Towards a new era of mobility
Client
JIDU
Deliverables
Art Direction
Brand design
Brand platform
Brand strategy
Concept development
Design strategy
Type design
Visual identity
Year
2022
Credits
Brand Director, Helen Hsu
Displaay Type Foundry
CoType Foundry
Tendril
Thais Altès
Studio Johan Alenius
JIDU is a joint EV venture between Geely and Baidu. Geely is a leading car manufacturer and now the owner of many brands, including Volvo, Polestar, Geely Auto, and Lotus. Baidu is a leading AI company at the forefront of internet search and online marketing solutions. The venture fuses the two companies' areas of expertise to create the future of mobility – a combination of cutting-edge engineering and state-of-the-art AI technology.
Our task was to develop a visual identity that embodies the ambitions of this new venture, incorporating the intelligence of machine learning and the vivid urban landscapes of the Chinese metropolis. The pilot car launched mid-2022 and features level 4 autonomy – the highest level of autonomy ever integrated into a car.
About the car
The car features a dual LiDAR autonomous driving system, and is based on Baidu Apollo’s L4 system. It realizes human-vehicle interaction and accurate speech semantic recognition in multiple scenarios, so that cars can “naturally communicate” with people. Based on AI and big data driving, robots will be able to learn and iterate by themselves, and achieve self-development.
The pixel is an integral part of the identity: it both mirrors the digital-first approach and symbolizes data as a foundation for autonomy.
Violet accents the monochromatic palette, representing technological intelligence.
Together with Displaay we developed a bespoke typeface that features the pixel as an element throughout the characters.
A bespoke typeface was needed to establish the brand uniformly throughout all communication. The resulting display typeface has extended proportions, mirroring the style of the wordmark.
To balance the typographic expression, we commissioned CoType to develop a typeface based on Aeonik that could pair with the display typeface and work across all text use.
A bespoke icon set was developed to be used across interfaces. Even in the small details. the pixel can be observed, which makes for a holistic experience.
The many levels of the identity lend themselves to be employed seamlessly between different physical environments.
To explore the aesthetics of advanced technology, we collaborated with Thais Altès to create visualisations on this theme.
