The Simpler Brand Identity Design - A Case Study
The Simpler app was our first full-fledged app design project. The timing of the project could not have been better, because it was around the same time that Arjun, armed with his wealth of experience in UI & UX, joined us.
The idea behind the Simpler app was, for lack of a more appropriate word, simple.
It was an app that would replace every other home service app in the market, by providing all the household services you would ever need, and making those services as easily accessible as tapping your phone four or five times.
It was an ambitious project, to say the least — not only from a UI & UX standpoint, but also from a logistical one. Indian service providers, from electricians to plumbers, are notoriously difficult and unreliable. All of this would change with Simpler, which would vet the service people beforehand, and ensure the highest levels of professionalism and dependability.
How we approached the UI & UX of the app design is significant enough for its own separate blog post, but right now we’d like to talk about how we created a brand for Simpler that was light years ahead of any other app or service in the country, for one simple reason.
THE CORE INSIGHT
While first researching the brand, competition, etc. we realised that every other similar service was essentially saying the same things. They were all blowing their trumpets about how quick they were, or how reliable they were, or about how cheap they were. All of them were basically built around either one or all of those benefits.
And so we decided Simpler needed to be more than just another service that gets your pipes fixed or your lightbulbs replaced. We needed a big idea that would set us apart from the rest.
We decided to look beyond the services Simpler would offer, and explore the people that provided those services. Skilled professionals who worked day and night, getting little to no recognition, let alone respect, in return. They made sure we were cool in the blistering Indian summers, they weren’t afraid to be covered in our filth to unclog our toilets, and they often sat with no protective gear, to fix our furniture or electrical outlets.
The more we researched this work, the more ashamed we became in ourselves and our system. In every other developed nation, these people were given the respect they deserve. They were treated as equals, and their skills were valued just as much as anyone else’s.
In India however, the scenario was appalling. Maybe it was the remnants of the caste system still deeply engrained in our psyche. Maybe it was social conditioning. Whatever the cause, we often have a tendency to treat these service men and women with less than contempt. We treat them like slaves, never speaking to them with respect (if speaking to them at all), never thanking them when they were done with their jobs, and finally mistrusting them and their fee when the job was done well.
That’s what we decided we wanted to change. That’s what we felt was Simpler’s calling. It wasn’t just an app for getting your household chores done quicker. It was an instrument of change. It was the first step towards showing appreciation and respect towards the millions of skilled workers this country had to offer, and making them proud of the work they did.
Simpler would introduce a much needed and long overdue revolution in how India and Indians viewed and treated the skilled labour industry.
CRAFTING A REVOLUTION
In order for this revolution to come about, there needed to be change at both ends of the table. Starting with the service providers themselves. They needed to respect and find true value in their own work before they could expect that respect and value from other people.
To make that happen, the servicemen would need to imbibe a certain work ethic, a code that they adhere to that demands they work fair and square. They need to behave professionally, and without an inferiority complex.
At the other end, customers need to be convinced to put aside all the biases they’ve had for so long, and not have preconceived notions about the people that service their homes.
The very core of this would have to be an effort to bring both parties to the same level. This, we believed, could be achieved by tackling the issue head-on, at the first interaction the two parties had.
One gesture that perfectly accomplished that task was the handshake. When two people shake hands, they immediately bring each other to a single, mutually respectful plane — even if one might be a client and the other a service provider. That was where our revolution would begin, at that very first interaction between customer and serviceman.
IDENTITY DESIGN
And so, it seemed only obvious that our identity and brand design would also have the handshake at its core.
The handshake that started it all
And that is how the Simpler logo was born.
Once we had settled on the logo, everything else fit right into place. The logotype we used was a variant of the Nexa Bold typeface, with slightly softer edges, to give it a more friendly appearance.
Since Simpler was about to aggregate a number of different services under one brand, we needed to have a brand language that was built that way, from the get go. So, once we had the parent/umbrella brand finalised, we created a sub-branding system, which would be used for each individual service. We also introduced a broad colour palette for the brand+sub-brand combinations.
The client planned to release individual services in phases, starting off with Laundry.
In terms of printed, offline collateral, the client didn’t require much. We did design laundry bags, a delivery case and some flyers, all of which followed the same design language.
It was once these few pieces of printed collateral were complete, that we moved on to another very exciting part of the project — the app design, UI & UX.
But that case study deserves a whole other blog post.