Last month, the Roundpeg team took part in Startup Weekend, Indianapolis.  This was an intensive, weekend event, in which 57 strangers came together, and formed seven companies by Sunday night.

Much of the early part of the weekend was spent brainstorming; talking about customers, problems, technology and solutions. But somewhere around Saturday afternoon, each team began to look at their branding.   As internet based companies ( with the exception of GnomadDesk) their logo will be the most “tangible” representation of who they are.

The results are amazing as the graphic designers gave strong consideration to how the logos will be seen used.  While we normally spend several weeks working with small business owners to develop their brand and logo, it was fun to see how quickly the teams could come to agreement on a visual image.

EatDrink.it: mobile-web app for easily browsing, sharing, & remembering restaurant meal reviews.

Since  the  user will experience EatDrink.It primarily from their cell phone the logo was designed to display well from mobile applications.  The simple horizontal design, which will be visible on every screen will not overpower the important user content.

GnomadDesk is a portable desk that attaches to any roller bag to become an instant office

This bright colored logo translates well into an create an eye-catching luggage tag, or a simple embossed design on the product itself.   I really like the clever use of the G to represent both the person and the product.  This also creates a terrific avatar for social media

Likedity enhances your social life by providing recommendations relevant to your interests and location.

The bright colors of the likedity logo convey the sense of fun, the software is designed to bring to the users life.  The brightly colored dots connect the two parts of the logo, just as likedity will eventually connect users with their city and others with common interests.

Notesee – A conference note sharing community with intent to bring technology conference knowledge to the masses.

The bright colored background of the notesee logo is a sharp contrast to the blues and grays of many conference websites.   The small “note” design can work well as a stand alone graphic as well, giving the team tremendous flexibility.

Scigle aggregates scientific information, going beyond traditional indexes by providing contextual search and information analysis.

Perhaps the most complex of the products developed at Startup Weekend, the Scigle team as captured the essence of what their product does in a simple graphic.    The connected dots immediately convey to the viewer the scientific nature of the data bases they organize.

StatsSquared is a tool to analyze and compare multiple twitter accounts.

Strong and simple, just like the application, this logo  is designed to be an avatar.  When you consider the primary purpose of the software is to analyze twitter performance, the primary requirement was a logo which worked perfectly in that application.   This logo delivers.

WaitMate is the first mobile point-of-sale system built specifically for full-service restaurants.

This logo will ultimately live on the actual product.  Like EatDrinkIt, the logo will need to be visible, without being distracting.    The clever use of the “8” to replace the actual letters creates a strong social media avatar and the green colors feel like a fresh salad!

So how did each of the teams come up with such strong designs so quickly?  One of the keys was clarity. In each instance, the designers understood brand mission, customer definition and typical uses of the brand.

These elements should be the groundwork of any brand design project.