A tape-based identity for Web of Things

Web of Things was started by Dominique Guinard and Vlad Trifia, founders of the Evrythng Internet of Things start-up, which provides applications to make products ‘smart’.

Corke Wallis had previously created the branding for Evrythng, and was brought in to work on a new look for Web of Things due to this existing relationship.

‘This well respected community of “web-of-things” developers needed a stronger brand to help establish it as an industry standard, like HTML5’, says the consultancy.

‘To be credible to its target audience, the brand needed to be open and playful – inviting developers to take part in debates, submit ideas and attend Hackathons. A traditional “corporate” identity wouldn’t work.’

The idea for the look and feel of the branding was based around the idea of something people can create for themselves, derived from ready-made coloured masking tape and rubber stamps.

The branding is based around three brightly colourd strips, inspired by the tape, which also ‘represent connections – like co-valent bonds or simple wires’, according to Corke Wallis.

Michael Wallis, consultancy co-founder, says, ‘It was very important it looked like something that could be played around with  – something you can pull around and make your own. It’s quite a playful, homespun thing’.

The elements of the logo can be reconfigured in different patterns, aiming to give ‘energy’ and ‘immediacy’, and reflect the idea that in future, a huge variety of obects will be able to be connected together using smart technology.

The Gotham typeface was chosen to allow the branding to easily be applied to any given space or surface using a rubber stamp.

The new identity is currently shown online, and in time will be used on hardware such as circuit boards and merchandise.