U-HAUL REBRAND PROCESS & STYLE ANALYSIS JUSTIN BARBER
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THE ANALYSIS TYPE LOGO APPLICATION
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THE ANALYSIS U-Haul is arguably the biggest vehicle rental company in America and by far the most recognizable brand of them all. With a rich history dating back to 1945, U-Haul has been the main source of trucks, trailers, hitches, and self-storage facilities that America has utilized for a little over seven decades in their various moving processes. Since U-Haul has such a recognizable name and logo, my approach was to simply update the logo. I didn’t feel like a complete “overhaul” was necessary. The challenge was to modernize the identity without losing it’s original recognisability.
problem points The Hitch: Another manipulation of the original letterform. Although the concept behind it is understandable, the extended crossbar is distracting and poorly executed. Straight vs. Curved: While the H, A, and L all sport straight lines and sharp angles, the bottom of the U is curved. This inconsistancy between letterforms is distracting to the eye. Horizontal Scaling: The first “U” is scaled horizontally by about 120%, while the vertical height has stayed the same. Despite retaining the same vertical height, the the stem of the U has been mysteriously heightened. Kerning: The distance between the “U” and “L” is quite farther apart than the rest of the letters.
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SELECTING THE TYPE I had two prerequisites in the search for an updated typeface for the logo: the typeface had to be thick, and the typeface had to be rounded. The element of thickness communicates the hardwork and heavy duty capabilities of U-Haul, while the element of roundness makes the logo more approachable and friendly. My search ended in the collection of these three typefaces.
uhaul
“Furore” from Jovanny Lemonad The cut corners caused the typeface to feel too heavy duty and commercial. I would expect this company to sell construction equipment, not rent trailers. The “A” was too distinguishable and distracted from where the focus should be in the “U”.
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UHAUL
“Orbitron” from The League of Movable Type Despite being thick and rounded, it felt a little too wide. In particular, the arm of the ‘L’ seemed to stretch out ridiculously far (like a clown shoe) and unintentionally caused the logo to feel broad and sluggish - like this company would sell 18 wheelers.
UHAUL
“Akashi” from Ten By Twenty This typeface fit all the needs perfectly. Unlike Orbitron, it’s short and to the point while still feeling very sturdy. It’s upright and professional. Friendly enough to invite customers, and strong enough to reassure them that they’re making the right choice. I decided that I would use this typeface in creating the logo.
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TYPE SOLUTION “Akashi” from Ten By Twenty Despite the typeface including both uppercase and lowercase letters, I decided that the brand would only utilize the uppercase letters. The lowercase letters are much more technical than the uppercase, and I felt they lost some of the friendliness the uppercase approach embraced.
UHAUL 8
U-Haul Akashii Specimens
ABCDEFGHIJ KLMNOPQRS TUVWXYZ (.,:;?!£$&@*) 0123456789
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SKETCHING THE LOGO After settling on which typeface to use, I began brainstorming ideas for the logo. As I mentioned previously, I just wanted to update the logo, not completely rebrand U-Haul. As a result, I kept the same core colors and attempted to preserve the original feel of the logo.
Logo 3
Logo 1 Logo 4
Logo 2
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Logo 5
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Before
LOGO SOLUTION Logo 1 felt too simplistic and didn’t have enough change to deem it a “re-brand.” Logo 2 felt too empty, the open box took away the foundation of strength the typeface displayed. Logo 3 never felt right from the start, too episodic (and looked like an extreme “stroke” effect had been placed on the letters in Photoshop). Logos 4 and 5 were my favorites. Instead of using a square to highlight the ‘U’ in Logo 5, I decided to use rounded corners and thought it fit the logo really well. But to me, it didn’t feel solid enough. Logo 4 had a unique balance to it, and provided the sense of connection I thought was lacking in Logo 5.
After
U HAUL
YOUR MOVING AND STORAGE RESOURCE 12
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BRAND APPLICATION The design on the trucks, trailers, and other services U-Haul offered was also in need of an update. With the new logo, the trucks (and other products) would conform to a much cleaner and streamlined look than before. U-Haul is known for having different truck designs for each state, but with the application of the new logo, all the trucks would become uniform in design. The ‘90’s style illustrations are replaced with the logo and phone number on the side of the truck.
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WEB DEVELOPMENT Upon visiting the U-Haul website, I was completely schocked. The website looked like it was made in early 2000. After doing some research on archive.org, I was able to find the development of U-Haul’s website from the date of its creation in 1997. Unfortunately, there is little development at all, and as a result, the 2010 website doesn’t look too far off from their 2000 website. However, after I had completed my rebrand, U-Haul updated its website to a much more modern and acceptable version, current as of August 2010. Pictured below is the website they had up until that date, and thus the one I based my redesign on.
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This was my first vision for the website. It was difficult gleaning the information that U-Haul wanted to put into prominent display from their old website since there was no clear heirarchy of organization. So I tried my best to determine which items should be put in the top menu bar, etc. The footer became an afterthought.
The second version cleaned up the sub sections, and fixed the “camper” issue with the truck icon in the “moving equipment” box. However, the footer remained unchanged.
I felt good with the overall foundation of the website, but knew the footer needed improvement, and this was my main focus, besides the ad. I decided to follow suit with the graphics in the main part of the site, and found others relevant to the footer.
Final version: search bar evolved, and based on U-Haul’s real updated site, a “ready to rent” section replaced the ad which boosts space functionality and gave the user a legit and natural area to begin their site experience.
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WEB SOLUTION Once I felt I had a good enough product to call it “finished,” I decided that the website was complete. It’s a very clean and light approach, similar to the trucks and the rest of the brand application. Compared to their old website, this clearly points to the area of the website that the user should begin, and has easy enough navigation so that the user can feel comfortable in finding whatever information they need, something lacking in the old version.
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U HAUL
YOUR MOVING AND STORAGE RESOURCE
JUSTIN BARBER college portfolio project 2010-2011 Web:
Behance Network behance.net/justinbarber DeviantArt itsyouforme.deviantart.com Facebook facebook.com/jbarber3
Contact:
jbarber@caj.or.jp
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