The making of the Septaria logo

Overview   Process  

We need a logo that would look good among logos of banks, investment funds and other financial organizations, which would be minimalist, long lasting and solid. The brief also mentions it has to reference Switzerland and security papers.

Trying simple paper shapes. A Swiss flag, a direction arrow.

septaria logo process 01

Artistic director: Maybe Number 2. Stacks of paper as skyscrapers.

septaria logo process 02

Art director: You can develop the one with the cross and show it to the client. But why isn’t it red? The rest are too complex.

septaria logo process 03

Paper sheets with folded corners are now red. Also a new variant is added, a battery-flag since it’s an investment fund. Or, if you rotate it, a flask, also a Swiss symbol.

Art director: The shadows in the cross are dirty and noisy. The battery can be a secondary option, though it would look better vertically. The letters do not match the style. We are talking about modern finances here, and this typeface is old school.

The crosses are given to letter and shadow experts.

septaria logo process 04

Discussing the battery with the artistic director.

septaria logo process 05

Artistic director: If we slightly shift the details in the horizontal version, it can also look like an S.

Designer: I’ve skewed one leg in first two variants and simply shifted the parts in the third.

septaria logo process 06

Designer: And these with only an inside skew.

septaria logo process 07

Artistic director: Nope, it doesn’t really work like this.

Designer: And some more. The bottom ones now look like sails.

septaria logo process 08

Designer: More yet. Money and papers.

septaria logo process 09

Artistic director: 3 and 5.

So, the battery dies, but instead we have two new ideas: 1. A sail flag. It’s like the Scarlet Sails for entrepreneurs. A fresh wind of business and money. You are desperately looking for investments, and there it is, Septaria on the horizon.

2. S-flag-label-paper. As a label it can be used on various corporate identity elements and advertising handouts. Any object created with the participation of the fund can be marked by the label. It can also be used as a bookmark, a marker, etc.

septaria logo process 10 01
septaria logo process 10 02
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Showing what we have to the client. Starting to make the final drawing of the chosen variant.

septaria logo process 11

Suddenly we discover a very similar logo in a New Zealand TV show.

septaria logo process 12

Trying other designs following the same concept.

septaria logo process 13
septaria logo process 14

But they just don’t work. Starting over.

septaria logo process new 01
septaria logo process new 02

Looking further.

septaria logo process 15

The art director suggests another variant.

septaria logo process new 03

Choosing the most promising ones.

septaria logo process 16

The client instantly approves the new logo.

septaria logo process 17

Starting to work on the details.

Bringing the proportions of the logo closer to those of the Swiss flag.

septaria logo process 18

Adding US to the name.

septaria logo process 19

Trying the new logo on the media.

septaria logo process 20

We need three versions: “Septaria” for use in Europe, “Septaria US” for the United States and “Септария” for Russia.

Working on the Cyrillic logo.

septaria logo process 21

Doesn’t quite match the English names. Trying to make characters more coherent.

septaria logo process 22

Nope. Deciding to use only one feature, a drop-like serif of the С.

Typesetting the brand book.


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