NanoSteel logo

Helping a smart steel company communicate innovative B2B value with visual work inspired by the product itself

Additional credits

NanoSteel makes a smart metal with shape memory capabilities with important uses across a wide range of advanced industries, including aerospace. If that sounds complex, the technology is! In the process of growing and communicating the breakthrough nature of its product, NanoSteel worked with Sans Serif to develop a logo and associated visual identity to make a strong B2B impression and capture attention in order to communicate its innovative value.

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Prework: Research and real understanding

To deeply communicate a brand’s value, we know understanding the product well is crucial: our creativity is fueled by our excitement for the innovative brands we partner with. For NanoSteel, that meant digging into the technology and its benefits. To inform logo and visual identity design, we collaborated with NanoSteel and conducted our own research into their business and their product to gain a deeper understanding, down to the molecular structure of the steel.

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Logo and visual identity

With an important product on the leading edge of materials technology and metallurgy, having a visual identity that connects value and the innovation of the product with B2B customers is critical, and the first impression happens with a logo. After surveying NanoSteel's industry, and digging into the product and its value, we began developing a logo that could help communicate NanoSteel’s breakthrough. Ultimately, the intricacy and beauty of the product itself informed the design. Inspired by the smart steel on a molecular level, we explored a number of directions that used the structure of the material to connect with the brand name NanoSteel.

Shape, color, clear communication

In the end, NanoSteel chose an elegant logo direction based on a hexagon with implied depth that echoes the molecular structure of the smart material and cleverly incorporated a capital “N,” effectively communicating both the innovation of the product and keeping the brand name front and center. To bring the logo to life with color, an audit of the industry provided a starting point and opportunities for differentiation. A bold orange stands out from the crowd and also brings to mind the malleability and shaping of the metal at the manufacturing level, as well as its differentiating capability of being able to change and hold shape.

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Logo and visual identity execution

Finally, we supported the NanoSteel team in developing rules and a framework for deploying the logo within a visual system. Keeping the message of innovation and new possibilities within industries front and center through intuitive visual design and messaging is crucial for NanoSteel and innovative companies that need to stake out their place in a churning B2B field. With final deliverables and guidelines in place, NanoSteel was equipped to take control of its narrative and messaging to maximize its impact.

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Conclusion

Logos are a key tool for making a strong first impression. Logos and visual identities are a crucial form of communication for these kinds of advanced technologies because they must be attention-grabbing, informative, and convey value all at once. We’re thrilled to have so many opportunities to work with brands leading the way in innovation with some of the most advanced technologies in the world, from materials to semiconductors to power and energy storage, and most importantly, we love it when a brand receives a tool for communicating an important but complicated idea in a way that expresses the importance of its innovation while demonstrating value for real results.

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