Zenuity Brand Design & Platform

Brief

To create a holistic brand experience for Zenuity. To deliver the necessary toolkits to support the ambitious organisation upon their establishment and for the years to follow.

When

Winter 2016 – 

Outcome

We delivered the aforementioned toolkit that extends to: Competitive brand positioning, definitions and key messaging, brand identity and system design (including logotype, graphic profile, visual language, brand guidelines), website, motion material, space experience and applications design.

Complexity

4 / 5

The background.

It is not everyday that a new company within Autonomous Driving is born. The product requires infrastructure, numbers, the best brains available and some serious trail-blazing ambition. We have been lucky enough to embark on a branding journey with a company of this magnitude upon its genesis. Zenuity is the joint venture of Volvo Cars and Veoneer, a company that started up with 150 employees and 3 offices in Gothenburg /Sweden, Bavaria/Germany and Michigan/USA and has grown to 650 staff and two more offices in Santa Clara/California and Shanghai/China by 2019. With such a sturdy background, Zenuity positions itself as an independent supplier of autonomous driving systems to the OEMs of the world. Aiming to be the forerunner of the long voyage required to make autonomous driving an integrated reality inclusive of everyone, the company sought to have a brand story comparable to its ambition.
 
Uncloudy & Co was assigned to create brand storytelling, brand identity and essential brand building blocks like guidelines, website, motion assets and testimonial films.

The challenge.

We had to take into consideration the board’s vision of the brand, carefully distill the business promise and marketing goals, in order to form a brief. The Zenuity identity should fuse traits of a high-end software brand and the robustness of a reliable partner to the automotive manufacturers of the world. How do we create an identity independent of the holding companies, but bold about its proven automotive heritage? And at the same time, mold the presence of an attractive employer?

The outcome.

The name is an alliteration of the words “Zen” and “ingenuity”. 
The company’s brand promise is to “Make it real.” To help autonomous driving materialise for everyone, everywhere. Safety is of imperative importance in order for the passenger to trust something as foreign as a software to take the wheel. But the ultimate goal for the end customer is to experience the “Zen” of commuting without driving. And all of the other things that one can savor, while claiming their lost time back. For any of this to gain substance autonomous driving needs to be “real”, not just an experimental concept.
 
Therefore we needed to start at the beginning, and founded a logo for the organisation that speaks this simple truth: It has to be real, and the possibilities are endless. We decided to create a solid wordmark / symbol combination. Both ingredients aim to be firm as free standing elements, but also work harmoniously with each other. The Zenuity symbol, was designed after a long journey of explorations. Its form is derived from the shape of two “Z”s facing each another. Together they form a system of winding roads and a shape which resembles the infinity symbol at the same time. Zenuity is a futuristic company in Autonomous Driving which stands for endless possibilities within the field. We took the idea further thinking about how to embedd the concept of endless potential in the execution of the design. We decided to add an undertone of mathematics to the mix. When we chiseled the three dimensional version of the logo, we incorporated a “Möbius strip”-type surface to the mix, in order to convey the notion of the least possible amount of boundaries. We devised a signature sound for Zenuity, one that oozes robustness and exploration, and we packaged the logostory in a lean motion signature to be used in the various audiovisual expressions of the organisation.

When it comes to Zenuity’s visual identity, we created a typographic system which feels premium and is easy to use. By keeping it simple, we minimised the risks of misuse and sloppiness at this early stage. We made sure we deliver an application package that fits with the various facets of the organisation (spanning from office signage, all the way to car striping) and the different countries it exists in.

We then proceeded to create the unique Zenuity’s look and feel for imagery. We held a lean photoshoot during which we covered the needs of the organisation regarding photographic assets for the following years. We planned so as to cover key strategic themes of the brand like technology, people and way of working. 

More work

Zenuity Brand Film

We created the Zenuity brand film to launch in Las Vegas CES beginning 2019 and we packaged the company’s product offering into a digital application.

Florence Academy of Art

We reimagined the traditional institution’s brand and launched controversial – for the branch – campaign.

The Andys Online Experience

We designed the online entry system for one of the most acclaimed award shows in the advertising industry. And we made a charitable cause out of it.

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Ready to talk?

At Uncloudy & Co, we are always happy to hear from fellow cloudsurfers. Have you got an intriguing business challenge, or simply are curious about our offering, don’t hesitate to drop us a line.