Megic builds industrial automation and laser welding systems, every one built to the client rather than pulled off a shelf. Automatica in Munich was three months out, on a floor shared with Universal Robots, KUKA, ABB and Fanuc. The CEO said it plainly in the first meeting: the robots are cutting edge, the brand looks like the nineties. There was nothing to rebrand, so we built one.
CLIENT
CLIENT
MEGIC
MEGIC
INDUSTRY
INDUSTRY
Industrial robotics, automation
Industrial robotics, automation
ROLE
ROLE
Solo Brand Designer
Solo Brand Designer
TOOLS
TOOLS
TOOLS
Adobe Suite, Affinity Suite, Figma
Adobe Suite, Affinity Suite, Figma
YEAR
YEAR
YEAR
2024
2024
THE PROBLEM
THE PROBLEM
TEN SECONDS
TEN SECONDS
TEN SECONDS
NOTHING TO SAY
NOTHING TO SAY
NOTHING TO SAY
A company about to spend a significant budget on a stand that had nothing to say from a distance.
A company about to spend a significant budget on a stand that had nothing to say from a distance.
The engineering had a reputation. The brand had a stock icon, a set of materials assembled by whoever was free, and no rules holding any of it together.
On a trade show floor everybody gets ten seconds, and most of the people in front of you are already walking past. Ten seconds is not enough time to explain that the machines are considerably better than the materials suggest.
The engineering had a reputation. The brand had a stock icon, a set of materials assembled by whoever was free, and no rules holding any of it together.
On a trade show floor everybody gets ten seconds, and most of the people in front of you are already walking past. Ten seconds is not enough time to explain that the machines are considerably better than the materials suggest.
Megic old Logo was a Stock Logo, paid 5 Euros, the application across the collaterals, machines and web was done with no consistency.
Megic old Logo was a Stock Logo, paid 5 Euros, the application across the collaterals, machines and web was done with no consistency.
Megic old Logo was a Stock Logo, paid 5 Euros, the application across the collaterals, machines and web was done with no consistency.
NO DISTINCTION WITH THE MASS
NO DISTINCTION WITH THE MASS
The engineering was distinctive. The vocabulary was everyone else's.
The engineering was distinctive. The vocabulary was everyone else's.
Blue palettes. Circular and gear iconography. Conservative sans serif type. Every company on that floor signalling reliability in the same words, which meant none of them being remembered afterwards.
The workshops surfaced a second gap. Engineering was proud that nothing they ship is off the shelf. Sales felt the materials looked cheap next to better funded competitors. The technology and the brand were telling different stories to the same room.
Blue palettes. Circular and gear iconography. Conservative sans serif type. Every company on that floor signalling reliability in the same words, which meant none of them being remembered afterwards.
The workshops surfaced a second gap. Engineering was proud that nothing they ship is off the shelf. Sales felt the materials looked cheap next to better funded competitors. The technology and the brand were telling different stories to the same room.
THE DECISION
THE DECISION
Everyone on that floor was blue. The only way to be seen was to stop.
Everyone on that floor was blue. The only way to be seen was to stop.
Electric Lime on Deep Space Black. It arrived as a conclusion rather than a preference. It holds at distance across a hall, it is unexpected in this sector, and it already exists in industrial contexts as a high visibility safety colour, so it reads as native rather than imported.
Uniwars carries the type. Precision without pretension, and it survives being blown up to three metres tall on a stand wall, which is a constraint rather than a taste.
Electric Lime on Deep Space Black. It arrived as a conclusion rather than a preference. It holds at distance across a hall, it is unexpected in this sector, and it already exists in industrial contexts as a high visibility safety colour, so it reads as native rather than imported.
Uniwars carries the type. Precision without pretension, and it survives being blown up to three metres tall on a stand wall, which is a constraint rather than a taste.
Lime was not the risky option. Every competitor was already blue, so staying blue was the risk. Research is what turns a strange choice into the obvious one in front of a board that was not expecting it.
THE MARK
THE MARK
A MARK THAT MOVES
A MARK THAT MOVES
A MARK THAT MOVES
WITH NO ROBOT IN IT
WITH NO ROBOT IN IT
WITH NO ROBOT IN IT
A mark that says what they do without drawing it.
A mark that says what they do without drawing it.
The first direction was a robotic arm silhouette. Too literal, and dated even in a modern execution. The second was a geometric M built from parallel lines, right in feel but earning no connection to the company.
The final mark resolves both. Calibrated lines cutting negative space, readable at once as movement, as the vertex of an M, and as the path a robotic arm traces through the air. It holds at badge size on a machine and at stand height on a wall, which is the full range it ever has to survive.
The first direction was a robotic arm silhouette. Too literal, and dated even in a modern execution. The second was a geometric M built from parallel lines, right in feel but earning no connection to the company.
The final mark resolves both. Calibrated lines cutting negative space, readable at once as movement, as the vertex of an M, and as the path a robotic arm traces through the air. It holds at badge size on a machine and at stand height on a wall, which is the full range it ever has to survive.
THE APPLICATIONS
THE APPLICATIONS
Ether, Caspian, Axiom. Names people say out loud.
Ether, Caspian, Axiom. Names people say out loud.
The products were called MG-400, MG-600R and MG-1200X. Accurate and completely unmemorable. Customer interviews confirmed it without much prompting, because people described the machines by what they did and never by their code.
Three named series replaced the alphanumerics, carried through a forty two page brand book, trade show graphics, product badges, workwear and digital collateral. Naming was not in the brief and it is the part I would keep if I could only keep one. A code is something a customer looks up. A name is something they say out loud to a colleague, which is the entire point.
The products were called MG-400, MG-600R and MG-1200X. Accurate and completely unmemorable. Customer interviews confirmed it without much prompting, because people described the machines by what they did and never by their code.
Three named series replaced the alphanumerics, carried through a forty two page brand book, trade show graphics, product badges, workwear and digital collateral. Naming was not in the brief and it is the part I would keep if I could only keep one. A code is something a customer looks up. A name is something they say out loud to a colleague, which is the entire point.
THE OUTCOME
THE OUTCOME
The growth was impressive.
The growth was impressive.
Automatica 2024 against 2023. Same company, same sector, a stand that could be seen from the other side of the hall. Qualified leads went from sixty eight to a hundred and fourteen.
The lead jump came from the same cause as the traffic. Being noticed at a trade show is not a marketing problem, it is a visibility problem, and lime solves visibility problems.
Automatica 2024 against 2023. Same company, same sector, a stand that could be seen from the other side of the hall. Qualified leads went from sixty eight to a hundred and fourteen.
The lead jump came from the same cause as the traffic. Being noticed at a trade show is not a marketing problem, it is a visibility problem, and lime solves visibility problems.
68 → 114
68 → 114
Qualified leads captured at the show
Qualified leads captured at the show
12+
12+
Attendees who mentioned the stand unprompted
Attendees who mentioned the stand unprompted
0 of 10
0 of 10
Existing clients who could describe properly the old logo, without been vague
Existing clients who could describe properly the old logo, without been vague
A trade show stand is more than its graphics. The machines on display and the team working the floor changed too, so the traffic figure belongs to the whole stand rather than to the identity on its own.
A trade show stand is more than its graphics. The machines on display and the team working the floor changed too, so the traffic figure belongs to the whole stand rather than to the identity on its own.
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