Freelance Core logo redesign

February 22, 2022

Freelance Core logo redesign

The redesign of the Freelance Core logo started with my joining the team. Even before Freelance Core was born, its members had worked in interdependence for a long time. The collaboration of a few exceptional colleagues has strengthened considerably over the past year and the need to work remotely, and a new Freelance Core project has emerged – an organism of a multidisciplinary collective of capable freelancers that first and foremost set out with a grand vision.

The concept of the original logo was based on an interesting graphic interconnection of the three E’s, but the more the new vision took hold, the more the need to let it speak louder through the brand became apparent. The Freelance Core collective was open-minded enough to gradually decide on a redesign.

Despite the fact that it’s usually you who personifies your product, who has the vision, and who knows what it’s all about – it’s not easy to produce your own brand. In fact, detachment helps a lot. Because of my involvement with Freelance Core, I was faced with the challenge of combining the role of an insider (a member of the team) and the role of an outsider (a designer working for their client).

First, I needed to get a good feel for Freelance Core so I could make the brand talk in the direction of its own vision.

The Freelance Core brand wants to tell that:

It is a unique community of highly capable freelancers. You’ll find brilliant senior online marketers and marketers, web and graphic designers, UX/UI designers and photographers.
It creates a kind of gallery of freelancers with different focuses and projects, while continuously building a unique momentum of collaboration. Thanks to this, depending on the project, they are able to do quality work in different composition and numbers, which is guaranteed by the overall Freelance Core body.
The collective is constantly churning out new information and practices amongst itself – it places great emphasis on the personal and professional growth of its members, and thus the entire body.
Freelance Core also offers quality educational courses and training to its clients.
“Freecoremen” are characterized by a fresh, prompt, and relaxed approach and at the same time great professionalism.

Evaluation of the original logo

The main idea behind the original logo was mainly graphic – an interestingly grasped need to connect the E’s at the end of all three words (Free, Lance, Core) into one. Given the core ideas that became the content of the vision, I didn’t see the graphic idea as a sufficient guiding idea. On the contrary, I felt it was a shame to have it come to the fore at the expense of some of the more fundamental ones.
The collective nature and the way in which the members of Freelance Core operate, how they evolve together around their principles and processes – represented by the word “Core” (or “center”, “heart”) was represented in the original logo by the dot at the “E”. I didn’t see this representation of “core” as sufficiently indicative of centering or framing something around it. Rather, it seemed to me that the dot was created somewhat forcefully after the need to somehow bring that core into the already grasped idea of “three E’s in one”.

The colors used in the logo strike me as duller than what I perceive the Freelance Core collective to be, as well as I think the color gradient adds an unnecessary heaviness of past years to the logo.

The design process of creating a new logo

Depending on the vision and critique of the original logo, a design process of rapid design and consultation was initiated. In the beginning, I perceived a strong need for the client to step in and come up with more or less ready-made elements – for example, the need to express that core character through the element of a shaft or bearing (parts working well together) in the form of multiple (ideally three) parts. Eventually, after many attempts, we came to the conclusion that the element itself was too mechanical.

The quick sharing of designs allows us to better immerse the client and tailor everything to them. On the other hand, the more a designer opens himself up to this sharing of quick designs, the more they risk letting the reins of the design process slip and losing their creative flow. It is therefore good to learn to notice the moment when a boundary needs to be set. Once the client’s pressure to “throttle” the process at the outset with their own concept has subsided, the space is freed up to take a bigger perspective, and a concept is born – eventually in collaboration with the client – that encompasses the essential “sentences” that Freelance Core wants to tell.

The gallery of freelancers and projects reflects a wide range of individual skills and styles that are uniquely combined to meet the needs of the client. My intention, therefore, was to create what I call a dynamic identity – a visual that allows for playfulness and change while maintaining uniformity.
Communication with a client and the client’s communication and promotion are key to Freelance Core. Everything is done through a gallery of projects and members that invites to visit and view, and it offers inspiration. That’s why I decided to use a cornerstone – an element of a viewport or screen that functions much like a frame (whether physical or conceptual) that bounds the artwork in and out of the gallery. A view that also communicates back. This allows a different project or collaboration to present itself each time, framed by the overall quality of Freelance Core.
I created the base for the transparency using the letters O and R. Since the word Core has 4 letters, it was possible to give the viewport a “core feeling”.

Ideation phase of logo design – playing with the idea of a viewport

Combining the letters O and R to form a screen that displays and a viewport that communicates – the combination of the two letters also creates the shape of a communication bubble.

Resulting shape

As for the text part of the logo, I wanted to use a very simple form that would give the dynamic element a base and let it stand out. In fact, the Freelance Core works in a similar way, being silent but strong support of its members, making sure that their skills stand out primarily in their collaboration. I have used a simple font that feels solid, the logo is also bigger in width, showing stability; yet the word Freelance Core feels deliberately lightweight.

The intention was to use a fresh version of the bluish-green color, which was ultimately inspired by the client.

The dynamic Freelance Core logo, which is the precursor to the brand identity, currently allows for a variety of play and imagery – we will continue to work with this and further develop the idea. However, the logo in this form already expresses everything mentioned above, especially Freelance Core’s ability to present and promote their clients in the online space and sell their products very well, inviting to show the interesting personalities that make up Freelance Core and their work – all against the background of principles and processes that are the still water that grinds the shores and ensures the quality of the resulting variables.