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Branding

When Jeselle and I first started at Uguru, we were tasked with redesigning the logo and branding. We decided to make a mascot to represent the Uguru tutor - a character that students could identify with and would serve as logo, icon, and even tour guide for the rest of the app.

The original logo and color scheme

We started out by defining the guru mascot’s personality and attributes. The mascot would be gender-neutral to appeal to a number of different kinds of users, which meant throwing out the traditional stereotype of the bald, bearded guru. They would also need to be young and trendy enough to fit in at a college campus while still retaining the wisdom and knowledge base needed to teach others.


Eventually, we settled on a design that took ideas from both of our sketches. I vectored this final hand-drawn draft in Sketch.


The next step was iterating on the physical attributes. The clothes would be different based on where the guru mascot was being used, so we tried out different hairstyles, glasses, and facial features.


Jeselle took these iterations and came up with the final version of the guru. She adjusted the arms and legs for easier animation and settled on a final color scheme.


We came up with a number of different versions of the guru. Safari-themed Tour Guru would guide you around the app and how to use it; Sheriff Guru might be present when presenting the Terms of Service. Jeselle would research and come up with the different guru personalities and costumes; I would give feedback and prep the final SVG versions for animation and use in the app.


Later on, we came up with a costume switcher so we could easily mix and match outfits for the guru. The theme for this switcher was professional and intern gurus. Jeselle and I collaborated and each made three or four different outfits.