Li3ib, a Kuwait-based sports event booking app, has received a suitably dynamic brand refresh from design studio Hondo.Studio, which was commissioned by Kuwaiti advertising agency Beattie+Dane to give the brand a comprehensive makeover.
Li3ib’s branding contained remnants from its past as a football booking platform, so the sports app needed a new identity that would encompass a wide range of sports facilities and attract all sportspeople, from casual sports enthusiasts to serious athletes with a rigorous schedule.
Since “Li3ib” is written using a phonetic variant of Arabic where numbers replace letters that do not appear in the English alphabet, the sports app also wanted to use an iconography-based tool to make Li3ib a symbol beyond its name.
Maria Vioque and Fran Méndez of Hondo.Studio were responsible for design and art direction, developing a design system that aligns the app’s digital functionality with the social aspect of the sport, which Li3ib has since implemented on its website, app, social media and advertising in Kuwait.
The brand’s original green has been retained in a palette of baby pink, forest green, bright red and emerald green, complemented by complementary colors that exude energy or calm depending on the activity.
The playful (but professional) design system revolves around a new logo that works seamlessly in Arabic and English (a nod to Kuwait’s bilingual culture) and bends up, down and around to form a series of charming, cartoonish mascots participating in various sporting activities.
The ornate cartoons are accompanied by inspirational lines that demonstrate the app’s user-friendliness, such as “Every game starts here,” “Seamless training,” and “Immerse yourself, relieve stress.”
With shifting strokes and bouncing movements, the graphics switch effortlessly between Arabic and English. Commercial Type’s neo-grotesque Graphik font appears in all visual elements of the brand refresh.
Abstract graphics layered to suggest movement bring Li3ib’s versatile logo and shape-shifting flourishes to life.
hondo.studio
