Its branding is inspired by qualities key also to the LGBTQIA+ community: fluidity and individuality.
The multidisciplinary designer and partner at design studio Pentagram, Emily Oberman, has taken her creative cue from the flourish of a serif typeface to create a strategy, brand identity and digital design for Serif. The platform aims to be a place where its members can share and collaborate with other users across different industries and experiences, participate in online discussions and events, and build professional, personal and creative networks.
Serif acknowledges that societal evokution is also queer evolution in that where queer people used to gather in bars and drag clubs, a similar space also needs to exist online and not in the overtly romantic and/or sexual way that a dating app may provide. Creating a safe space has always been integral to allowing queer identities to evolve and flourish.
Oberman collaborated closely with Serif founder and CEO Brian Tran to develop the framework and mission of the brand. The visual language followed, centring on a logo with custom typography that morphs and transforms in fluid shapes: such shapes hope to convey actions of convergence which are also highlighted in messaging that describes Serif as “Made for all of us”.
The logo uses the sans serif GT America, from Grilli Type, and Nib (from Colophon) which has idiosyncratic serifs of its own. Pentagram designers extended the logotype to an alphabet with alternates for every letter, in order to express fluidity and individuality. The colours can also be used to personalise user glyphs and highlight different themes around the platform.
