for shortcuts
to the software once it is installed.
Website: The new website will present
product information, documentation for software
installation and use, and a "try" and
"buy" area. Strange particles are very
active. A news section on the home page will enhance
branding by reporting current activities.
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SOLUTION
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 Company
Logotype: We can't actually see strange particles
but their paths have been recorded. Initially
we played with the idea of using the paths as
elements of a logo but they were too complex.
We needed something simple that could be used
in a variety of print and digital media. In the
end we came up with a very simple concept that
visually conveyed the strangeness of a particular
particle: a brightly colored sphere next to two
ordinary gray spheres. The unique type conveyed
the feeling of strange particle motion.
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Product Logotypes and Desktop Icons:
The product names and the function of the
software drove the designs. An image of
a wormhole was a natural choice.
To differentiate "midi" from
"audio" was a challenge. Both
are sound-based. We chose musical notes
and a staff for midi and an audio wave for
audioWormhole. These shapes are distorted
to show the gravitational pull of the wormholes.
Both logos sit on a silver mesh shape that,
for functional reasons, defines the edge
of the logos (when used as desktop icons).
The mesh shape also resembles a speaker
woofer which enhances the sound aspect of
the products and conveys the high-tech aspect
of the software. The round silver shape
visually relates these images to the company
logo.
The typeface is the same as the Strange
Particle logotype which futher unifies the
three images for branding purposes.
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 Website:
As always, branding is top priority. We need to
reflect the company identity in the website. An
option might have been to use bright orange as
the main color scheme to reflect the one "strange"
particle in the logo. But using bright orange
throughout the website would have diminished the
impact of that "strange" dot. We chose
to play the site down and use silver as a backdrop
which would increase the impact of the orange.
A muted background makes that orange dot pop and
visually conveys that it is, indeed, strange.
The chrome texture feels high-tech and visually
supports the high-tech products.
We did use orange in the navigation, however.
When visitors move their mouse over a silver button
it glows orange. This is interactive branding
— a unique opportinity in online applications.
The website hasn't been built yet but you can
view
a "comp" (a non-functional image
that will be used to build a page).
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Next
client 
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Real Estate Agriculture Group
