MacAuthority

Nashville, Tennessee based retailer MacAuthority, the 3rd-largest member of a nationwide elite class of independent certified Apple Specialists, embarked on a quest to update their previous logo in May of 2011. After years of service, the original logo had become dated in many ways.

Careful research and development over a period of several months was combined with a sometimes-complicated balance between Apple's requirements and the desire of the company to firmly establish its own identity outside the shadow of Apple, to produce a new identity that is current, aesthetically sound, and pragmatic.

The new identity places focus on the strong red/black contrast synonymous with the brand, while overcoming various challenges to keep trademark elements intact. New to this effort was the inclusion of a usable "icon" - which did not exist in the prior assets. This was accomplished by the placement of a green "wedge" atop an apple-core-shaped "i" - visually cueing a "leaf" in the layout. The wedge serves as a key iconic shape to be used in a variety of applications such as price callouts, paper stock cuts, and graphic layouts.

In the age of "i" (iMac, iPad, iTunes), the embracing of a specialized "i" ties the brand to this well-established consumer electronics prefix.

Based on Apple's body font, Myriad, the logotype of MacAuthority has been entirely custom-crafted with various congruencies created deliberately - such as the perfect circle "o" and "c" and the "h" and "n". Letter ascenders sport the brand's new hallmark - an 18.75-degree angle.

The former mantra of the brand: "More Mac Stuff" was replaced with the more flexible "To the core" - which may be preceded with a variety of words and phrases, or stand alone as the brand's identity.

Adoption continues as the company deploys new attire, collateral, advertising, and even architectural features.