In two years, Archimatika will be 15 years old. She has square kilometers of completed projects, an excellent reputation and offices in Kiev, Moscow and New York. Why a recognizable architectural bureau needs to change its identity, and how a corporate identity is created in this area in general, said the co-founder of the company Alexander Popov and graphic designer Sergey Mishakin.
Know yourself
The very first logo was drawn by the architects themselves for Archimatika. Then the capital lambda (Λ) appeared instead of all the letters "a", which is actually not a lambda at all, but the roof of the house is an "archetype", one of the basic architectural elements. By the way, Archimatika often uses a pitched roof in its projects.
Over the years, the company has developed its own style, a certain creative approach, which a couple of years ago the architects decided to theorize - for themselves, new employees, customers and consumers. Alexander Popov believes that it is simply necessary to find answers to the questions “who are you”, “what you want” and “how do you achieve it”. Otherwise, the architect turns into "an unreasonable tool in someone's hands, which creates a random agglomeration of ideas, or even a dangerous tool, if he hides his inner approach, which may be inappropriate for solving certain problems."
And yet, at first, there were projects that were completed, which proceeded from the task, context, inspiration and mood. Faced with numerous works, architects were “stuck” for several months, transforming all this data into self-determination, philosophy and a few words of credo.
It was not possible to fit the entire Archimatics into one category, although the attempt was - human oriented architecture, that is, humane architecture. At first I liked the characteristic, but then it seemed too narrow and wide at the same time. Brand manager Evgeniy Timchenko suggested expanding the formula: Archimatika = Human + Urban + Business. Archimatics works primarily with people, not abstractions, but also pays attention to the benefits of the city and business.
After there was a revolutionary change
site: self-presentation now begins not with specific projects, but with this key formula and its detailed explanation, which does not negate the classic menu with a catalog. This is how the customer inevitably becomes familiar with the company's approach.
Courage not to be great / strong minuscules
After the stages of self-determination and transformation of the site, the next step followed - graphics. Initially, it was planned to keep the old logo: ΛRCHIMΛTIKΛ, typed in capital letters. Large letters with a slightly modified font, according to Alexander Popov, convey: "We are big, stylish, bold, not like someone else."
It is clear that over the years of the company's existence, architects have gotten used to this writing. Therefore, 3Z Studio was asked by Sergey Mishakin, Tanya Borzunova and Dmitry Verevkin to develop only a corporate identity based on the existing logo. Which the designers did, but nevertheless proposed a new logo, and were able to convince that it conveys the values of Archimatika much better.
According to 3Z Studio, the old spelling "ΛRCHIMΛTIKΛ" is geometric, rigid, uncompromising and authoritarian. Makes you to be "constantly at attention, in a tuxedo, with a serious expression on your face." All these characteristics are contrary to the values of the company, which thinks about the person and his all kinds of needs. The designers set themselves the task of moving to a humanistic writing without flirting with the public and maintaining continuity with the old logo.
The most important part - "Λ" - remained. As a very humane sign: "a roof over your head", a shelter, a shelter that architects give people. “The threefold repetition of the sign in the previous spelling erodes its value,” says Sergei Mishakin. - Therefore, in the new version, "Λ" is only at the beginning. At the same time, being capitalized in spirit, it retains the height of the minuscule and remains lowercase in form, thus emphasizing the humanity of the logo."
The writing had to be crisp, clear and architectural. The Futura Bold typeface fits the story perfectly: it was created by German designer Paul Renner, influenced by De Stijl and Bauhaus. Stolzl is a minimalist font based on clean geometric shapes, easy to read and functional. At the same time, despite the ideas of constructivism, capital "futures"
resemble humanistic grotesques. This font has already become a proven classic, at various times it was used by such giants as IKEA, Volkswagen and others.
For brand patterns, designers use the same logo capital letter “Λ”, but in three variations: the width of the characters and the spacing between them obey a system based on
Fibonacci sequences. The pattern can be solid or with spaces depending on the context. This number game also responds to an "architectural" customer.
Alexander Popov says that at first the new logo produced "the effect of overturned chairs", but gradually the architects agreed: "it works and really expresses our philosophy, inner state, structure, and features."
Acceptance is a matter of time
However, not everyone was ready to switch to the “rails of humanism”. For example, few people like to have his first and last name in a business card written with a small letter. This idea is also from Bauhaus: they decided that abandoning capital letters saves an hour of time when drafting documents. True, this is only true for German, in which all nouns are capitalized.
At first, Moscow and American partners of Archimatika did not accept the new identity with varying degrees of categorization. Our partner Mick Veret is convinced that a company with such a logo is not like a corporation that relies on something: “There are fashion trends, but there is a business, the essence of which is to develop, capture, fight, win. The larger the teeth, the larger the letters, and there is nothing to be ashamed of."
Alexander Popov has a different opinion: “Archimatics is not only business, but above all architecture. The goal of the company in the USA is to bring a “European feel”, and the rules are set by the humanistic values and logic of the city. Therefore, there is no need for Archimatics to imitate the American corporations with which it competes."
Now a team of architects and designers is working on defining the boundaries of the proposed style so that each of the employees can find a resonant meaning: instead of one canonical spelling, there will be a certain coordinate system, within which "deviations" are allowed. As Alexander Popov says, "we are so contradictory that we cannot be reduced to one meaning without graphical inconsistencies." And this recognition also contains humanism.
