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Visual Identity: The Story Behind the New IOS Press Logo

Dark blue banner with blue and white dots

28 October 2021 | Stephanie Delbecque, IOS Press, Amsterdam, NL
A little over mid-way through 2021, IOS Press underwent a major website transformation. This came to fruition after a long process during which we had taken a close and critical look at who we are and how our culture is reflected both in how we communicate to the world via our online presence and through our branding, The results were revealed with the launch of the new website in August. Here, we provide some insight about our new logo and brand identity.
 

Design that can build an emotional connection

By Stephanie Delbecque, IOS Press, Amsterdam, NL

A little over mid-way through 2021, IOS Press underwent a major website transformation. This came to fruition after a long process during which we had taken a close and critical look at who we are and how our culture is reflected both in how we communicate to the world via our online presence and through our branding. The results were revealed with the launch of the new website in August. Here, we provide some insight about our new logo and brand identity.

Dark blue background with IOS Press logo and tagline and swirls of dots

In an earlier Labs post, we shared details of the journey that had been taken during the rebranding process in our efforts to make the correct first impression when communicating our current working practices. First, we had to redefine our vision, mission, and company story – with respect to our legacy and milestones – as well as establish our core values of integrity, flexibility, collaboration, and innovation. With this done, we needed the “form” to reflect that new “content” – it was time to look at our logo and our branding. The design was of great importance to reflect our culture and how we are evolving as a company. Rebranding can be an emotional process not only for the IOS Press workforce. If done correctly, how we present ourselves will also connect with our audience in an emotional way (see Box 1).

The primary rationale behind our rebranding initiative is honoring our publishing roots and respecting the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge, while being open to innovation and renewal – the old and the new, hand in hand – we looked at how we could unify the design with our core values. The company was founded in 1987 and we had been using the same format for our logo for almost 20 years. So, yes, it was certainly time for a long overdue change.

Read: Communicating Who We Really Are

Box 1: Brand definition

A brand is the idea or image people have in mind when thinking about specific products, services, and activities of a company, both in a practical and emotional way. This combination of physical and emotional cues is triggered when exposed to all the touchpoints between a person and a specific brand.

Source 
 

New look and logo

We wanted to create a brand logo that truly reflects the company story and makes a connection – which can have a much bigger impact than we often realize. Branding is more than visual identity, as it not only shows the world who you are as a company; it also distinguishes you from the competition and is the link between your products and your users. It connects with your audience and helps build the perception of your company being reliable, professional, and trustworthy – and it builds confidence. Good branding brings a business to a new level and shapes both recognition and loyalty.

IOS Press logo and design elements

Visuals have a more immediate and longer lasting impact on people than words, and combining those two forces, content and design, is ideal and reinforces each other. During the process of the logo redesign, it was important to still have connections to our logo legacy (you can see the transformation over the years in the timeline visual at the foot of the page). So in the new design, we opted to once again implement the familiar blue colors, only this time in more vibrant shades. The circular element of our round blue 2004 logo (with its beveled edge), which was our primary logo for such a long time, returns in the swirl of dots in a circular form to represent our global audience, which is a significant aspect. The dots are also reflected in the rest of our branding, with design elements appearing on the website and in the icons that represent our mission, vision, and core values of integrity, flexibility, collaboration, and innovation

What else is behind our new logo?

  • The dots represent our network – including authors, reviewers, editors, and of course readers, from all corners of the world, for whom we offer flexible services.
  • The swirl movement reflects collaboration, making it clear how when we come together and combine forces, we increase impact.
  • Collaborating with our network of experts validates and disseminates the research as soon and broadly as possible, in order to accelerate research.
  • Each published article contributes to the impact of the next, represented by the increasing size of dots – with this comes the impact on the world of science as we contribute to a trustworthy scientific ecosystem that furthers our understanding of the world.

IOS Press new icons for mission, vision, and core values

Timeline of IOS Press logos since 2002 to 2021

 
What do you see in our new logo? We’d love to hear your interpretation. Get in touch!

Discover Our New Website

In the About section you can discover our vision, mission, and company story – with respect to our legacy and milestones – as well as our core values of integrity, flexibility, collaboration, and innovation. The site is divided between our core Services – for authors, librarians, and reviewers – and a range of Initiatives, from open science and sustainability to outlining our partnerships and how we support innovation through research and development. Naturally, all this revolves around our extensive Catalog of books and journals.
 

View our branding guidelines (PDF); for any requests to receive the new logo, please get in touch!

Update: View the press release about our rebranding here

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