Set up in 2004, 7digital provides comprehensive digital download services to a wide range of partners and manages download stores across the globe. 7digital work with Samsung, Research In Motion, HP, Universal Music and EMI, Last.fm and Shazam. In August 2012 7digital’s catalogue reached 20 million tracks. Their mission is to be the world’s leading open digital content platform. With around 500 competitors (and counting), 7digital engaged us to clearly articulate what they stood for and differentiate themselves in this overcrowded space. Their identity needed to be flexible enough to perform across all platforms, and in markets with varying copyright permissions.
Story
After workshops to understand what 7digital are really about and what they stand for, we learned that they are passionate about delivering great content in the right way to their customers, partners and the industry as a whole. 7digital believes in the openness of platforms and providing greater digital freedom. “Digital the right way” became their brand story. It was a way to communicate flexibility and personalisation: the right way is ‘your way’, for partners as well as end-users. Importantly it also conveyed their desire to build an inclusive, sustainable model for the industry that promotes a fair deal for everyone.
We wanted to communicate how 7digital have a much more human approach to the business than competitors do: 7digital are faces not interfaces. They also know what it means to love music because they are passionate fans. To bring out this point of difference, we developed the sign off “Love 7” to communicate ‘With Love From 7digital’ in place of a generic ‘Powered by 7digital’.
System
The previous logo was made up of seven dots to represent the name, but it was apparent that this held little recognition or meaning for their audience. Our ambition was to create a mark that would associate the brand with digital freedom through great technology, and drive brand recognition in their key markets.
The 7 icon reflects the ethos of 7digital: cutting edge and contemporary without appearing unfriendly to the consumer. The bottom half of the icon is a triangle taken from a seven-sided heptagon, reinforcing the name. Clearly defined yet subtle graphic language combined with overlaid, low opacity triangles from the 7-sided heptagon create a subtle watermark effect. The corporate font, Effra is a traditional yet contemporary looking Sans Serif which stands out thanks to its’ clean lines and subtle proportions.
Experience
We worked closely with 7digital’s in-house design team to co-create the brand experience. The nature of our engagement was fully collaborative, bringing the internal team on the journey through strategy development, concept, refinement and design, so the work could continue to be driven internally.
We evaluated all major touchpoints, evaluating their opportunities and creating indicative an look and feel for their website, app, third party platforms and internal communications. We also created a brand book to engage internal audiences with the new 7digital.
