Logo and Branding: Kinetica
Posted: July 2, 2012 Filed under: Architecture & The Built Environment, Art & Design, Logos & Branding | Tags: architectural, architecture, Art, branding, Branding News, design, Face, graphic design, helvetica, identity, industrial, industry, Kinetica, logo, logo news, logo-type, Mexico, Santa Catarina, typography 4 Comments »
Kinetica is an international industrial design studio located in Santa Catarina, Mexico, that specialises in non-standard architectural projects. Their identity, created by supermodernist design agency Face, utilises a bold black and yellow colour palette, a simple logo-type and a grid based collateral layout to create a clean and contemporary interpretation of heavy industry infused with architectural references.
“Kinetica is an ingenious industrial design bureau offering custom solutions for non-standard architectural challenges. They work with top-level international, national and local architectural firms to develop the most obsessive and mind blowing industrial firms. Face redesigned the brand from head to toe, from their manifesto, their DNA and their way to communicate through words and images.”
“Kinetica’s identity is based in the simple concept of modular grids with movement. The only generic and geometric shape that we use is a circle. Modern design, bright colour, Swiss typography and grids create an industrial yet classy atmosphere.”
- Taken from the Face website
I have never had a problem with Helvetica logo-types when utilised alongside other communicative brand assets (as it was originally designed to be neutral) or where the practical philosophy of the typeface resonates well with the brand. In this case, while minimal, I think Face has managed to deliver a solution that appropriately reflects the company’s industrial nature, architectural relationship and manages to build on Max Miedinger’s Bauhaus influences with a neat combination of grids, consistent non-hierarchical typesetting, a restrained two-tone colour palette, die cut detail and geometric pattern.
The logo-type has been really well executed with a good eye for pairs and letter-space, avoids any superfluous character adjustments and has a lowercase egalitarianism that makes it appear solid, practical and democratic (perhaps a reference to equality and collaboration across all design disciplines). Plenty of space, geometry and basic material choices across the collaterals builds on Konetica’s architectural specialisation while the pattern across the business cards introduces a subtle sense of movement, from randomness to uniformity (implying pragmatism and process), and a modular technical quality.
Visit the BP&O Logo Gallery for a chronological guide to all the identities reviewed on BP&O.
Related articles:
Why I hate Helvetica by Armin Vit
Helvetica vs Lobster by Richard Baird
More identity work from Face:
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Richard BairdRichard is a British freelance designer and writer who specialises in the development of logos, branding and packaging. He has written for Brand New and Design Week, is an editor for The Dieline, has featured in Computer Arts magazine and also runs the resource Design Survival. |
“I have never had a problem with Helvetica logo-types when utilised alongside other communicative brand assets ” You’re right Richard. Anyway I’m starting to see Helvetica as a “lazy choice” for a logotype. I think it’s always cool, but it’s hard to make a logo memorable using Helvetica. In this case it’s all very well executed and maybe this is the most important thing. As paul Rand said: don’t try to be original, be good.
Thanks for the comment Salvatore, I would agree there is an opinion within the design community that Helvetica doesn’t offer the necessary originality but when taken in a linguistic context it actually is. The letter-forms are indeed saturated but as a word Kinetica is original.
I would suggest that people engaging services from businesses with a Helvetica logo-type (or something similar) read the name and do not see the letter-forms, they perceive it as professional which is a good starting point before engaging in a deeper brand experience (which should be more communicative). Ultimately this is a designer problem, not a consumer one. Do you agree.
I absolutely agree. Consumers just read Kinetica, maybe we could talk about an unconscious perception of the logo identity, but I agree that it’s mainly a designer problem. I think that a designer only has to do a good job, with a solid idea behind it, the rest is not so important. In Italy we say “seghe mentali” I think you can translate it as mental masturbation.
The Kinetica brand has a striking similarity to that of the well known Loblaw’s “No Name” low priced generic brand. Maybe not intended association but same branding style.
Loblaw’s No Name range.