Owl Ventures

branding / identity / logo

The world is changing and so is the way we educate. Owl Ventures is a young venture capital firm who invests in world-leading education technology. Their mascot, an owl, is a long standing symbol of knowledge, yet their old logo was traditional and dated when their target market is innovation-facing. The objective was to create a mark that incorporates the owl in a modern and fresh way. The final solution combines the “O” and “V” in Owl Ventures to create a side profile of an owl, such that the owl is “looking ahead.”

Project completed under the supervision of 1185Design.

Additional concepts that played with the owl as an abstracted mascot

Iterations of the logo consists of experimenting with line thickness and color variations, knocking the “OV” out of shapes, and refining the contour. The final mark has the “OV” contained in a rounded square, which performs best visually across their digital platforms.

Above are samples of typography exploration in a left-aligned lockup. Two directions were explored: a typeface that would either compliment the logomark or to give contrast. The finalist was Intro by Svetoslav Simov, a clean and open sans serif that contains subtle quirks to compliment the contour of the mark.

Logo Application

Gear & Tchotchkes

Logo Animation

Insights

Every great concept needs constant refinement. When this logo was first chosen, the initial draft was far from the final result. Through exploring different owl sketches, refining every vector node, testing colors and typography, and listening to client feedback, I learned to hone a graphic identity to meet business objectives: always face forward.