notNeutral
Designers | notNeutral and RIOS
Location | Los Angeles, CA, USA
Launch date | November 13, 2020
2021 marks notNeutral's twentieth anniversary. This huge milestone has made us reflect on the many ways we have evolved over the years and the values that remain at the center of who we are as a company. In a nearly year-long process working with the design team at our sister firm RIOS, we examined everything from our mission to our visual language and created an identity that authentically represents who we've become over the past 20 years.
Our new brand communicates an aesthetic marriage of precision and humanity: we are rigorous in our technique but leave space for an element of surprise, beauty, and delight. Our logo communicates this dichotomy by combining an underlying structure preserving the weight and distribution inherent in penmanship with a series of logical and consistent angles and curves.
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While the brand is primarily expressed in black and white, we chose four bold brand colors to add brightness and fun to our visual language. We also completely re-drew our entire catalog of icons in a refreshed style that is consistent, purposeful, and simple.
Finally, we outlined a new photography style which emphasizes the humanity (and humans!) behind our products: using realistic natural lighting for product shoots, incorporating the people behind our products and the customers who use them, and breathing life into our products by showing them in motion.
Re-imagining our branding for the first time in twenty years was not about changing who we are— it was about defining a visual identity that better represents who we've become. We remain dedicated to timeless design, quality construction, and most importantly, our customers. We strive to design beautiful products that fit effortlessly into their everyday lives.
