Indiegogo Branding (2012)

“Pioneers of the crowdfunding space since 2008, Indiegogo felt it was time to take their brand identity and website to the next level. Influenced by their brand essence of personal empowerment and global inspiration, we used multi-colored, interwoven shapes to evoke the collaborative and multicultural nature of the platform. The heart shapes converge toward a center point, symbolizing the passion people have about pursuing and funding their own ideas. All aspects of the visual identity were designed to give Indiegogo an inviting and international appeal.” — TRÜF

For the logotype, TRÜF chose Bryant over the much more common typeface in this soft-ended geometric genre, VAG Rounded. This gave them the spurless ‘n’ (a Bryant alternate) and a more circular ‘g’ and ‘o’ than those of the oval VAG Rounded from Adobe/Linotype. The choice is commendable. What does not seem so wise is the decision to take the scissors to the two ‘i’s, snipping their bottoms in a manner that is now becoming trite. The original round end of the ‘i’ echoes the shape of the hearts in the logo’s symbol, so I can’t make any sense of this move other than to feign originality.

Otherwise, the identity is certainly memorable, recognizable, and responds to the brand goals for Indiegogo. Seconda Soft supplements the logo as a corporate typeface on the website and other materials. There are similar typefaces that are far better designs (including Proxima Nova Soft, Gotham Rounded, and Bryant itself) but Seconda does the job ok.

Minor typographic missteps aside, TRÜF’s rebranding as a whole was a huge step up for Indiegogo, instilling potential funders with newfound confidence in the service.