Kildemoes’ new visual identity references Danish design culture

Danish bicycle brand Kildemoes has a new visual identity designed by Scandinavian studio Everland, including three variations of its short-handle logo to reflect its different types of bikes.

When Glenn Paul Nygren joined Kildemoes as CEO, one of his first initiatives was rebranding to put more emphasis on Kildemoes’ heritage and make it “relevant to the next generation of consumers”, says Everland executive design director and founding partner Mikael Tonning. After a period of confusion for the brand – when Tonning says Kildemoes became “a stranger to itself” as it tried to navigate changing trends – Everland has stepped in to overhaul Kildemoes’ branding with a new “self-secure identity”.

Everland sought to reflect Danish design culture and history through Kildemoes’ new logo. While the previous design focused on performance and technology, Tonning describes the new version as “more timeless and welcoming” and “reflective of craftsmanship”. He adds that there are “hints of Danish typography history” in the wordmark, such as the broad letterforms of the K and M and the angled shoulders and finials.

Previously, Kildemoes had distinct logotypes for each range of bicycle, which Everland changed to just one reaching across all ranges in order to “help build brand coherence”, according to Tonning. He says that the biggest challenge was “creating a logotype that could work for their different types of bikes”.

The three new variations of the short-handle logo seek to represent each range while remaining cohesive with each other. The classic 1942 K represents the Kildemoes DNA range, a more contemporary K with dashes either side signifies the Kido (children’s) range, and the performance range is represented by a K bordered by angled brackets. The performance logo was designed so that, when duplicated, it looks similar to “the skid marks from bike tires”, says Tonning.

Different ranges were also given their own colour to set them apart: a rusted red for the classic range; mustard yellow with accents of blue on the K for the Kido range; and a dark blue for the performance range. These brighter primary colours make up the “modern and contemporary” secondary palette, while Tonning says the primary palette features “warm and natural” hues of beige and brown.

Granary was chosen as the brand’s new typeface for its “simple, geometrical” letterforms and “friendly expression, he explains. Granary Semi-Bold is used for headlines, while Granary Regular is used for body copy.

“Getting to work on a classic brand like Kildemoes is always exciting and it makes me proud that I will see my design live for decades on the bicycle frame”, says Tonning.