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[ the project ]
Append Media
append.mediaEarly roundsabout the client
Append Media, LLC , is a small technology start-up business operating in the Portland, Oregon, metro and surrounding areas. The company is a brand-identity focused app,
data, and integrations company that builds only high-caliber solutions for large-sized companies and popular personalities. The team is a collection of individuals that have
top-tier abilities in their trade along with a passion to deliver pristine quality without exception.
Append Media specializes in connecting the technical dots, asking the right questions, and following up by building apps and websites that can even offer integration with
services from Google, Salesforce, and more. They provide clients with a number of high-quality services, including design, programming, QA, and maintenance. Whether it’s for
a large enterprise business, contract agency, or government entity, Append Media has R&D professionals on call and ready to design, develop, plan, and build a great project.
Last spring, designer Mario Garza saw Append’s ad on
Craigslist seeking someone to design a logo for an app. He
got that job, and Append gave him more ongoing work,
including on the Web apps they were developing for
Adidas and Papa Murphy’s. “I’ve basically been brought
into the fold as their designer,” Garza says.
Append’s logo redesign project started in Novem-
ber and eventually got bundled into a complete rebrand-
ing project, encompassing letterhead and business cards,
signage for the office, and a branding guide. “I sat down
with Mario, talked about our target customers and what
the brand means,” says Eaton. “We came up with a
list of keywords behind the overall brand theme.” The
keywords included concepts like wise, strong, creative,
and innovative. The two also kicked around other ran-
dom word associations like modernized, imperial, solar-
powered, and glass. “We came up with a brand story,”
says Eaton.
The two also discussed other logos that Eaton liked,
including the one for electric car company Tesla, as well
as the thinking behind the existing logo. “In the previ-
ous design, Chris was trying to emphasize some kind of
connection. I thought that was fine, and understood why
he wanted to do that,” recalls Garza. But the actual logo
“kind of didn’t make sense to me,” he continues. “It looks
like an arrow that’s supposed to have an upward trajec-
tory, but it ends up diving into the ground.”
The plan was that Garza would come up with several
different concepts, and from those he and Eaton would
choose three. Then Garza would create variations on each
of the three, and the final selection would come from those.