I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Mike Brant and his team at Mile Zero Inc., an event and solutions agency based out of Chicago. Wanting to keep a consistent polished and professional look, I worked with Mile Zero to redesign their logo. Review the cast study below to learn more about the partnership.
What is Mile Zero?
Mile Zero does it all when it comes to event sponsorship. They provide their clients with credible and resourceful brand sponsorship that help enhance events success . Through planning, customer relations, and successful experiences, Mile Zero develops unforgettable events for their clients. This includes reaching out to potential sponsors, coordinating activities, and providing the financial support for the event. These attributes were key when designing their logo.
Why rebrand?
When I was contacted by Mile Zero the company was transitioning from adolescents to maturity. With their expanding list of clients they wanted to reflect the growth they have seen by developing a professional and unique brand. They underwent a new website and logo design.
My key role was redesigning the logo. To stay inline with the company’s professional and unique style I wanted to create something completely original. The typography used in their new design is one I created exclusively for their brand. Their original logo design utilized their name as their brand and used contrast of light and dark colors to make the logo pop.
OLD
When developing a new design, I wanted to stay away from the soft look the original look at had. If the brand was to speak of professionalism and uniqueness it needed original fonts and a sharper look that provided some interest to viewer. I really liked the the contrast between the dark gray ‘Mile’ and the light green ‘Zero’. I carried that contrast into the new design.
To create some curiosity with the audience I decided to use a big ‘M’ instead of using ‘Mile’ as the previous logo had done. I wanted the ‘M’ to be the focus point of the logo. The dark gray zero below the ‘M’ makes the giant green ‘M’ in the first logo pop. It draws your eyes down to the ‘Zero’. I left out the ‘inc.’ as the company doesn’t use it often when referring to themselves and I wanted avoid unnecessary visual clutter. The shadows underneath the ‘M’ creates the dynamic look making the uniqueness of the design really shine.
The second logo I made uses the same typography as the first logo, but is formatted vertically instead of horizontally. To keep viewers from confusion, I added a line in-between the ‘M’ and the ‘Zero’ so they knew that they were different. I went with a lighter and smaller ‘M’ so the focus was on the ‘Zero’. It also the allows the viewer to visually separate the ‘M’ and the ‘Zero’.
Both logos are great to be used on promotional products, t-shirts, and business cards.
New
Website
Below are examples on how Mile Zero has utilized their new logo designs with the rest of their branding initiatives.
Logo Number One
The long M can be seen at the top left corner of the website. Creating two logos let Mile Zero play around with their geometric style to create a stylish transition from logo to website.
Logo Number Two
When scrolling down the logo transitions into the its more proportional style. It creates a subtle look with the size but is still keeping in line with the overall style of the brand.
Social Media
Staying consistent is vital today when promoting your business across multiple platforms. The minimalist logo pops with its simplistic design grabbing viewers attention.
