The Citymapper Logo Incorporates Simple Imagery To Capture The Brand’s Identity
Citymapper is a global public transit app and mapping brand that shows people in cities all across the world how best to commute to their given destination. Driving, biking, walking or taking the subway are all options that can be efficiently mapped out for you based on real-time updates within the app interface.
So to truly capture that essence and that brand service, Citymapper went with a logo design that screamed travel — but in a sophisticated, simple and creative way, of course.
This cool and hip logo design embodies the freshness of the brand itself — it was founded in a modern age, and this design and the app overall captures that youthful excitement and modern creativity.
At the center of this design is a tiny, minimal arrow created in a white, eye-catching font. The arrow is pointing to the right, giving it a dynamic nature — almost as if the logo itself is moving. There’s motion here that not only grabs attention but also emulates the physical movement that comes with commuting and travel.
There are two dots in this design as well, one behind the arrow and one in front. This also makes viewers think of transit, and it adds a touch of classiness to the design that elevates it — these additional shapes add a cohesiveness and a completeness to the logo. It isn’t just an arrow, but a fully-functioning design with an impact and a purpose behind it.
And this image works beautifully paired with the green background it's set against.
Overall, this is an image that affects you in its simplicity, elegance and straightforward nature. It’s a basic shape after all — an arrow which is a common image matched with two circles which are equally run-of-the-mill. But it comes with a message and embodies the brand so succinctly that we can’t help but call this a clear winner.
Citymapper’s Bright Green Color Captures The Energetic Essence Of Travel
The second piece of this creative logo design puzzle is the color choice. A bright white and a captivating green are integrated into this design seamlessly, creating an image that jumps from the screen.
And green was a smart choice — it not only gives off an air of sophistication, trustworthiness and wealth, but it also evokes thoughts of transit, movement and travel as a result of its similarities to the greens used on traffic lights and signs.
Green is a powerful color, especially in design, and it comes with a host of exciting and tantalizing emotions. It’s a rich color full of class and elegance, but it's equally playful, fun and engaging. And its resemblance to common travel icons, images and signs align the brand as a whole as one that has a good grasp of its industry and what its users want.
Color is impactful. Color grabs attention. Color can easily make or break your design. So you have to use it well — and Citymapper does just that.
Citymapper’s Logo And Branding Across Mediums
The Citymapper logo is instantly recognizable due to its bright coloring, simple white lines and basic shaping. And this identity is cleverly infused across the Citymapper platform — it’s used as the app icon itself, and it lives inside the app and on the desktop platform. But it’s more than just this use of imagery that is compelling — it’s the identity as a whole that is powerfully infused into every aspect of the brand.
That signature bright green color is used throughout the app. It makes up the background of the interface, the desktop platform and marketing materials. This green has become synonymous with the transportation app and it’s an invigorating, enchanting color that immediately pulls you in and makes you think of travel.
Color is a great way to establish brand identity, and choosing such a bright and charismatic color is sure to turn heads, leaving a lasting impression on your audience — and one that is likely full of hopefulness and excitement.
Similarly, the white etching that you see in the form of an arrow on the logo is also seen in little, bubbly and simple illustrations of people used throughout the app.
Each city gets its own smiling, inviting personality that is created in these eye-catching images. And the way these designs are also made up of basic shapes, capturing a youthful and excited essence — and using the bright, white coloring as its base — further promotes the brand in its entirety across mediums.
What Is Citymapper?
Citymapper is a public transit app that maps out cities across the world and gives users real-time updates on bus, train and subway schedules. Whether commuters are driving, walking, biking, Ubering or taking a train, the Citymapper app is here to tell them how long it will take, when to leave and when they’ll arrive across a variety of transit route options.
All of this data comes from open databanks and user-generated content to ensure that it's trustworthy, authentic and up-to-date. And it’s been growing in popularity for years. It started with only one city stronghold in London and is now available in over 35 cities across the globe.
Its biggest competitor is Google Maps, but even that isn’t slowing the brand down.
The transport app was founded in 2011, and seven years later it has become a leader in the industry, with the app beginning to make a profit in early 2017.
But outside of its financial history, Citymapper is a brand dedicated to safer, more efficient travel — and it prides itself on “making cities usable:”
Cities are complicated. We use the power of mobile and open transport data to help humans survive and master them. We’re also reinventing the bus for the smart city era. First we reinvented the transport app.The award winning transport app, built for the real world of commuters and their daily needs. Live in 39 cities. Now we're reinventing transport itself. Using mobility data from our app, we’re running our own responsive transport services and on-demand fleet management.
Citymapper has a dedicated following, and it continues to add innovative and exciting features to its app to help further transform public transit from city to city across the globe. If the app isn’t available in a given city, users can vote to have their city added — that’s how all of the cities on the app started out, and it’s obvious the brand wants to grow its reach.
Another addition to the roster is “Smart Ride” which operates in London. It’s a hybrid between a bus and a cab and helps commuters get to their destinations in a kind of ride-sharing way. This is a huge step for the brand and one they want to integrate into other cities going forward.
And thanks to its logo design, it’s visual identity is one that will help it with that forward motion.
What Makes The Citymapper Logo So Effective?
The Citymapper logo is so effective because it packs so much into such a clean, simple and basic symbol.
Made up of an arrow with two dots on either side, the Citymapper logo grabs attention thanks to its bright, white imagery set against a lime green background. The color itself is enough to attract your gaze, but it's also an image that really captures what the brand is all about and promotes its authority in a stunning and creative way.
Citymapper is a brand that helps users find reliable transportation in cities across the world. It shows users how long it will take them to get from point A to point B and gives them access to all possible route options — ride-sharing included.
This public transit and mapping app sure packs a punch, and its logo design helps to get it there.
The arrow gives this design movement — this design is dynamic in that respect and shows forward propulsion. It’s a brand that can get you where you need to go with ease, eliminating the frustration that normally comes with public transit and apps designed to track when buses and trains are due to arrive.
And the two white dots add a touch of minimalism and modernity, creating a brand identity that is fresh, sleek and consumer-focused. It’s a brand that’s in touch with its audience and you can see that through their dedication to creating a design that is approachable to young audiences.
And the choice to go with the color green in particular is telling — especially this tone. It’s a color that looks much like the green traffic lights, further showing users that this is a brand that understands travel innately. The color green also gives off feelings of strength, confidence and authority — meaning users are more likely to trust a brand that uses this color because of the feelings and opinions it evokes.
All in all, the Citymapper logo is a delicate and creative symbol that captures the brand and its purpose with ease and efficiency. And it looks good while it does it.
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