Mark

The smallest form a brand can take and still be itself. A mark earns its simplicity; it is what remains after everything unnecessary has been removed.

A mark is what survives compression. Shrink the brand to a favicon, an embroidery, a stamp in blind emboss: whatever still speaks is the mark. It has to hold as pure silhouette, in one colour, at the size of a fingernail, because that is where it will spend most of its life.

Earning simplicity means starting complicated and removing, not starting empty and hoping. Each pass takes away a stroke the form can live without, until the next removal would take the identity with it. The result looks obvious, which is the point: obvious is what memorable feels like from the inside.