Draft written from the Beyond Labels brand notes. Damilola to check the construction details and add the logo drawings.
How the Beyond Labels logomark grew from two everyday shapes and the golden ratio.
Plain-language summary
The Beyond Labels logo is made from two shapes. One is the round shape of a wheelchair tyre. The other is the curve of a bridge. I used a maths rule called the golden ratio to decide their sizes, so the logo looks balanced.
A logomark has to do a lot in a very small space. For Beyond Labels, I wanted it to carry the whole idea of the brand without spelling it out.
Two shapes with a meaning
The mark is built from two forms.
A wheelchair tyre. A circle is the simplest shape there is, and a tyre is one of the most everyday objects in many disabled people's lives. I wanted it present, not hidden, but treated as a plain, confident shape rather than a symbol of limitation.
A bridge arc. A bridge connects two sides. It stood for the brand's promise: moving past the label to the person, and connecting the wearer's story with whoever is reading it.
Together they say: this is where you are, and this is where you are going.
Why the golden ratio
Two shapes can easily look like two separate things. To make them feel like one mark, I sized and placed them using the golden ratio, roughly 1 to 1.618.
I used it as a tool for balance, not as magic. The ratio gave me a consistent rule for the relationship between the circle and the arc, and for the space around them. Each time I was tempted to adjust by eye, I checked against the grid. That discipline is what makes a small mark hold together when it is printed on a garment label, shown on a phone or blown up on a poster.
Add the construction drawing: the circle, the arc and the golden ratio grid, with alt text describing how they relate.
A system, not just a logo
The same logic carried through the rest of the identity: the app interface, the consumer journey and the poster campaign. When a brand is built on one clear idea, every piece can be checked against it.
That is the habit I take from this project into every brief. Build a system, not an object.
Damilola to add: one thing you would change about the mark now.
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