361˚, the global sportswear brand, briefed us to update of their iconic ‘3’ emblem that serves as the predominant brand differentiator on their show walls. The previous symbol was beginning to look dated and static and started to clash instead of complimenting the new shoe designs. From our workshops with the regional teams, we established the key objectives for our updated emblem:
- Retain some equity from the previous ‘3’, making sure our audience can still recognise our brand.
- We want to move away from being a typographical 3 to a more abstract shape.
- We need an improved narrative supporting our emblem: Motion/Movement.
- Our emblem must primarily work on our shoe wall, with the capacity to extend to other communication platforms.
- We need an emblem that can adapt to trends and changes vs. being a trend.
Only after diving into the basic construction of the shoes which revealed many design opportunities and restrictions, did we commence with the design. The final design was on the mark, retaining the visual essence of the original emblem with the added nature of motion and dynamism.
This dynamic and abstract nature of our emblem allowed it to be mirrored on shoe walls without feeling awkward and its successful interpretation at various angles on other brand touchpoints, beyond shoes. What a cool emblem, leading the 361˚ into the future.
