Datum Logomark Construction

As we are getting closer to the launch of our native Android and iOS apps, we felt a refresh of the Datum Brand and Logo would help to streamline the brand with a view towards mass market adoption. This post covers the development of the new Datum brand and logo, we’re also working on a new website and revamp of the Datum mobile app.

While much discussion, attention and speculation in the blockchain community is given to topics like sharing, transactions per second, network hash-rate and token economics ultimately for the ecosystem to thrive a great user experience, for individuals as well as developers is key. And the first step in designing a great experience is design alignment across all touch-points.

The Ethereum Foundation, a notoriously hardcore engineering focused group, has even opened up grants specifically for design focused initiatives highlighting the importance of design in the crypto space.

We are also beginning to engage with the design community to help solve product and UX design problems. For example, key management, Ethereum payments UX and onboarding flows are all areas that need major improvement for mainstream adoption. We would like to fund more design studies, hire, and connect talented designers with exciting teams in the space — Ethereum Team, March 7, 2018

For an early stage project like Datum, defining the brand strategy is an important exercise that can help set the foundation for everything from company culture, to hiring and even the product road-map. It’s not just about a new logo, it’s more about codifying why we exist, what we hope to accomplish, who we are and who we are not.

Step One: Define the brand purpose. A brand purpose is a bit different than a mission statement or a value proposition, it’s more about why we exist and what purpose we can serve to the world. Here is Datum’s brand purpose:

“To return ownership and monetization of personal data back to the individual.”

Step Two: Define how we deliver on the brand purpose. Defining our methods for delivering on a purpose is key. It helps to set guardrails and expectations of how we get from point A to point B. There are probably dozens of ways to deliver on the brand purpose above, but this statement reflects how we specifically intend to do it. It’s focused enough to demonstrate that we’re not going to be a lobbying organization for data regulation but open enough to let the project expand in a focused direction. Here’s how we plan to deliver on our brand purpose:

“Datum provides decentralized blockchain technology, storage solutions, data validation and tools to developers, publishers and enterprises who seek to empower users, customers, employees and citizens with data control and reward individuals with DAT tokens for contributing, storing and sharing data.”

Step Three: Define who you are not for. This is a really good way to pressure test where we are comfortable saying NO to opportunities that might conflict with our core purpose. Often times there are ways to shortcut to growth or revenue or users but this ensures we stay true to our core beliefs.

We’re not…Centralized, Corporate, Closed, Bureaucracy. We are…Decentralized, Project, Collective, Open, Meritocracy, Network

Step Four: Define brand character. Did you know that almost every brand that exists can be attributed to one of twelve character types? These character types are derived from storytelling in books and movies and brands adopt them to help establish everything from look and feel to tone of voice. Visual Capitalist has a great breakdown of all the brand archetypes if you’re interesting in learning more.

For us we decided on the rebel. After all we’re on a path to completely redefine how personal data is controlled, shared and monetized. Some notable rebel brands include Tesla and T-Mobile. If you think about how those companies are approaching their category they’re trying to totally redefine it by pushing against the category. Here is a quick breakdown on the Rebel archetype.

Rebel Goals:

To inspire radical change

To do things differently/better

To be free from establishment

To control the conversation

Rebel Strengths:

Challenges the status quo

Passionate and empowered

Unafraid to take risks

Grounded in the objective truth

Rebel Weaknesses:

Can be destructive/dangerous

Easy to “cross the line”

Often alienates friends/supporters

Susceptible to blowback from macro trends

Rebel Fears:

Being weak or powerless

Being seen as boring

Being seen as a sellout

Being wrong

Motto:

The rules were made to be broken

As a data company, being boring is a huge watch-out. Topics like GDPR, compliance, privacy policy and data sharing aren’t exactly candidates for a new Netflix series and much of the magic is highly technical obscured from the user’s view.

So for us, it’s hugely important to make sure that not only are we building groundbreaking technology and ecosystems that benefit individuals, it’s important that we also make it F-U-N.

Step 5: Define what we stand for and what we stand against. This is the final step we used in defining the brand. It helps to codify precisely whose side we sit on and in our case, we stand for the individual above all others.

We stand against: Exploitation — “the action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work.” We stand for: Empowerment — “the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights.” We believe in: Enabling prosperity — “establishing the means to obtain economic well-being.”

When you take all those inputs, put them in a brief and pair them with a world-class design team, what you get is a great visual expression and symbolic representation of what we aim to achieve. We also wanted the brand refresh to be an evolution versus a revolution so that we maintain the awareness and recognition we’ve invested in the crypto community to date.

The first round of designs were hand sketches, the shortlist was shared with everyone in the company so everyone had a voice in choosing their favorite. There were DOZENS of options and so it was interesting to see everyone gravitate to a handful of marks.

Internal voting on the Datum brand

The final candidates were then transformed into colorized versions and presented in a “lockup” with dozens of different font styles.

Pick a font…any font.

After more team feedback and several rounds of revisions the design was tested against various applications, from micro-size CoinMarketCap and browser favorite icons to outdoor billboards, we pressure tested the design in a variety of applications.

In the end we landed on the logo shown below.

Datum’s New Logo

We’re pretty pleased with how the final logo turned out. We’ll be rolling the new identity out across our various digital channels and third party websites. Let us know what you think in the comments!

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