Summer of 2001, I began a contract with Hutchison3g to provide them with an identity for their third generation mobile service, due for launch sometime the 2002.
At this time, no-one had seen a third generation phone or knew what it would do.
It began with a concept we called RealPlay. In essence it’s about not having to choose one OR another, but getting both instead. Maximum-Possible. Not the best of both worlds, but both worlds at once.
We began with a concept called RealPlay. In essence it’s about not having to choose one thing OR another, but getting both instead. Maximum-Possible. Not the best of both worlds, but both worlds at once.
The logo needed to reflect this so the idea of something that was both organic and tech arose.
I like to do something that people can bring a part of themselves to, see something that they could not put into words.
I designed two custom typefaces, Verona, a serif, and Modena Condensed, a sans-serif.
The use of the Verona and Modena Condensed was briefly described in the following way:
“Verona Regular provides our treble notes and our vocals. We use it when it’s 3 talking.
Modena Condensed provides our bass notes, the ones that make you move. So it’s used to communicate information and messages that require or inspire an action. We use it on bills, instructions, signage."
India and Thailand were not going to be launching 3g services at the same time as the UK, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, and Sweden.
Thailand‘s 2.5g service was branded as close to 3 as possible, without using the name. Called simply Hutch, I designed a logo that uses the whole concept of cool/hot, outside/inside, and uses the changing colour spectrum.
India’s identity, for a service less sophisticated and without colour screen phones, clearly could not use an identity that was in part a metaphor for a colour phone. Here I used the triangle pattern so that it too shared DNA with its family.
The same typefaces were used uniquely tying all the Hutchison mobile businesses together – a strong argument for using a custom typeface across a global business.
The 3 logo is iconic, it can be represented any number of ways; line, dimensionally, ultimately it exists in the mind:
‘A word or image is symbolic when it implies something more than its obvious and immediate meaning. It has a wider ’unconcious’ aspect that is never precisely defined or explained. […]
As the mind explores the symbol, it is led to ideas beyond the grasp of reason’
Carl Jung
Man & His Symbols
This is a small gift that was designed for investors, made from pure Unobtainium.
