Back Market

Back Market is here to help change the way the world buys tech by reducing e-waste and promoting sustainability. They do this by refurbishing devices and making them accessible to consumers at a price point up to 70% less than the cost of brand new. Studio Herrström and Vucko partnered with Back Market’s In-House agency to rethink the brand’s visual identity with sustainability and device lifecycles top of mind.

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Sustainable by Design: The Heart of Back Market’s Visual Identity

Studio Herrström and Back Market’s In-House Design Team led by Sr. Lead Art Director, Victor Antonelli, defined the visual identity and design system. This foundation set the stage for a cohesive and impactful brand presence that reflects Back Market's values.

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In our early conversations with Back Market, we observed how they had evolved as a company and now needed to evolve their visual brand to keep pace with their growth. Their brand personality embodies optimism, exists as a challenger to big tech, and balances an offbeat yet premium aesthetic. 

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We set out to craft a new identity that resonates with these attributes and effectively communicates their essence through brand and product communications, packaging, photography, illustrations, and partnership engagements. We took a holistic approach to redefine the visual world for the brand that aims to set new standards for the world we live in.

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Bringing Circularity to Life: Motion Design

We all move differently, and the same holds true for brands. The way a brand moves is critical to brand ownership and expression, offering innovative companies like Back Market a key opportunity to differentiate. To maximize the impact of Back Market’s new identity, Vucko, in partnership with Back Market In-House agency, created a motion system that adds a new dimension to communicate what the company stands for. 

Inspired by circular tech and the circular economy, a sweeping revolving motion is at its core, lending heightened meaning to messaging, imagery and beyond. Paired with animated patterns, typography and other key brand elements, this system gives Back Market a distinctive foundation for building consistent, compelling brand experiences in today’s attention economy.

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Simplifying the Purchase of Refurbished Tech

We set out to make the Back Market identity feel as effortless as purchasing their refurbished tech — with the click of a button. We redrew the logotype to enhance clarity and approachability, ensuring that it communicates ease and modernity.

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Emphazising Circularity and Lifecycles

We introduced circular patterns in the design to symbolize revival, lifecycles, and circularity. These patterns are integral to illustrating the ongoing process of tech rejuvenation that Back Market champions.

Motion played a crucial role in amplifying this message through animation: the revolving logo provides an immediately comprehensive link between the Back Market brand and their mission to promote circularity in tech. 

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Communicating Optimism and Movement

To complement the circular motifs, we incorporated diagonal patterns. These graphics are designed to convey optimism and movement in the right direction, seamlessly connecting with the Back Market “chevron.” This dynamic visual language reinforces the progressive and forward-thinking ethos of the brand. In motion, patterns reinforce this optimistic feeling with outward radial movements and bursts of energy.

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Bringing the Color Palette to Life

Evolving from the existing black and white scheme, we identified a new color palette that brings vibrancy and life to the brand. By integrating gradients, we injected a fresh and dynamic feel into the colors, reflecting renewal and energy.

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Typography that Differentiates from Big Tech

We chose a friendly and warm tone for the typography by leaning into Letters of Sweden’s Ivar Soft to make the brand more approachable and human. This choice of typography was also made to create a more humanistic feeling in contrast to many of the sans serifs used by major tech companies. This was paired with a geometric sans serif, Duplet Open by Indian Type Foundry, to align with our circularity theme, creating a harmonious and coherent visual identity.

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An Activistic Counterpart

Passion is at the core of everything Back Market does, and with the ambition of getting the message across with a bit more attitude, we also helped create a graphic style that’s more direct, on point, and with clear statements that can be used in a more activistic manner.

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Global Artistic Collaboration

To bring the rebrand to life, we identified our brand image characteristics of being confident, optimistic, human, and authentic and fostered collaborations with artists from around the world. This collaborative approach enriched Back Market’s visual world, emphasizing the global and inclusive nature of their mission to promote circularity in tech.

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