Emblem and Model Identification for Wisl by andstudio — BP&O

Shaking off a hangover on a crisp Sunday morning kick-about with the boys; dunking an ideal basket on a court docket raked with the lengthy shadows of a high-summer sundown; obliterating Janet from HR in a ‘pleasant’ after-work squash sport/grudge-match. These vignettes, I’m assured by those that take part in such healthful actions, seize each the hazy idyll and on a regular basis actuality of communal sport, however as a chronically-unathletic layabout I’ll must take their phrase for it.

As such, when first inspecting andstudio’s branding for Wisl, a ‘social sports activities group platform’, I naturally concluded that I used to be not the goal marketplace for this app. I’d determined this earlier than I had even decoded what a ‘social sports activities group platform’ truly was (it’s a highly-specialised social community designed to ‘join you with gamers, oversee stats, and select venues in a single easy app’.). And but, Wisl is so clearly a sensible thought, and the model wherein it’s newly clothed is so prepossessing, that someway even I used to be lured into this alien world of voluntarily enjoying sport with strangers.

Wisl approached Lithuanian company andstudio ‘with a need to visually convey its community-oriented purpose: to be a platform the place new relationships are born by means of a simple person expertise of organising video games’.

In addition to forging the visible model, andstudio additionally dealt with the naming. Andstudio says that discovering teammates ‘ought to be as simple as whistling, so simply wisl’ – a neat little bit of copywriting that’s wasted languishing within the case research introduction. There isn’t a signal of this cute line anyplace within the precise model, which is a disgrace, because it does assist to bolster each the that means and pronunciation of the title. ‘Wisl’ conforms to the Silicon Valley startup conference of last vowel deletion, however andstudio went additional and in addition deleted two silent letters from the unique ‘whistle’ (take that, English and your fusty superfluities). Whereas the title does nonetheless work, one can’t assist surprise if permitting the ‘h’ to stay may need labored higher: ‘whisl’’. A persistent a part of my mind does insist on studying ‘Wisl’ as both ‘wise-el’ or ‘wiz-ul’.

Maybe phonetics had been sacrificed on the altar of kind – the logotype feels splendidly compact and tightly sprung in a method {that a} bandy-legged ‘h’ could have interfered with. Based on andstudio, the lettering was impressed by ‘hand-drawn strategic schemes and the trajectories of a bouncing ball’. The case research options quite a few mockups of the brand on t-shirts, bucket hats and different merch that will or could not likely exist. In any case, the brand appears to be like nice in these purposes, which highlights how effectively it scales: easy sufficient to be legible at tiny app-screen sizes, however formally satisfying sufficient to effortlessly occupy a complete t-shirt.

The stylised ‘W’ of the brand serves as app icon, and can also be used to create varied ‘playful mascots’, cleverly forming the torso and arms of characters, whereas legs clad in beguilingly nineties basketball shorts and lace up sneakers are added in cutely doodly strains. The ‘W’ is stretched and compressed to create a powerful array of various poses throughout varied sports activities. Some work higher than others – a ‘mid-air basketball dunk’ provides an additional nook to the ‘W’, which feels a bit like dishonest and ruins the fluidity of the letterform. The characters are appealingly chunky, and even slightly clumsy – not in execution, however within the sense that these hapless little squiggles don’t actually seem like they’re 100% certain methods to truly play badminton, however they’re giving it a go anyway. Andstudio expresses this effectively by describing their creations as ‘easy-going and fairly naive’. Resisting the urge to make these characters too lean and tigerlike is a clever transfer, chiming effectively with the model mission of making ‘an approachable platform for a variety of audiences and ensur[ing] that it showcases adaptability to any sport.’

The characters work effectively as people, however when they’re organized right into a repeating grid-formation (on posters, app screens and different purposes) they turn into a bit bewildering. As a result of the ‘W’ registers a lot extra forcefully than the darker-blue strains, and there’s no buffer area between the repeated motifs, it turns into onerous to learn it as something aside from a zig-zag line.

One notably cool (if outlying) utility reveals the brand on a frisbee, enlivened with holographic stripes. It’s enjoyable to see the hitherto-only-subtly-hinted-at 90s aesthetic embraced extra explicitly. There may be in all probability not a compelling case for why this modern and sensible app ought to have a nineties throwback really feel, however it’s inexplicably cool nonetheless. Although it is just one frisbee mockup, it hints at an interesting injection of visible messiness, suggesting sports activities areas with contrasting and clashing group colors, mascots, crests, emblems and sponsorship offers.

The intense color palette additionally gestures in the direction of this thrilling and subtly nostalgic world. Andstudio’s case research reveals key colors of basketball-orange alongside a smart sporty darkish blue, backed up by a riotously nineties further ensemble of play-dough pink, purple and inexperienced. 

Alongside these punchy colors and the playful illustrations, the images is a pleasant, if unremarkable, counterbalance. It serves a priceless operate enjoying the comedian foil, grounding the graphic components in a extra recognisable actuality. Some discreet video work provides additional depth, with out distracting from the principle occasion.

The important thing utility of this specific model design would after all be the Wisl app itself. Nevertheless, on the time of writing this isn’t but accessible to obtain (you might be invited to enroll to a ready checklist), and even the mockup screenshots on Wisl’s web site look like unbranded. It’ll be fascinating to see if the brighter, extra enjoyable components of the design scheme interprets to the purposeful area of app UX design, with out compromising on its important character.

It’s price mentioning that the web site (which doesn’t characteristic in andstudio’s case research and so was presumably designed with out their involvement) is underwhelmingly clear and tidy, and appears like a missed alternative by Wisl’s model managers/net company to utilise the extra enjoyable facets of andstudio’s work. For instance, by way of color the web site is restricted to simply the orange and navy, with a washed-out peach color as mediating impartial shade. The scheme is tasteful, however generic in comparison with the vigorous, evocative palette andstudio have created. Let’s hope a fuller web site is within the works to coincide with the app launch, and that andstudio’s delightfully wacky illustrations and hues aren’t left on the bench by overly conservative model managers.

General, it is a totally pleasurable and versatile model. That brand, like every good athlete, makes heavy lifting look easy with its delightfully taut and springy kind. Extra importantly, andstudio’s work manages to seize the fervour for sport whereas sidestepping any emotions of clique-iness; reconciling sportiness with a relaxed accessibility isn’t any imply feat. In its vibrant however undemanding presence, Wisl makes one really feel they want by no means fear about being the final picked for the group.