A Memo on the CAMPFIRE Logo Renewal Project

Hello. I am 623 (@623px), the CAMPFIRE design team manager.

CAMPFIRE released a new service logo and corporate logo in September 2022.

The new logo expresses the connection between all kinds of relationships, such as "project creators and supporters" and "users and CAMPFIRE" in crowdfunding. It also represents the continuity of one flame being passed on to the next.

Previously, the symbol was a direct representation of a "flame," which strongly emphasized meanings like "the passion of the creator." By adding an "&" to it, we now depict both the creator and the supporter, also representing our neutral stance as a platform.

For this project, I was in charge of planning and overall direction. Logo production was handled by Takaya Ota (kern Inc).

It was almost entirely remote from start to release, spanning about a year. Why did we decide to renew the logo? How did we start and proceed with this project within the company? I will look back on the new logo production process!

Rough project overview

There were no clear rules for CAMPFIRE group logos

The origin of this renewal was the realization that there were no clear rules for the logos of CAMPFIRE and its related businesses.

CAMPFIRE aims to further democratize fundraising by increasing the sense of unity within the group moving forward.

In this vision, having consistency in the logos displayed at the forefront of the brand makes it easier for users and stakeholders to recognize that "a certain business or initiative" is an action of the CAMPFIRE brand.

Furthermore, the impressions and emotions felt there are more easily formed as a perception of the entire CAMPFIRE brand, and we can expect synergistic effects between group businesses. To support this growth, we decided to organize things at this timing.

Starting with organizing and sharing the issues

While I personally felt the issues mentioned above, I hadn't clearly verbalized them, so I got support from my superiors to shape them and consulted with the management team.
I also consulted with our representative, Ieiri-san, and everyone recognized the same issues, so I received a generally positive response.

After this, I shared the issues with the in-house designers and Takaya Ota, who handled the logo production this time, and we discussed how to achieve our goals to solidify the project's progress image.

In parallel, I created a presentation document, obtained approval at the management meeting, secured the budget, and got started. (There were many procedures involved in creating contracts and securing the budget, which was exhausting.)

What were the actual opinions within the company?

While we received many opinions saying, "I think this is good!" up to this point, of course, there were not only favorable opinions.

Because CAMPFIRE team members create changes with a sense of speed, they fulfill their roles every day while valuing our mission and the value of our products so as not to lose focus. I wanted to avoid suddenly changing the logo that such members have used with attachment into something they could not feel convinced about.

Voices that are not in favor might feel like hurdles, but they are very important elements in a project. It becomes an opportunity to learn about perspectives I hadn't thought of myself and to concretely understand how members think about the brand.

Instead of capturing this roughly as "opposing opinions," we discussed and aligned things over and over again to "think together" about how they are thinking, how we can create a new logo that they can feel even more attached to, and how we can achieve our goals.

Realizing the passion for the "flame" while brushing up the "&" symbol

In the initial proposal, Takaya-san proposed a plan that would become the basis for the new logo, combining the "&" symbol and the flame.

Actually, at first, we were proceeding with the project under the assumption of unifying the rules without changing the flame motif, but I was convinced by the story of this symbol that is typical of CAMPFIRE and the heavy and straightforward motif, so we decided to explore this direction.

However, in the subsequent brushing-up drafts, many opinions were voiced that we wanted to push the fact that it is a flame to the front a little more. We realized how much we have cherished the motif of flame (FIRE) for 10 years.

It straightforwardly expresses the enthusiasm of "We are going to take on challenges from now on!" and presents the name CAMPFIRE. For CAMPFIRE to be CAMPFIRE, and to clearly show that it is the CAMPFIRE Group, the flame is the motif we want to value the most. I thought it would be good if we could incorporate the essence of "&" into that and express the journey of change.

In this way, the internal project members agreed that they wanted to lean more towards the "flame," but I struggled with how to communicate to Takaya-san what degree of "flame-ness" we were aiming for so that there would be no gap, and how to communicate it.

Holding workshops and interviews

So, what we tried was holding a "flame-ness" alignment workshop among internal designers to bring the gap in our senses to the surface visually.

We prepared a flame-ness meter to try quantifying the "flame-ness" we imagined,

and conversely, we tried visualizing where the boundary is where the "&-ness" feels just right,

and we even tried cutting out parts that look like "&" from images of flickering flames.

Through this workshop, we were able to recognize the gap in each other's senses, and in addition, having internal designers gather and seriously face the logo also led to an increase in motivation.

We summarized this information and conveyed the elements that we feel are flame and & to Takaya-san, and used them as hints for production.

After that, we also asked several internal members who had not yet seen the new logo draft to hear their first impressions and requests, and we proceeded with the awareness of gathering opinions from members who were not involved in the project as much as possible.

(I really wanted to do the method often seen in the logo production process of sticking logo drafts on the office wall and freely soliciting opinions with sticky notes, but since the progress was in an almost full remote environment, the difficulty of creating movement in this area was a difficult point...!)

And the final plan that was decided

This is the proposal that was ultimately selected.

It was impressive to hear multiple members remark upon seeing it, 'I didn't realize you could balance the flame and the & like that.' Even though it uses the same motif, it has a sense of stability with a lower center of gravity and an exquisite flickering quality to the flame, making it feel different from the versions in the refinement process.

Thanks to the members who patiently faced who we are, and to everyone at kern who worked persistently with us time and again, we have created a symbol that feels like CAMPFIRE, both past and future.

Leading up to this, we held a second workshop to make fine adjustments to the silhouette, and we also went through a color selection process.

This workshop was held for the purpose of refining the fine details of the silhouette and hearing the impressions of the symbol that the members expected.

Regarding the logotype / corporate logo, we selected this one from several proposals for the following reasons.

• The appearance, which combines both Gothic and Mincho styles, harmonizes with the symbol.

• The softness, which feels somewhat like a personal touch, is an impression common to the CAMPFIRE Group.

• It strikes a balance between 'sense of security' and 'uniqueness' as a corporate logo.

• The base font is highly versatile.

By combining these symbols and logotypes, the new CAMPFIRE logo mark was completed.

Following this, we will renew the logos for related businesses based on this logo. The project will continue for a while longer, but that is for another time...☺️

In Conclusion

The radical approach of adding another motif to the flame and deciding on that proposal might only have been possible because we commissioned an external designer who could provide an objective perspective.

Through this renewal project, our in-house designers also had the opportunity to engage deeply with the brand. I personally learned a lot about how to propose designs and how to manage projects, and I feel that the logo creation process helped unify our vision for the organization's future growth.

With this new symbol, CAMPFIRE will continue to aim for the democratization of fundraising.

I will close with a list of related articles and links✋ Thank you for reading this far!

■ Project retrospective interview article

■ Report from when I spoke at the rebranding event

■ Logo concept LP released at the time of the launch
(Produced by our in-house designer Osho-san and engineer Hasegawa-san)

■ kern inc. portfolio