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atmail – Rebranding Case Study

Featured here today is a case study of the rebranding for Webmail and messaging company Atmail. With over 4,500 clients and almost ten years in business, the previous design felt outgrown and outdated. And after having worked with us on designing custom icons for their webmail user interface, Atmail requested us to take a long hard look at their branding, and come up with a plan to reinvigorate it! That we did!

From the outset of the project we focused on how we could incorporate the already established brand equity of the at-symbol, into a unique and easily recognizable design. The at-symbol has the obvious connection with an email address, and so the client specified the need to retain that element. The goal was to find a design that would allow the observer to make the mental connection with email and communication, without relying on the at-symbol any more. As a side effect, it also caused a lot of confusion on what the proper name of the company was: @mail or Atmail?

In the concepts that are displayed here you can easily tell that we set out to find a pleasing way of combining both letters into one letter shape. The earliest concept show a rather awkward execution of that, but when we reached the center concept, there was that spark! Drawing on the loop that encircles the letter a, we drew up a similar looking design, this time integrating the letter t, into the loop. And doing it in a way that makes sure the name is spelled correctly. This concept really hit home with the client, only wanting to see some alternative for the typeface that was chosen.

As soon as the client decided on the concept featuring the typeface Neo Tech, we moved on to implementing the design in the standard branding pieces, like envelopes, business cards and letterhead. Featured here are the latter two. The bright blue has been broken up with transparent instances of the rounded rectangular shape, to create an interesting visual stimulant. Altogether, this project was a great success for both us and the client. We were able to update and align the brand with what Atmail is all about: providing next-generation communication technology to over 16 million users.

Special Thanks to Marc Roman, Identity Strategist, Eighty8Four, for taking the Creative Lead on this project.

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