Metropolitan was opened as a commercial print shop in 1967. Since then, the business has grown to encompass more than just traditional offset printing, including digital print, email marketing, personalized marketing, graphic design, and brand management technology. Metropolitan's new capabilities have been increasing exponentially over the past couple years, so the traditional brand was in need of an update to bring Metropolitan up to par with the tech industry's current status.
As Metropolitan's current Creative & Technology Director and primary designer, I had the unique advantage of understanding and living the values that needed to be represented in the new brand I was designing.
The original logo is below:
Metropolitan's new brand focused heavily on the look of the new logo, as well as the name change (dropping "printing service" to encompass all capabilities). Visually, the new logo needed to be modern, fluid, and playful (to represent Metropolitan's atmosphere). Symbolically, the logo needed to represent Metropolitan's vision and values.
The basis of the design is the infinity symbol, indicating stability, continuity, and sustainability.
The colors each represent something in branding color theory/psychology. Blue indicates loyalty, stability, tradition, and honesty. Green indicates creativity and growth. The smooth transition between these colors represents the fact that we are both simultaneously, stable and growing, traditional and creative.
The infinity symbol is changed to integrate a circle and a square, vs. the usual oval shape. The circle represents the halftone dot and our print capabilities, the square represents the pixel, and our technology/marketing capabilities.
The angle of the symbol subtly mimics an arrow, pointing upwards and forwards, indicating growth and progress.
