Heydays’ confident visual identity for Heckler reflects their balance of warmth and technicality

Concepted, designed, manufactured, and distributed from its Arizona base, Heckler produce premium work-based telecom products for personal and office spaces – from laptops and tablet mounts to comprehensive AV equipment setups. In need of an identity to demonstrate their elevated, bespoke products, in contrast to more fin-tech-driven brands like Logitech and Zoom, they partnered with Oslo-based design agency Heydays to craft a refined identity led by the mantra; ‘Hardware That Fits.’ 

Taking further influence from the fit, satisfying production and cleanliness of Heckler’s offering, Heydays implemented a systematic approach to the design, establishing aesthetic and typographic rules to create visual and conceptual consistency. This tone extends to Heckler’s powerfully stoic wordmark, crafted with an interlocking motif that exemplifies the quality and construction of the products – supported by a set of bespoke icons that demonstrate the core intentions and offerings of the brand in a crisp, playful and illustrative fashion.  

The aesthetic success of the graphic compositions and the confidence exuded from the brand’s execution comes largely down to the poignant use of typography; with Lineto’s LL Medium appearing as the hero typeface. “The identity needed a grotesque, but the neogrotesques in the Helvetica tradition couldn’t provide the right expression,” Graphic Designer Benjamin Gaupset tells us, looking for the precise balance of human warmth and technical precision. “The type was the central element in building distinctiveness for the client,” Gaupset contextualises, “LL Medium takes its inspiration from the contemporaries of Akzidenz Grotesk,” he adds, “and brings the human touch of the late 1800s into the precise world of digital typography.”

Equally mirroring the refined yet approachable character of the brand, Heydays chose a mostly-monochromatic colour palette; intending to reflect the core qualities of Heckler in as few tones as possible. “The off-white colour was specifically made so as to feel white when browsing the web page for a while,” Gaupset explains, “but clearly lend the warmth and soft touch of a printed page even to the screen.” Alongside this, Heydays also incorporated a selection of vibrant hues in aid of digital functionality, such as the use of cyan within the brand’s UI. “The cyan, used sparingly,” Gaupset concludes, “lends a technical feeling where it’s used,” whilst also ensuring a physical consistency in printed materials.

Heydays

Heckler