Case study · Original brand system · 2023

An original brand system, built to full depth.

A complete brand identity concept developed for CloudCore Technology, a cloud-infrastructure company that needed a full brand overhaul. Logo family, wordmark, applied surfaces, motion, and the built artifacts that show the identity at the scales it actually has to live at.

Project
CloudCore Technology
Year
2023
Type
Original identity system
Scope
Identity · Type · Surfaces · Motion
Chapter 01

A full brand identity, end-to-end for CloudCore Technology.

CloudCore Technology came to the work needing a brand overhaul. The engagement returned a full identity concept built from the first symbol all the way through to environmental signage. Logo family with four variants, complete wordmark treatment, stationery, apparel, tiled pattern system, motion version of the mark, and applied surfaces designed for every context the brand actually has to perform in. The system stands against any established identity in the cloud-infrastructure category because it was built to that standard from the first sketch.

This is what a comprehensive brand engagement with NCDSGNS looks like: strategic concept, complete visual system, and applied surfaces designed and built to show the brand at the scale and contexts it actually has to live in. The building render below is what the identity looks like at lobby scale, the same care and precision that goes into a single business card extended to the largest physical canvas a brand will ever sit on.

CloudCore logo mounted on a curved glass tower facade.
Environmental application · Full-scale facade signage
Chapter 02

The mark, two symbols, one system.

The logo combines two primitives, each drawn to carry a specific piece of the brand's meaning. A cloud form with an embedded letter C sits below a set of dashed arches that rise above it. Each element is decodable in isolation; together they assemble into a single readable mark.

CloudCore cloud mark with dashed arches rising above it.

A network above storage, drawn as one shape.

The arches above and the cloud below carry the two halves of what a cloud-infrastructure company actually does. The arches stand for the network: data moving between endpoints. The cloud stands for the storage layer: data at rest. Reading them together reads as what the company is.

Rationale · Arches
Dashed arches symbolize connections between different points, a fundamental concept in network computing. They visually convey the idea of data and information being transmitted between devices and servers in a network.
Rationale · Cloud
A cloud icon symbolizes data storage in a virtual space. Incorporating the letter C within the cloud solidifies the brand name within the logo itself, so the mark carries the company name even when read as pure symbol.
Chapter 03

The wordmark, COMO, light and bold.

The brand runs on COMO, a contemporary sans drawn to pair with the geometry of the mark. Selected for a combination of modern aesthetics, variability, and functionality, it was well-suited to a cloud-computing company: clean enough to carry technical language, confident enough to hold a brand wordmark at size, versatile enough to move between interface, print, and signage without needing a second family.

Light and bold weights split the hierarchy. CloudCore uses the bold for Core and light for Cloud, making the core of the product the emphatic half of the wordmark. A small typographic decision that carries a specific reading of what the brand is actually selling.

COMO typeface specimen for CloudCore.
Type system · COMO · light and bold weights · full uppercase specimen
Chapter 04

Lockup family, four surfaces, one voice.

The mark lives in two orientations: vertical for tight-column placements like app icons, social avatars, and stacked signage, and horizontal for wide-column placements like letterheads, email signatures, and cards. Each orientation has a light-ground and dark-ground variant. Together, four lockups cover every placement context without requiring the mark to be reworked on the fly.

CloudCore vertical and horizontal lockups on dark and light grounds.
Full lockup system · V + H · Both grounds
CloudCore lockups in dark gray color specification.
Dark gray color specification
Chapter 05

Applications, the system, in the world.

Identity work proves itself when it leaves the logo sheet. Below are the surfaces the CloudCore system was applied to: apparel, dual-palette business cards, stationery in two layout variants, and the tiled pattern system built for backgrounds, packaging, and environmental fill.

CloudCore-branded t-shirts.
Apparel · Dual-orientation t-shirt application
CloudCore business card, light specification.
Business card · Light specification
CloudCore business card, dark specification.
Business card · Dark specification
CloudCore letterhead, typographic focus layout.
Letterhead · Typographic focus
CloudCore letterhead, mark-forward layout.
Letterhead · Mark-forward layout
CloudCore tiled pattern system.
Pattern system · Tiling unit for fill applications
CloudCore logo construction and rationale documentation.
Logo construction · Internal documentation sheet
Chapter 06

Motion, the logo, assembled.

A static mark is one reading of an identity. The motion version adds a second, showing how the components assemble and establishing a rhythm for broadcast, intro cards, app launches, and any surface where the brand introduces itself rather than just appears.

CloudCore logo animation · Looping on this page
Chapter 07

What the piece shows, in numbers.

What the piece shows is scope: how far the system was built out, and what surfaces it holds across. A direct measure of the identity's completeness, the breadth and depth of work that defines a comprehensive brand engagement at this level.

02
Primary
symbols drawn
04
Logo
lockup variants
09
Applied
surfaces built
01
Motion
version delivered

CloudCore is what comprehensive brand work looks like when every surface is considered. From the single symbol that holds the identity together, to the cards in your hand, to the motion that introduces the brand on screen, to the signage that lives at lobby scale. This is the level of finish, depth, and care that any client engagement with NCDSGNS comes back to.

Nathan Conrad · Designer's note
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