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Free logo makeover week #1 – Boosting “Bolt” from generic to vibrant

Hello there,
Every week I'll be reviewing and enhancing the brand design of a fellow IndieHacker, for free!

For this first edition, I've looked at the brand design of Bolt, founded by @pips. They started out with a pretty good visual identity already, so it was fun to figure out ways to make it stronger.

Let's get started.

1. Foundation: the values behind Bolt

Bolt is a SaaS that makes it easy to collect visual feedback from clients and team members on live sites and static designs. Their core values is to be powerful but lightweight, fast, caring about customers and disruptive.
bolt current logo design

2. Good things about the current logo

  • The design conveys modernity and efficiency through geometric lines and simple shapes. They match the values of quickness and disruptiveness. They also have this contemporary ux/ui design feeling which fits nicely in the world of design apps.
  • The font they chose has all the qualities that they're looking for: modernity, legibility and a smart hint of originality. Look at the "t", it looks like it's smiling. It's a great type design by Laurenz Brunner, I love it!
  • The colors are interesting: electric blue gives a sense of energy in a reliable way, and soft pink (from their landing page) balances it with kindness and warmth in an original way. They match well with their values of "powerful but lightweight" and of "caring about customers".
  • I like the idea of using a rounded square, it gives a caring demeanor to what appears as a solid solution: stable and reassuring. The square also suggests the feedback board or the website screen design.
  • It's a good idea to choose a lighting bolt as a symbol since the name of brand is Bolt. It makes the name of the brand more memorizable.

3. Issue with the current logo

Since they're using a symbol that matches their brand name, without adding anything to it, it doesn't create a strong emotional bond with their audience. The current logo doesn't tell enough of a story to be remembered. It looks too generic.

4. Proposed improvement

To improve the actual logo, we need to keep the modern, simple, rounded feeling of the brand, but we also need to make the "bolt" mean something. What makes this "bolt" so special? What is its originality?

5. Design ideas

I've looked through different ways to give Bolt a hint of more originality and "craziness" through design.
bolt logo design ideas

The symbol

  • Try a lightning bolt that gets out the box or shakes.
  • Try to put the lightning bolt is an different surrounding: dots, curved lines, circles, stripes…

The colors

  • Keep the blue, and eventually soft pink, but try to bring more originality by using a turquoise blue (caring+innovative) or a purple-blue (bold+creative).

The font

  • Use a thicker weight (black instead of bold) to add power and confidence.

6. Logo Proposals

I applied all these ideas in the three proposals below:

  • Font: I picked Circular Std Black for the word "Bolt", to give it more strength
  • Colors: I kept the blue but twisted it with a more intense connotation
  • Rounded square: I redesigned the roundness to look more solid, without losing of the caring feeling

Proposal 1 – Lines and space

The curved lines symbolize design and imagination. Coming from the outside of the box, the lightning bolt appears as a tool to get deep instant energy.
bolt logo proposal lines and space

Proposal 2 – Powerful lightning bolt

Placed in the center of the squared board, the lightning bolt conveys intense energy and power as its design seems to bring angles and sharpness. I smoothed-out the lines to balance the strength with a cool and nice demeanor.
bolt logo proposal powerful lightning bolt
some other variations
bolt logo proposal powerful lightning bolt variants

Proposal 3 – Resonance box

The circles evoke echoes. The lighting bolt in the middle of both square and circles signify centralizing feedbacks. The echoes are a moving feature: they can go back and forth.
bolt logo proposal resonance box

7. Time to choose

bolt logo proposal recap
bolt logo proposals landing page
I had a great time working on this logo case and I hope you enjoyed it too! Which one do you prefer? Help @pips choose by giving your top 3 in comments.

Side note: If you’re looking for a brand identity for your project, this kind of deep design work usually goes for $1k+, not really affordable when you’re starting out. That why I created logology, where you can get a brand that fits your values for 10X cheaper. All designed by me. :)

Next week, I'll enhance the logo of another IndieHacker. Stay tuned!

  1. 4

    Amazing work Lucie - I did not expect this! Thank you so much. I'm going to hold out on my opinion until I hear what others say - I do have a favourite!

    1. 1

      Hi @pips! Looks like #3 won the votes. Was it your favorite too? Tell me the one you love, I'd be happy to send you the svg file. :)

      1. 2

        #3 was also my favourite! I love the symmetry and balance over the other two. Thanks Lucie :)

        1. 1

          Great! :) Can you send me your email or Twitter account so that I can send you the file ?

  2. 4

    Nice work, however proposal 3 looks the best for me, it looks way cleaner in my opinion.

  3. 4

    Wow - love those new designs! Great work!

    1. 2

      Thank you very much @BraydenTW! I'm so happy you like them!

  4. 3

    Heey Lucie, I'm really amazed how much it changed! Great job!

    I personally would go for #1, #3 and finally #2.

    Is there any way to apply for this logo makeover? I'd love to see our logo go through some cool changes as well. Cheers!

    1. 1

      Hi @milanr! Thank you! I'm happy you like this logo makeover, I had a great time doing it.

      I'd love to apply for a logo makeover! The next two weeks are booked (one logo makeover by week), but I'll be posting then to announce the re-opening of submissions. :)

  5. 3

    This is amazing, Lucie!

  6. 3

    All amazing but I definitely think #3. #1 seems weirdly off center/top-heavy, #2 I think the way it uses colors is odd, the monotone versions are alright but don't really get away from the "generic lightning bolt" look. #3 is super unique, compact, balanced, and uses the original bolt shape.

  7. 2

    This comment was deleted 2 months ago.

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