Team:Calgary/Branding
OVERVIEW
Neocycle’s Branding Style Guide
Neocycle’s vision is to power a shift towards sustainable methods of REE recovery by integrating our economically viable, eco-friendly recovery process into the existing schema of the burgeoning e-waste recycling industry. In order to achieve this vision, the Neocycle brand must be recognizable and trustworthy to the public.
Our branding team has worked meticulously to construct Neocycle’s branding style guide, applying iterative design principles at every step of the way. By first understanding the needs, wants, and values of our end users, we have created Neocycle’s visual and voice identity, creating consistency in how we look and sound. We have also incorporated feedback from both stakeholders and the general public, developing a brand identity that espouses the same values as our end users. This page documents the story behind each of our branding choices.
BRANDING CHOICES
Target Audience
When developing our project branding, we first wanted to understand the messages and content that resonate with our target audience by investigating our audience psychographics, such as their activities, interests, and opinions. After identifying small e-waste recycling corporations as the primary users of our REE recycling system, we conducted several HP stakeholder meetings with local e-waste recycling corporations, including Quantum Lifecycle and eCycle Solutions. Through these meetings, we learned that these corporations value economic viability, high yield of recovery, and systems that are easily integratable within existing recycling frameworks.
Our Personality and Values
With these values in mind, we then began developing our brand personality. By identifying key personality traits for Neocycle, we wanted to both humanize our organization and differentiate ourselves from competitors. After several brainstorming sessions, as well as feedback from colleagues, family, and friends, we curated a list of personality traits to be embodied through all of Neocycle’s branding. Although each personality trait is important to Neocycle’s holistic branding, we aim to primarily portray Neocycle as dynamic, forward-thinking, confident, user-centered, integrative, and environmentally conscious (Figure 1).
Figure 1.Neocycle’s personality traits, with the six key traits in green.
By combining our brand personality with the desires of our target audience, we also established four core values to inform not only the way we share our project with the world, but also our developmental decision making (Figure 2). To learn more about how these values have informed our project design, visit the Integrated Human Practices page.
Figure 2.Neocycle’s four core values.
Our Project Name & Logo
To promote brand recognition and understanding, we chose to bestow our project with an intriguing and descriptive name. After considering several words and concepts that could be incorporated into our project name (Figure 3), we reached a consensus: our novel REE extraction system, as well as the people behind it, would be collectively referred to as Neocycle.
Figure 3.The key words and concepts that inspired our project name.
When taken literally, Neocycle translates to new cycle, referencing the way that our project focuses on developing a novel REE extraction system in order to establish a cyclical and sustainable supply of REEs. The “Neo '' in Neocycle also pays homage to neodymium, a lanthanide found in neodymium magnets, which comprise an essential component of many electronic devices.
Having settled on a project name, we then began developing a logo that embodied our brand personality, thereby providing a point of visual recognition for our audiences (Figure 4).. The letter ‘N’ begins with a small hollow circle and ends by curving around itself in a circle, an intentional design that references the cyclical nature of our REE extraction system. The small hollow circle at the beginning of the letter ‘N’ also invokes imagery of a circuit board line, which is strongly associated with electronics. Given that circuit board designs have advanced significantly over the years, circuit lines are incorporated in our logo and branding as a recurring motif in order to portray Neocycle as innovative, dynamic, and forward-thinking. To achieve a bold and confident feel, our logo also layers our two central colours, green and purple. These calculated design choices ensure that our logo is consistent with our brand personality, promoting trust, engagement, and recognition in our target audiences.
When designing our logo, we also carefully considered how we could ensure versatility without compromising recognizability. For instance, we designed the logo with specific height and width constraints to allow scalability, and created positive and negative versions of our logo to ensure visibility on any background. Since the ‘N’ in our logo is encompassed by a circular line that resembles the ‘C’ in cycle, our logo can also be condensed to the letter ‘N’, allowing its adaptability for different uses while also maintaining recognizability.
Figure 4.Condensed and full versions of our logo.
Color Palette
To continue ensuring brand recognition and consistency across all our assets, we also carefully curated a dynamic colour palette. By incorporating a bold purple and green as primary accents, as well as several vibrant secondary accents, these palettes reflect our branding personality and help convey a sense of innovation, competence, and dynamism.
Typography
To convey our project identity and communicate information in an accessible way, we chose three sans serif fonts for use across all our project deliverables (Figure 6).
Figure 5.Our three typefaces and the rationale behind their selection.
ACCESSIBILITY
Approximately 15% of the world’s population lives with some form of disability, making it important that projects take an inclusive approach to the way they share their work with the world [1]. Below are some measures we’ve taken to provide an inclusive user experience for all.
Considerations for colour palette
A major component of accessibility is taking steps to accurately convey information for individuals who are colourblind. We therefore implemented the Colour Universal Design (CUD) system to carefully compile a colour palette in which each colour is identifiable for people with all types of colour vision (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Our colour palette (top) and how it appears to individuals with different types of colour vision (tritanopia - middle, deuteranopia - bottom).
Legible Text
To ensure the legibility of our text, we adhered to the colour contrast ratios of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines [2], which dictate a minimum colour contrast ratio that helps users see text. The WCAG 2.0 Level AA requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for unbolded text that is less than 18 points or bolded text that is less than 14 points. For larger text, the guidelines require a contrast ratio of 3:1.
Figure 7.Colour contrast ratios for different text and background pairings.
Visual cues, hierarchy & consistency
When it comes to designing a branded asset, such as a wiki, consistent visual cues are key to helping neurodivergent audiences better understand and navigate content [1]. For this reason, we have utilized the same structural layout in each of our content and overview pages, and incorporated several recurring visual motifs, such as circuit board lines, across all of our deliverables. We have also used consistent headers in order to convey a hierarchy of information.
Figure 8.Hierarchy of information conveyed through different combinations of fonts, colours, and sizing.
Language
Plain language, defined as writing that is clear to the intended audience, is one of the best ways to ensure a project is accessible to neurodiverse audiences [A]. With this in mind, we tailored our language to each of our intended audiences, whether that be by using simplified language for our storybook collaboration, or relating our project through common industry terms at our Faculty Talk.
But accessible language is more than just using simple words. Since sentences in passive voice are often longer and more difficult to comprehend, we have also employed active voice throughout each of our deliverables. We have also divided large sections of text into smaller paragraphs in order to make reading easier for those with limited attention spans, such as individuals with ADHD. Finally, we have avoided metaphors in our writing, making comprehension easier for individuals who may fall on the autism spectrum [1].
TYING IT ALL TOGETHER
How Our Branding Helped Us Connect To Our Target Audiences
When done effectively, project branding can help tailor the delivery of content to specific target audiences. Here at Neocycle, we have employed our branding personality to develop graphics for a wide range of initiatives, ranging from education and collaborations, to outreach and social media campaigns. Understanding the needs of our target audiences, as well as our intended message, has proven key to developing effective graphics that help us connect to our target audiences.
Within our education initiatives, one demographic that we have worked extensively with is children from ages 9-12. Since engaging visual imagery plays a significant role in capturing their attention and understanding, we developed a virtual escape room and a children’s story book to raise awareness about REEs and e-waste recycling. As graphic-intensive initiatives, both projects leverage a variety of colours and images to establish engaging characters, thereby keeping our young audience captivated.
In comparison, when we were designing graphics for instagram posts, our audience broadened to the general public, with the majority of our followers being student members within the university and the greater iGEM community. Through these posts, we wanted to portray Neocycle as bold and forward-thinking, developing eye-catching and professional designs to share our project with the world. The effectiveness of these designs were reflected in the success of our social media collaboration with both the University of Calgary Sustainability Office and iGEM Bonn, as both campaigns resulted in increased engagement on our social media. Similarly, our post designs to promote our e-waste recycling survey led to over 300 responses completed in just 48 hours.
Figure 9.A carousel of posts from our social media campaigns for our University of Calgary Sustainability Office collaboration (left), iGEM Bonn collaboration (middle), and e-waste recycling survey (right)
We have also leveraged branding principles to tailor our content for highly technical audiences, whether that be for project pitching or stakeholder evaluation. For instance, our Faculty Talk utilized clean slides, well known technical terms, and simple visual representations in order to convey our project to an audience of academic experts. For our JulyGEM pitch, which was limited to 5 minutes long, we leveraged intuitive graphics and animation elements in order to facilitate audience understanding.
By employing an iterative and comprehensive branding process, we have therefore succeeded in connecting with diverse audiences in order to bolster the strength of our project.
References
Tyrkiel K. Web design for neurodiversity: creating a more inclusive web. Shaping Design Blog. 2021 Feb 15 [accessed 2021 Oct 8]. https://www.editorx.com/shaping-design/article/what-is-neurodiversity-in-web-design
(WAI) WCWAI. Web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) overview. Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). [accessed 2021 Oct 15]. https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/
