The original design uses 60% transparencies of the brand colours, which effectively gives the impression of six different shades of orange and yellow.

The original colour palette possessed some redundant greys. They were separate to the primary palette and when combined with the blues, created an opposing feel alongside warmer colours. 

We removed the orange and took the brand towards the yellow. However, this still left us with those greys and blues, and that unnatural balance between the core brand colours and the secondary palette.

To resolve this, we opted for the confident palette of three colours (above) used in a combination of ways. More effective than the original palette, it now has a better balance and can include white or multiple tones of the core three colours when developing the likes of illustrative style, for example.

To maintain consistency, we considered keeping Gotham but used in a slightly bolder way; condensing the kerning and leading to allow characters to be bigger within the same space as before.

However, we preferred Varela Round. It's bolder again and has the rounded edges to give the typeface a warmer, friendlier character. It also contrasts nicely with the harder edges of the icon.

We’ve taken the simplified option from before and looked to create a simple icon with basic colour contrast.

Used on the dark blue and in white: The dark blue offers a rich contrast and adds a real quality feel to the brand. We could easily see ZCF's icon become known for being set on the blue with the yellow as the highlight. That said, the yellow does also provide a strong contrast to the white background while maintaining its brand colourway.