Creating an autonomous brand designed to drive itself.
THE PROJECT
Long-time client, Samsung, approached us to develop the branding and identity of their new autonomous driving platform, making this the fourth product ATOMIC D has branded for Samsung.
The project began by defining the brand’s personality and building out a character around that personality to better understand how customers would relate to it. The result was Human Tech, defined by the traits below and embodied in the persona of Marvel superhero, Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man. Tony Stark would serve as the human reference to the image Samsung would look to hold within the autonomous driving technology market and industry.
THE BRAND
Next step, the name. A lengthy process riddled with legal speed bumps and roadblocks. The name needed to articulate the new brand personality without losing the connection to the parent company, Samsung. Hundreds of names were presented, 10 were selected for a deep PTO validation before we settled on DRVLINE.
THE MOOD
With the identity in place, we began to determine the visual world the brand would represent itself within. Imagery, color, type, energy… everything needed to paint a visual picture of what the brand is, what it stands for, and how it aligns with customers.
THE SKETCH
With a clearly defined understanding of who the brand is, the world it lives in, and of course the name, we moved into the visual design phase and began sketching concepts for the logo.
THE DESIGN
Through an iterative process, concept sketches evolved into refined digital designs through collaboration and discussion with our partners.
THE MARK
The final result is seen here. The clean flowing lines of the icon represent the intuitive, graceful, autonomous capabilities of the product, the sophistication of the brand’s customers, top-tier automotive manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi, as well as the strength and heritage of the Samsung brand.
THE RULES
With the branding and identity in place, the final step was to create the rules from which it would be used. This is a sampling of the style guide developed to assure consistent and cohesive use of the brand across thousands of Samsung employees and vendors.