Human Hardware
Human Hardware is the brand conceived from, in their own words, Blackbelt pharmaceutical professionals. Experts in molecular biology and biotechnology, the wonder-team, based in Manchester’s university science division have brought accessible DNA Testing to the masses.
The team at Human hardware were looking for a way to convey their idea as a brand identity across a new range of products, aimed at biohacking. Human Hardware is a specialist in analysing DNA to provide different snapshots of your health status.
What We Did
We developed a logo and packaging concepts for Human Hardware. First, we looked at the reason behind the product. Human Hardware is a scientifically designed protein matrix that provides the same amino-acidic composition of human proteins for maximum efficiency.
We started by looking at 3D renders for some of the proteins used in the formula. Actin, Myelin & Nebulin. As the proteins are very complex shapes, when it comes to the art of logo development and graphic design, we looked at taking the essence or elements of them in the overall branding rather than making them part of the logotype or logo mark.
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Pen & Paper
We thought about how we could take the basic shapes of the proteins and simplify them into a more iconic form.
When we create a logo, everything starts with pen and paper. No idea is discounted. It’s just good to do an ‘idea download’ and see what comes out on paper.
We also do a typographic exercise to get a feel for what kind of font styles would suit the overall brand. Uppercase, lowercase? Geometric, serif, sans serif, and so forth. All type conveys it’s own style, and it’s essential to make sure you are delivering the right message.
Testing Ideas
Usually, we take some of our more exciting ideas from the pen-and-paper download and see how they play out on a screen. This will also inspire new ideas and variations.
Developing ideas is an integral part of the design process. It’s not just a ploy to show our clients we are busy. As much as anything, this is a critical justification exercise In seeing what doesn’t work and eliminating this from further development. In these images, you can see some of our rejected ideas as they played out on screen. You can also see the rationale behind various ideas.
For example, we looked at arrows as an indicator of gender symbolism, which subtly represented the product being aimed at either men’s health or women’s. It didn’t translate too well, so we scrapped it. Looking at the design mocked up. It didn’t seem to convey much at all.
We also played with negative space in the example of the rounded H, where we cut away a simple human shape from a square to give us an H shape. It was kind of interesting. The use of negative space is pretty standard – and, used cleverly, can be a great subliminal message.
Think in particular of the arrow in the FedEx logo, which, once seen, can never be unseen. But we didn’t really think this was on a par with that. Mocked up, this logo looked very much like a girder or a cell beam.
More Design Exploration
Next, we explored the hardware aspect of the name ‘Human Hardware’ and played with some circuit board shapes. Overall this idea just looked too busy, so we scrapped it.
Another concept was the periodic table of the elements. We loved this idea and explored it quite a bit further. Being able to say ‘science’ in one symbol, we felt this idea was such a simple way to do it.
Although proteins are not elements, the overall concept is recognisable by most. It was the overall favourite because the letters HH could be laid out within a square, precisely like an element, including a number and the name.
Because the brand has many products in the pipeline, this seemed like the right way forward, as the logo was versatile. The final design was chosen from this concept and mocked up on various packages.
Further Concepts
Another concept was the periodic table of the elements. We loved this idea and explored it quite a bit further. Being able to say ‘science’ in one symbol, we felt this idea was such a simple way to do it. Although proteins are not elements, the overall concept is recognisable by most. It was the overall favourite because the letters HH could be laid out within a square, precisely like an element, including a number and the name.
Because the brand has many products in the pipeline, this seemed like the right way forward, as the logo was versatile. The final design was chosen from this concept and mocked up on various packages.
As always, we test the design out with a variety of lettering styles to get a feel for what’s working and what isn’t. Ultimately, we looked at a thin and futuristic typeface for the words’ Human Hardware’ while retaining the chunky lettering within the squares.
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