Circle U is an internal education initiative within Circle Internet Financial that aims to enhance employee awareness surrounding the history of cryptocurrency and Circle's interaction in the space today. Circle employees may use the Circle U platform to learn and enroll in variety of asynchronous or instructor-led courses.
Creative Exploration
Initial Circle U logos played off of both university iconography and Circle's logo mark in a variety of ways to ensure Circle U stayed within Circle's brand guidelines while differentiating it from other internal programs. Collaboration with team members produced a variety of initial university-inspired looks. The Circle logo was also iterated on to form a "U" shape. This would help the Circle U mark maintain readability on smaller scales, including as as Slack emoji or favicon.
Design Solutions
Circle University's logo and iconography needed to work within Circle's existing visual language while remaining recognizable as a separate internal education program. Through collaborative sessions, the branding elements of Circle's logo and the ways they may translate into a Circle U mark were thought through, including the ways in which gradients, open versus closed shapes, and the relationship between "U" and "you" could be utilized. An open-ended U design that alludes to personal growth while playing off of Circle's logo was ultimately chosen by the team.
The logo was then placed in a variety of mockups, including full-color lockups on light gradient backgrounds and white lockups on saturated backgrounds. The simple shape remained scalable and durable in a variety of conditions, including as an animated gif.
