SIMPLEX SOLUTIONS: Uses a new logo to kick start its IPO, and launch a transforming technology

A use of identity, by a leader

New: the Simplex logo, nicknamed "The Slasher"

Launched: April, 2001

Story in brief:
This tester of integrated circuit 'chips' was at a crossroads, about to go public and then launch cutting edge technology that would reposition Simplex as a designer of faster/better chips, not merely an evaluator. CEO Herscher sought a stronger logo to carry the IPO, and signal change.

Credits:
C.E.O. - Penny Herscher, with C.O.O. Aki Fujimura and communications officer Janet Greene
Strategic counsel - Janet Beach of U.S. Marketing Services
Identity design - The Ideas Group

First Impressions:
I first noticed this elegant wordmark in a new-issue tombstone ad because it stood out from the crowd; the more I heard about its content, the more brilliant the design solution seems. It turns out that the new technology, called X Architecture, permits "pervasive use of diagonal routing" of circuits on a chip, shortening the routes and generally speeding things up. The logo's slashes thus illustrated the key product benefit...weeks before the product itself was launched.