Back Market’s rebrand lets the tech disruptor do what it does best, “but with a bit more attitude”

Since 2014, Back Market has been redefining our relationship with tech through its range of refurbished electronics and appliances. The brand, which has been championing circularity and offering a more sustainable option to buy and enjoy tech products was looking to refresh its identity, which felt a bit limiting in its ability to capture the brand’s evolution. Rasmus Wängelin, in collaboration with Studio Herrström and Back Market’s in-house design team, led by Sr. Lead Art Director Victor Antonelli, defined the visual identity and design system, while Vucko crafted its motion language.

The idea was to help Back Market do what it does best, “but with a bit more attitude,” says Erik Herrström, Founder & Creative Director of Studio Herrström. “We also helped create a graphic style that’s more direct, on point, and with clear statements that can be used in a more activistic manner.” The new visual direction helps Back Market’s brand to flex in more ways than before, lending it a broader range of expression.

Led by the Back Market in-house team, each of the members brought their unique understanding of the brand and the industry to the table, adding and riffing off of each other’s ideas. “Erik and I have built a strong working synergy over more than a decade of collaboration, and we’ve also worked with Vucko on numerous occasions,” says Wängelin. “This established trust and collaboration and allowed us to hit the ground running and stay deeply connected, even though we’re based in different parts of the world.”

One of the first things the team tackled was refining the wordmark, realising that it didn’t need an overhaul, but an update. The ‘arrow,’ which was previously linked with the ‘k’ was pulled out from the brand name and given its own place. “The refined wordmark, now decoupled from the arrows, really provided us with an opportunity to add narrative through motion. The arrows act as a catalyst, leading the wordmark in a circular motion – inspired by circular tech,” says Vucko’s Founder & Creative Director Andrew Vucko. This motion language is a defining feature of the rebrand, adding another layer of meaning through the swift, circular movements, which the team arrived at after multiple iterations.

“Early options focused on a backwards push from right to left, a natural place to start. But Back Market isn’t about looking backwards – they’re actually a very forward-thinking company! They’re innovative,” Vucko tells us. “They’re renewing tech, and have a huge role to play in a circular economy. It became clear that the logo needed to show that circularity.”

This central idea was strengthened by other elements, such as the use of circular patterns across the board and the team’s selection of “the round and geometric sans Duplet Open by Indian Type Foundry to tie our typography back to the circularity that’s reflected in the brand values and patterns,” adds Herrström. Antonelli from Back Market curated a group of emerging artists to create a suite of illustrations. These artworks added a fresh dose of life to the brand while embodying how we nourish circularity in the tech industry.

And finally, each of these elements was strung together with motion, which both united the new identity and gave Back Market control over how they used the brand contextually. “We developed multiple animated versions of the logo, type treatments, patterns and beyond – some are more dynamic, and others more functional. This means Back Market can pull different levers in different contexts, putting more of the focus on messaging, brand, or product images as needed,” explains Vucko. The team created motion guidelines – handing the reins of the new brand to Back Market – ensuring that all elements behaved harmoniously, and just as they should.