Designer: Michael Ulrich

Western Iowa Networks (WIN) is a telecommunications company offering local and long-distance telephone services, internet, cable and cellular services. WIN’s current logo and acronym share similarities with AOL (triangle) and Windows (Win).

“Two main ways to market services and goods are to point out the differences between yourself and the market leader or to stress the similarities,” says DG creative director Michael Ulrich. “The age-old marketing trick of mimicking a well-respected market leader’s colors, look or style to benefit from the positive aura can be used to one’s advantage if done correctly—meaning legally.”

Denise Webber, marketing assistant for WIN, wanted to see the logos for their WINspeed and WINAccel products redesigned. WIN, as Ulrich notes, is able to take advantage of AOL’s marketing efforts via a similar look and feel. “For the redesign, I chose to clean up, or redraw, the triangle, not replace it,” says Ulrich. He recommends dropping the WIN inside the triangle—forever. He says, “A consistent look and message is key to reaching and educating existing and potential customers. That’s what I’ve tried to design: a simple logo for the company that can be used on the sub-brands WINspeed and WINAccel.”

Ulrich selected a sans serif, as it looks more modern and fits a communications/technology company better. “I used Alinea Incise because it has four weights and a small caps version. It’s not as cold, inhuman or machine-like as a straight sans serif.”

The company’s corporate colors, Pantone Reflex Blue and Pantone Orange 21, are incorporated into the redesign, reinforcing the brand. “As is often the case with a redesign, the problem the client wants solved is not the problem that we think needs to be solved. WIN wants two outdated logos redesigned using the new corporate colors—which is doable—but we see a larger problem that needs addressing—consistency,” says Ulrich.

To distinguish the company from AOL, Ulrich avoided using blue in the triangle, and he recommends using the vertical orange bars consistently in the logo to differentiate WIN from Windows.

1. Original logo
Western Iowa Networks (WIN) currently doesn’t have consistent branding for the many products it offers.

2. Redesign
DG creative director Michael Ulrich says, “Even though it’s long, I like the name Western Iowa Networks. It instantly communicates the business and region. The acronym WIN—which is perfectly valid—could be confused with the ubiquitous Win abbreviation for anything Windows. But branding and education can keep the confusion down.”

3. Fonts
WIN marketing assistant Denise Webber requested a modern, hip font that isn’t too edgy. Ulrich answered with Alinea Incise. He suggests the company write the names as “WINspeed and WINAccel” with WIN all uppercase, speed lowercase italic and Accel initial cap only.

4. Colors
Ulrich maintained WIN’s corporate colors. These are paired with either black or brown in print ads.