--- title: Long names. Complicated symbols. Simplification. Logo redesign · Design Academy url: https://rt.md/en/academia/micb/ description: An imaginary rebrand: MoldIndConBank → MICB. Geometry on a grid, fewer shapes, more consistency. alternate: RO: https://rt.md/academia/micb/ source: RT Design Studio, https://rt.md (contact: mail@rt.md) --- [← Design Academy](https://rt.md/en/academia/) Case study · Identity · 24 January 2020 · 3 min read # Long names. Complicated symbols. Simplification. Logo redesign. The exercise We are going to do an imaginary rebrand of MoldIndConBank. What we have now is a logo made of a graphic symbol and the name. [Citește studiul în română →](https://rt.md/academia/micb/) ![MICB - simplifying the logo](https://rt.md/academia/assets/micb/01.png) There was a time in Moldova when companies were given names built from abbreviated words, and the result was a company name that was… looong. Same with graphic symbols… the more elements, the better it seemed. The “richer”. ![The current MoldIndConBank logo](https://rt.md/academia/assets/micb/02.png) ## The name What can be done here? Well, we have two options: - Come up with an abbreviation - MICB, for example - Start a naming process We will go with the abbreviation MICB, obviously. Because who knows where a naming process might take us… ## The symbol That leaves the graphic symbol, and here we look at how we could work on an evolution of it. We notice that the symbol has already been through one round of simplification: ![Earlier simplifications of the symbol](https://rt.md/academia/assets/micb/03.png) Now let us see what observations we can make. A quick look at the geometry. ![Analysis of the symbol’s geometry](https://rt.md/academia/assets/micb/04.png) Besides the relative complexity, there is also a lack of consistency. On the one hand, symmetry is attempted to achieve something visually balanced; on the other, elements of different stroke weights and masses are applied. Too different. They will get lost at small sizes. And if we look at proximity, the distances between the elements vary too. The colours are the ones found in the national tricolour. Primaries. That was probably the original intention. A few useful things about colour: [On colour in designYouTube video · loads from youtube.com when you press play](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2LLXnUdUIc) We will keep the same colours. But before colour, let us work on the geometry a little. ## The geometry We start with a grid with an odd number of columns (we will use the centre column for symmetry). Say, 7 columns. We draw a circle 7 columns in diameter and a second one of 5. When we subtract the second circle from the first, and then cut a horizontal band one column high through the middle, from edge to edge, we arrive at the following. We add a little colour and get the most simplified graphic form that still shares enough features with the current symbol. ![The construction on a 7-column grid](https://rt.md/academia/assets/micb/05.png) Now we very subtly try to add the extra semicircles. ![Adding the semicircles](https://rt.md/academia/assets/micb/06.png) And now let us see where we end up if we add the wordmark as well: ![Symbol + the MICB wordmark](https://rt.md/academia/assets/micb/07.png) Here, again, we try to carry the stroke weights of the letters into the symbol to add consistency. We add colour. ![Colour version 1](https://rt.md/academia/assets/micb/08.png) ![Colour version 2](https://rt.md/academia/assets/micb/09.png) ## Would the hypothetical logo do its job better? - it is simpler (it has fewer geometric shapes) - it is more consistent in size and proximity (so easier to perceive and friendlier) - it is easy to recognise next to the logos of other Moldovan banks - it keeps the same colour palette ![MICB - before and after](https://rt.md/academia/assets/micb/10.png) **So we see that more complicated does not always mean better. Quite the opposite.** Every element or shape has to have a meaning, and the ones that do not - we leave out. And that is about it for this exercise. Postscript · 2026 Originally published on Medium in January 2020, as part of the Design Academy series - educational case studies on local Moldovan brands. Republished here, in the rt.md archive, with no changes to the content. The same philosophy continues today through the [Lending a Hand](https://rt.md/en/umarul/) initiative - redesigns sent free of charge to the institutions and companies building digital Moldova. Up next - [ Jan 2020 Logo ### Construction company Part two: differentiation Three directions: explain everything, negative space, or type alone. Which one truly identifies? ](https://rt.md/en/academia/basconslux-2/) - [ Jan 2020 Logo ### Construction company Part one: execution Sketches, symbol, typeface, composition. And why good execution is not enough. ](https://rt.md/en/academia/basconslux-1/) [All studies](https://rt.md/en/academia/#studii) Contact ## See it differently? Disagree, add to it or suggest a brand for the next study. We always answer email. [Write to us: mail@rt.md](mailto:mail@rt.md)