A free logo for a free company

Client

Etnetera

Etnetera is a prominent Czech IT company that has managed to make a mark even in an international context, not only through what it does for its clients but also through how it treats its employees. In 2014, it even ranked in the TOP 10 companies in the prestigious European Business Awards in the Employer of the Year category. And at that time, few people in the know doubted who the thought leader of the so-called democratic enterprise movement in Bohemia was. And precisely at that moment, the decision matured that the company should express its status through its visual identity as well.

What we did

Logo and visual identity

Where to start when you receive a hand-drawn brief?

At Etnetera, they felt the need for a stronger concept around the logo that could connect their diverse activities and reflect values key to the entire company. They wanted to show that they feel like a determined, alive, partner-oriented, brave, free company, that they are fun to work with, and that they create what they themselves have labeled as an asshole-free environment.

And to top it off, they sent us a "brief"... drawn on a piece of paper.

"Poetic comparisons of the company's maturation process to the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly and generally cheerful tone and unconventional drawn form of the brief discouraged 80% of the approached agencies right at the beginning. Paradoxically, this helped us – looking back, we see how much work it saved us with people not tuned to the same wavelength. This input test was ultimately best passed by the brand agency AnFas, where besides a sense of humor and creativity, the right 'chemistry' also worked."

– Martin Holečko, Etnetera

Although the brief was untypical, we started as usual with the logical side and tried to understand the system of brands and sub-brands as well as the future needs of the company with the goal of clearly capturing all relationships and creating a functional visual manual.

During the first presentation, however, it turned out that the classic way wouldn't work – Etnetera's ideas about brand operations were completely different from everything common in the market. We tried to find a working model of cooperation based on our experience with similar briefs, but slowly all the certainties we held as designers and brand consultants up to then began to collapse. At times, we had no idea what we were supposed to do. But the enthusiasm of the people from Etnetera was incredibly infectious. A fundamental change came when we abandoned established procedures and agreed to play their game.

Et cetera ... et netera

We started thinking about the brief again and tried to find the right idea inside the company. The strongest ultimately proved to be the idea that Etnetera connects – people, ideas, different approaches. At that moment, it occurred to us that the solution had actually been in front of us the whole time. It was enough just to set it free :) The principle of connecting is inherent to Etnetera in everything it does. The way employees function among themselves, what relationships with business partners look like, and finally how they apply the principles of a democratic enterprise in practice.

The ampersand is a ligature of the conjunction "et" contained in the company name itself. The possibilities that this notoriously known symbol offered were essentially unlimited.

When we reached an agreement with the client on a shape that would be "exclusively ours," the first trial by fire came, and we presented the result to a wider circle of people from Etnetera. We let them try playing with the new principle themselves. At one point, up to fifty people were involved in the newly emerging identity of the company, and we functioned in the process as consultants, designers, but mainly as teammates who helped work on building the new brand already during the creation of the logo. It was surprising to watch how the topic of visual identity in such a company naturally grew directly into many specific corporate activities and in what an open atmosphere it was possible to cooperate.

Alongside the fun side, we still tried to keep our partners' attention on the strategic aspects of brand building. As filmmakers say, the more fun on set, the worse the result usually is. Around that time, we coincidentally brought one of the most prominent experts on brand building and successful designer Marty Neumeier to Prague to lead a workshop for representatives of Czech brands here. We could PDF copy transfer our debates about the development and direction of Etnetera to another ground and begin thinking about the changes they were going through in even broader contexts. We ultimately materialized the results of the workshop and several months spent together into a logo.

A free logo doesn't need a manual

Usually, at this point, all that would be left is to make a manual and hand everything over to the client. But Etnetera's wish was a user-free policy and a few basic templates for routine use. Therefore, we agreed that the manual would be more inspirational, it wouldn't forbid anything to anyone; on the contrary, it would rather open new paths to "playing" with the symbol.

But just to be sure, we formulated everything so that ABSOLUTELY everyone in the IT company would understand it :)

Do you also have some interesting challenge to face?
We'll gladly tackle it :)

Get in touch.

What we learned

Pavel Kappel

Copywriter

Play!

One of the branding adages says that humor is the best tool you can use for your brand communication. In Etnetera's case, there was certainly no shortage of it. To the point where we frequently wondered if there wasn't too much fun. The problem we were solving did not have a predictable outcome in advance, and a lot of improvisation was necessary. Fortunately, it turned out that we have enough experience and yet still enough playfulness to focus on both the strategic and creative sides of the project.

Martin Sršeň

Designer

Giving in sometimes means winning

Rules and processes streamline work. However, over time they can lead to ossification. And that's when a client like Etnetera comes in handy, forcing you to break rules and processes with their unbridled nature. Together, we arrived at a result that the client fell in love with. And as is well known, love extends life. Not just for people.