Block by Block—The Story Behind the Slock.it Rebrand

When design lags behind cutting-edge tech.

Over the past two years, we’ve changed, adapted and dramatically evolved as a blockchain-first business.

We’ve received USD 2m in seed funding, demonstrated our capability to execute beyond POCs, and recently unveiled cutting-edge technology live on stage at Ethereum DevCon3.

These achievements reflect how we’re building (and changing) the shape of the world, block by block. As a company, we’ve undergone so much change, but our brand has lagged behind our technical achievements and rapid growth (we’re now a team of 21 wonderful Slockiteers)

The previous logo was by no means a consistent representation of Slock.it, nor an accurate representation of what we have been working on or will become in the future.

We knew it was time for change.

Our previously faithful ‘S’

Take a look at our previous logo, what do you see?

Well, when asked, here are a few words that kept coming up:

‘Lock ‘

‘It’s an S‘

‘Secure‘

‘Smart ‘

‘Safe

‘Technology ‘

‘Padlock ‘

‘German‘

‘Snake ‘

‘Is it an 8?‘

We were even asked a few times if we sold or manufactured locks, which wasn’t a great sign (and FYI, no, we do not — this is has been our strategy all along).

The discussion of a rebrand brought up a myriad of exciting conversations both internally and externally. For members of the team, the logo had a familiar but disjointed feel, and while it was what Slock.it was born with, it didn’t feel right.

We’re a blockchain company, and we’re connectors, so why the lock?

Sure, we were grateful to have had it and enjoyed our time with the giant awkward S, but eventually, it became a barrier to unifying the beliefs of the company.

What Brands stand for, and What you Should be Looking for

Ask yourself: why do brands exist in the first place?

Brands are fundamentally comprised of 3 traits:

1. Values

As a company, what are your goals and your vision? What matters to you and what do you stand for that no–one else will?

2. Culture

How do you interact with the world both internally and externally? How do people feel around you, your team and what sort of blood runs through their veins?

3. Identity

While your values and culture technically comprise your identity, your appearance, voice and actions are what portray this in the physical world.

The unique icon, word mark and symbolism you see in your favourite brands are (more often than not) high–level reflections of these 3 traits.

Without a strong, clear vision of the above, you technically don’t have a brand; instead you’re holding an icon and a set of characters that don’t really mean anything. In fact, if you don’t have the 3 traits mentioned above down to a ‘t’, it’s likely someone else will define them for you.

…and that’s exactly what has happened to us.

While we had a clear understanding of our values, culture and identity, the rest of the world didn’t.

This was a problem.

As we are getting ready for a full-scale launch of the USN MVP, the world’s first ever decentralised sharing economy, we need to prepare for Slock.it to be everywhere and anywhere. We cannot afford to have a weak identity, and in particular we certainly cannot afford to be perceived as a company that sells locks (although, for reference, if we did sell locks they’d be great :D).

From a business perspective, the rebrand was an absolute necessity and that’s why we devoted a decent portion of our immediate resources. As a hyper-growth startup, we’re embarking on a long journey — we need a family crest that everyone in our team can stand behind and be proud of.

Round #10 of sketches (where we struck gold)

The ”Process of Digging”

Firstly, we needed to define a direction.

We had art direction readied for the app, website and illustrations, but we didn’t have a brand, tone of voice or a global point of stylistic reference.

Research was needed.

We started with a short interview of team members, asking a few simple questions:

“What is the story of Slock.it? “

“In your own words, what does Slock.it do?“

“Where do you see Slock.it in 5 years?“

“What are Slock.it’s unfair advantages?“

“What could cause Slock.it to fail? “

These questions were intentionally ‘open’.

There are no right or wrong answer for this kind of exercise, and the whole company was involved for a reason. The rebrand would constitute unification of values and a push towards a clear and concise vision for the future, so we needed everyone on board.

Here’s a summary of the interviews results:

Values

At its roots, Slock.it is inherently German and regardless of company size and international expansion plans — it will always stay proud of its German roots. Slock.it values simplicity, which means it can take complex words and concepts, breaking them down into simple (but still meaningful) scenarios and ‘layman’ explanations. Slock.it is distinctly blockchain and values the transparency and truthfulness brought on by the blockchain and Satoshi Nakamoto’s vision.

Culture

Smart, honest and humble. Slock.it used the results of this study to tell a story: we are happy to take constructive criticism onboard and to tow the line when things get heated. Whether it’s personal or professional, there’s a growth culture at Slock.it that everyone in the team embodies: Slock.it openly encourage an entrepreneurial mindset for everyone on the team.

Identity

Strong, simple and instantly recognisable — Slock.it connects the physical world with blockchain technology. Our visual language and brand identity should always portray this and never become a bottleneck for the inherently reactive nature of the work (and world) of still fledgling blockchain technology.

The above 3 traits are the condensed thoughts of the team, Founders and stakeholders at Slock.it. We then narrowed down our options in potential directions and developed a ‘big picture’ for the Slock.it rebrand.

Such digging took time and lead to a myriad of hard, but inspiring conversations. If we didn’t put the work in at this stage, we’d have struggled to create something that resonated with the team. “Measure twice, cut once.”

Note to aspiring designers within startups: rebrands are always controversial, so it’s essential for stakeholders standing behind the rebrand to be prepared to back it until the bitter end.

Slock.it app, coming soon to iOS and Android.

How to Overcome Pitfalls and Reach a Final Concept

With a strong foundation, you can build an incredible structure.

We sketched over 1,000 concepts for the new Slock.it logo — and we were prepared to sketch another 10,000 if needed.

Creating an incredible logomark that’s unique and embodies the cause it represents is essentially digging for gold. You never know how long it’ll take to create the perfect identity, all you know is that it requires time, careful exploration and thought — you need to keep digging.

Tip: It’s easy to quit a little too early and miss out on striking the perfect concept — so, keep digging…

We also had our share of hiccups. With any rebrand you’re overcoming an incredible cultural ‘block’. That means you’re going to be fighting an uphill battle, and sometimes when you’re running uphill, it’s easy to slip and fall down.

In our case, it was starting by tidying up and pitching a revamped version of the old logo, which was a monumental mistake. Don’t be afraid of failing either — after the company staff were presented this (inherently wrong) direction, everyone was in agreement that new, radical approaches were needed.

In fact, the best part about pitching the old logo was that it caused (literal) mayhem.People hated that we had pitched a polished version of what we were proclaiming needed to change and that created a united view that not only did we need a new logo, but we needed it to not be ANYTHING like the old one.

A perfect mistake yet a blessing in disguise — so, we kept digging.

Digging….

…Digging.

Digging?

Digg…Gold!

Creating ‘Buy-in’

So, we had the perfect logo, sketched, vectorised and ready to be released — but now we needed buy-in.

This was arguably the most important and ironically hardest part of the whole process.

After the previous, failed logo reveal, we knew that a pitch was the best way to get people talking and thinking. This time we were sure the direction was exactly what we needed.

It fit perfectly with our traits, yet getting buy-in was still necessary. Remember, buy-in doesn’t mean brainwashing. Creating buy-in is allowing the company to see the value, potential and timelessness of the logo in the same way we see it.

As a designer, you see a vast amount of ‘invisible potential’ in the world and it’s communicating that invisible potential to those around you that will be pivotal to your personal success in the company.

We created a pitch deck to show the world, starting with our staff, the invisible potential of this seemingly unassuming mark. While I could harp on about how we created the pitch deck, it’s much easier to show you a few of the screens to give you an insight into what we accomplished: