Yale was first known for making bank vault locks—the company has been making locks since 1840—but today it also makes home alarms, home-view cameras, and other digital products that make peoples’ lives and properties more secure. GW+Co undertook the challenge of making visible the modern capabilities of this historic company.
The design team began with Yale’s existing yellow-dot logo, transforming it into a warm, sun-like symbol, adding a glow through the use of color gradients. The new logo always sits at the brightest point in the gradient.
A Creative Review article describes the development of a new brand mascot: “GW+Co also developed a new illustrated brand mascot called Linus, based on the original founder’s son Linus Yale Jr, who was responsible for making his father’s pin-tumbler lock design suitable for mass production in the early 1860s. ‘We were looking for an element that could both make this point and add a touch of lightness,’ says [GW+Co principal Gilmar] Wendt. ‘As the inventor of the cylinder lock, Linus Yale Jr. has played a key role in the history of home security.’”
The new identity will be rolled out inhouse first, and then out into the wider consumer community later in 2020.