Friendly and future-facing: Bandit Design Group’s Boa identity aims to bring businesses together

“The tech-forward, rounded letterforms of the wordmark convey the relaxed, open and conversational nature of Boa,” Senior Designer & Brand Strategist Alanna Walsh tells us, detailing the decisions behind Bandit Design Group’s identity for Boa – a social network for business owners – and the welcoming, lowercase logomark that leads it. “Boa is a space for business owners to talk openly about the highs and lows of their companies,” Walsh continues, which the Sydney-based studio represented, along with references to business growth and celebrations, within the logomark’s construction. “We wanted it to feel like a safe, grounding, relaxed space to open up,” she explains, “this mark depicts a network or loop of connections.” Continuing the networking theme behind the identity, Bandit Design Group fostered a family of typefaces to represent the variety of businesses and collection of characters across the app’s user base, opting for an eclectic collection including Pangram Pangram’s Neue Montreal, Gascogne from TypeShop, Displaay’s Bagoss and Neue Haas Unica from Toshi Omagari. “The Boa type family was curated to divulge the tech-forward, welcoming, empowering, and personable presence of the brand,” Walsh notes, “and the fonts have each been selected to play a role in appealing to its target audience,” with Neue Montreal championing innovative confidence, Gascogne bringing a personability and friendliness to the identity, Neue Haas Unica offering a powerful self-assurance, and Bagoss “embodying connection, conversation and a touch of fun.” Alongside Boa’s distinctive collection of typefaces, Bandit Design Group introduced a graphic tension between geometric shapes and hand-rendered illustrative motifs, contrasting with the formal structures of typefaces throughout. “The shapes and hand-drawn elements accentuate and bring attention to specific messaging,” Walsh remarks, as well as highlighting keywords across the identity’s output. “The hand-drawn elements bring a relaxed, and relatable energy to the brand,” she continues, “like a business owner waking up in the middle of the night and jotting down a grand idea,” whilst the geometric forms enhance Boa’s messaging. “They are a representation of things you do on the Boa app,” such as sharing, growing, learning and connecting, she details. “The ‘share’ icon visualises the idea of passing something on,” Walsh notes, “‘Grow’ visualises the idea of expanding the mind, ‘Learn’ alludes to the exchange of information,” she continues, “while ‘connect’ visualises the coming together of all business owners,” regardless of “approach, agenda or style.”