Aplo
Role: Brand Identity Designer
Date: October 2019
Course: Brand and Identity Design at Swinburne University of Technology
Client: Aplo
For this unit, our assignment was to create a complete brand identity for either an example client or a real client. This was the perfect opportunity for me to brand Aplo, a startup my friend Nikolas Winters founded. Aplo is an education technology company that focuses on connecting experienced tutors and high school students for real-time essay writing aid. In the process, I also helped guide the company’s direction, market research, and features to focus on.
COMPLETED: 64 page spread brand book in three parts: Brand Research, Brand Concept, and Brand Documentation. All copy and designs are my own, unless otherwise noted.
Mission Statement
Aplo is an education technology company that aims to provide an easier, more affordable solution to academic excellence. We connect experienced tutors with high school students to provide quality, timely feedback on their writing, thus accelerating students’ progress and getting them a step ahead.
Our mission is to make personalized tutoring accessible for all.
Final Brandmark Rationale
The loop in the final brandmark is the proofreading shorthand for “take out/delete” and has two purposes: to bring into the play the creation of Aplo as the company’s name —Aplo is a shortened version of Apollo, the Greek god of knowledge and wisdom (essentially “taking out” some letters in the full word)— and to incorporate something industry-related (marks typically used in editing and writing). The arrow points up to emphasize improvement and advancement, two of Aplo’s brand values.
The typeface used for Aplo is Lexend Deca, a Google font created to improve reading proficiency. The use of Lexend Deca embraces the brand value of accessibility.
