Forging a recognizable brand

I’m good at squares. In fact, I’m better than good at squares. I’m fantastic at squares. It’s a shape I find aesthetically pleasing and emotionally soothing – you can always rely on a square to put everything into a nice, organized box.

When Forge Institute was created in 2018, a square logo made sense. I designed it myself. It was self-contained, simple, and looked good enough on the corner of a press release or stamped into a coffee mug. Many brands have been well-served with a square logo, but for some reason, ours just didn't feel right. Plus, we needed one and I only had 5 minutes in between projects…

But as Forge and its mission began to take shape, it became unsettlingly evident to me that ours was not an organization that can be neatly boxed. Our offerings are too unique. Our goals are reached by infinite pathways. What started as a workforce cyber training institute evolved into an organization with a much broader scope. In addition to widening our training, we launched research and mentoring programs, engaged in strategic partnerships with government agencies, developed an Emerging Threat Center, and became a leading voice in data security and tech economic development. 

Our branding needed to represent our new role in this expanding universe. I couldn’t make this transformation alone. I reached out to Stature, a design company headed by Kyle Floyd, who is well-practiced at deriving meaning from shape. I had worked with Kyle in the past and had first hand experience of his unique ability to creatively transform a founder’s thoughts into stunning visual representations. When we met, I gave him all the direction I thought he’d possibly need: Make it bold and impactful.

Considering the purely objective nature of my request, Stature delivered a first-round of concepts that brought clarity to the Forge brand.

Working with Stature opened a number of windows that looked beyond iconography. For example, Stature took a deep dive into the power of color. The blue hue was largely my recommendation, but it didn’t really feel unique to Forge until Kyle introduced the color orange – one that, to us, represented urgency and action. And of course, for those with a trained eye it wasn’t just blue or orange, but the right blue and the right orange that distinguishes Forge as a true blooded member of the cybersecurity community.

Typeface was equally as important. We requested a font that would be as appealing on a mark as it would be clear and useful as one used for a press release or a Powerpoint presentation. I wanted unity – I may have pulled myself free of the square, but I still wanted practicality and order. 

What was most essential was symbolism. I wanted our symbol to be interpretable at a glance. It needed to communicate with military clarity, yet also be recognizable and approachable to the citizen sector.  The Anvil was the choice that represented us well – the tool by which a number of elements are combined into something stronger. Stature simplified an object that is universally recognized and stripped it to its most basic form. The result is an icon that projects power while also triggering the imagination.

In the days that followed, we considered and rejected a number of approaches. Stature absorbed the feedback and delivered revisions. When the design was settled, Stature next constructed a suite of marks in a variety of shapes and formats, enabling us to seamlessly integrate our new mark into everything.

Like all good design, the subtle meanings behind every element becomes a story in and of itself. For example, the six-side honeycomb pattern represents our six core values. The pattern the honeycomb creates is a nod to a trait common to most members of the cybersecurity community – the innate ability to discern even the tiniest inconsistency from what should be a well-ordered ecosystem. To me, the hexagon pattern is the “Fabric of Forge,” one that represents order and protection and can be appreciated by everyone from high level mathematicians and data scientists to the person imbued with only the most basic IT training. 

Today, Forge Institute is represented by a mark that tells a visual summation of the Forge story. It is both recognizable with the Forge name as it is functioning on its own as a stamp the entire cyber community can both recognize immediately and respect. With it brings a confident professionalism that Forge Institute needs to open doors and launch conversations. The project was a complete success.