If you missed Part 1 and Part 2 click the links to read more background on the events that contributed to launching a new Eximware brand.

The decision to create a new Eximware logo was the final chapter of an arduous, but rewarding experience. A winning design had to account for our rich company history while being modern and easily recognizable with the potential to last as long as its predecessor. We reviewed dozens of designs, fonts and colors and continuously tweaked them before testing each on letterhead, web pages, business cards, and the rest of our collateral.

A debate over serif vs san serif and lowercase with only a leading capital “E,” all lowercase, or a completely capitalized font led to the formation of unofficial focus groups comprised of friends, families, Eximware partners and the occasional unbiased stranger. The look was one thing but proper pronunciation was also key. Luckily our first choice, capitalized block lettering ticked all the boxes. With that decision settled it was time to move onto graphic selection; more focus groups and surveys ensued.

The “x-like” graphic shown above was selected over its 10 or so alternatives because it accurately represented the movement of a complex commodity supply chain. It reflected the collaboration between many participants working together across geographies and markets and also reminded several of us of the classic symbols for connections and bytes of data. The center of the graphic is intended to represent our centralized commodity management and procurement platforms while the outer elements reflect users and their counter-parties. The symbol was perfect for our needs and it didn’t hurt that it could be used on its own as an icon for our social media accounts and apps.

The final challenge involved choosing colors and determining how to represent the company heritage without using PascalCase. Several methods were tested. Italics downplayed the strength of the company, background shading proved too distracting, and underlines and highlights looked out of place. Finally, the idea for a three-color logo was introduced and quite frankly; it just worked.

After some back and forth about sticking with our original blue and orange, a decision was made. Two shades of blue were selected as a symbol of stability and strength and to represent multiple counter-parties working in different parts of a supply chain to conduct successful transactions. The last color, grey, was chosen as a complement to the shades of blue and to represent our heritage as a leader in cloud based technology. Together we believe the colors, font and graphic do a great job representing an ecosystem of buyers, sellers, processors and traders participating in global commodity markets.

We are very excited with how everything turned out and hope our partners feel the same. Thank you for taking the time to read this post and let us know if you would like to learn more about Eximware or see a demo of our commodity management or marketplace solutions.

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