Client: 一点点 Boba tea company
Context: 一点点 is a popular Chinese boba tea company recognized for its convenience, modest prices, and exceptional customer control over their drink, including free additional add-ons.
For this project, I proposed to produce a logo design for 一点点 that better illustrates the company and its strengths. The initial logo of 一点点 has no association to Boba tea, representing only the company name. Furthermore, although the number “1” symbol is recognizable, the other figures are not, and they’re unattractive. As a result, this makes interpretation by new customers an issue, and I intend to solve this problem by making it more attractive, more recognizable, and more coherent, in addition to still keeping in touch with the original logo style.
Original Logo Design
Feedback and Iterations
Before the designing process began, I asked Lucas to critique 5 of my initial ideas before the holiday would begin, I came to the conclusion of using logos 1 and 5. I chose 1 because the design, although obscure at far distances, was very different compared to the other designs. I also chose 5 because it fits well with my criteria: it’s coherent, attractive, and to some degree, recognizable.
Logos 2, 3 and 4 were not selected because they didn’t comply with my criteria. Logos 2 and 4 although recognizable, weren’t coherent, and 3, although attractive, was not recognizable. Although the original logo had the older, traditional version of writing the 一点点 figures, I will not continue it, because this version of Chinese is no longer widely prevalent, and would not appeal to most customers. I substituted it with the modern counterpart as you can see displayed below.
Logo thumbnail sketches (30 Ideas)’
First 5 designs (Before holiday)
Last 20 designs (During holiday)
Ideation Matrix
The individual logo illustrates a Slab-serif figure “1”, and the remaining figures are Sans-serif. Although the initial logo only uses letterforms, I think objects will greatly enhance the coherence and attractiveness. Because the main colours used in the original logo are shades of green, wellbeing and sophistication are a reasonable choice. I selected primary and natural colours because those were the ones presented in the initial logo, and I plan to continue its trend.
First Logo Design
The first logo design was based upon a hand sign for “a little bit”, which is recognized across the world, no matter what culture or language. However, there is no association with bubble tea, but I ignored this for the time being because my later logo designs would address this.
I produced the first design following the thumbnail sketches. Although not recognizable from long distances, it was simple and coherent. However, Lucas suggested including what I had marked for keywords in my ideation matrix: wellness and sophistication. In addition, he suggested that I also add the brand name.
Following the feedback, I added two black and green slashes above the hand. Now the logo was more recognizable, although, this wasn’t attractive, so I included greater sophistication into my logo design.
This final design seemed to downgrade from my initial design. The colours, although a triad, was not effective. I decided to revert back to my original design because this was far too sophisticated. I also changed the 1 to “一” because the presentation is more direct, which is debatable whether it’s better or worse.
Mockups, Logo design 1
Second Logo Design
The second logo design incorporates a boba tea drink and the company brand. I included the hand so that from a visual perspective, the audience would naturally be drawn towards the drink. The circle functions in much the same way, focusing the attention of the customer upon the drink before the company brand. Initially, I decided that this logo design will not include any iterations, because it seemed that most of my required criteria have been satisfied. However, that opinion would later change.
The final product didn’t feel completely satisfactory, the hand and drink bottle didn’t appear organic. . However, the design was coherent, recognizable, and attractive to some extent. Although I wanted to make iterations, I didn’t want a repeat of the last attempt, so I didn’t. Overall, this logo was mostly a success, and I’m happy with its results.
Mockups, Logo design 2
Third Logo Design
Throughout the design process, I selected a number of criteria that I hoped to achieve in the final design, and narrowed it down to a few points: The design should appear organic, attractive, and coherent. The illustration should be recognizable and comprehensible regardless of the customer’s language or culture. Finally, the logo should be simple and reflect the strengths of the company. I already had a design in mind which would be the final: number 10. Although this design is extremely sophisticated, it follows the criteria listed above. I originally chose number 9, but this design seemed much more fitting.
January 7, 2022 at 1:49 pm
Hi Ryan, well done for a good overall result here. Your ideation sketches are outstanding – very high-quality ideas. You have also done an excellent job of using detailed feedback to guide your choices. You didn’t show any inspiration – let me know if you manage to add this in at a future point. I am actually a little unsure about which final design you decided on. Each of them has a number of good points, although both are in need of a little more refinement in order to become very good. Please let me know if I can offer any more specific feedback.