TL;DR
I was having random conversations with a colleague - Tunbosun, on Facebook's rebrand to Meta and we got talking about how brands can be represented and stay consistent in a Metaverse. I don't say much about how in this article, but I hope I get to capture our thoughts that day, enough to get everyone else talking.
1. I think Meta's Brand Identity is genius
Will your customers be able to identify your brand in the metaverse?
Meta's brand identity somehow remains well thought out, consistent, and recognizable within a virtual space. For a company that will be leaders in this space, I will say they understood the assignment, and this realization must have been part of what made a rebrand necessary. The logo perfectly allows for a generation of multiple variants to fit a lot of contexts and scenarios, while remaining true to the brand and part of the overall logo system. This is a big part of what makes a good logo.
2. How well will 2-dimensional Identities today transcend into a 3D space?
I cannot wait to see this happen. Can you try to visualize? Google, Tinder, Apple. I know you can already think of a quick fix - extrude, but what happens when you view the logo from the top, bottom, sides? You will most likely see an unrecognizable rectangle.
It is safe to say virtual and augmented reality experiences are getting more accessible and affordable by the year. The VR ecosystem is becoming richer with content and value and we can speculate that experiences like these can become part of our everyday life someday, especially with inflexion points like the oculus quest and Facebook becoming Meta. Everyone will need to be here someday.
3. There are some people who are way ahead of their time in Nigeria
Da Design studios' work for cowrywise is ahead of its time. At a time where there are so many 2D brand identities with no 3D expressions, this is refreshing to look at.
4. Will your brand remain easily consistent in the Metaverse?
Say we eventually get to a point where VR experiences are the norm, the way mobile experiences are today, can you visualize how your brand will transcend into a higher dimension, without breaking character? Motion became a big part of how logos and brands are expressed. Multi-dimensional representations will unavoidably be. I feel more brand designers need to actively begin to explore representations of their work in 3-dimensional spaces.