FOCI
Achievements
Shortlisted for MTU Prize For Innovation
Prize
What is FOCI
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Foci is a self-initiated brand design project built around a physical consumer technology concept.
As part of the MTU Prize for Innovation my project was to create a complete brand identity for a pocket sized single purpose task management device from naming and visual identity through to product visualisation and motion design.
The project covers every touchpoint a real product launch would require.
The Brief
Define and build a brand from the ground up.
Name the product, establish the visual language, apply it consistently across print, digital and motion graphics and visualise the physical product in 3D.
The brand had to feel premium, minimal and intentional credible enough to sit alongside established consumer technology brands.
My Role
This was a Define and build a brand from the ground up. Name the product, establish the visual language, apply it consistently across print, digital and motion graphics and visualise the physical product in 3D.
The brand had to feel premium, minimal and intentional credible enough to sit alongside established consumer technology brands.
Brand Identity
Naming
The name Foci was selected over a shortlist that included Prio, Kern, Ordo and Atto.
Foci carries Latin roots implying focus, is short and ownable, as well as working cleanly.
Tagline Engineered for clarity.
Colour System
Two palettes were developed.
A black and white palette for pitch and investor contexts — near black #0A0A0A dominant, off white #F5F5F5 background, high contrast and editorial.
A warm neutral palette for consumer facing materials — charcoal #262626, warm off white #F2F2F2 and tan accent #C2B19C giving the brand a human and tactile quality.
Typography
Clean geometric sans serif font called Parabolica.
The scale was built on the golden ratio base 8.5pt scaled by 1.618 across five levels. Wide character spacing on the wordmark gives FOCI presence at both small and large sizes.
Logo
A custom icon mark representing a layered task list interface within an L-frame grid structure that represents the a bar chart scale.
Seven geometric elements. The logo was design to encapsulate the name FOCI within the geometric shapes
The product and icon logo were both modelled in Blender.
The device was built to be physically printable with clean wall thicknesses and tolerances for the port and button recesses. The logo was extruded as a 3D form for product reveal animation and stand display printing at 150mm.
Material is a near black principled BSDF with low roughness the visual equivalent of a premium matte aluminium finish.
Brand Identity
What I learned
Strategy Comes Before Design
Define purpose, mission, and positioning first and then understand the target audience deeply.
Communicate a Feeling
I keep you informed at every stage of the process and provide you regular updates.
Audience is not the Client
The brand must resonate with its audience and personal opinions should be secondary to user insight.
