Nectar Smart Garden - Branding

During the summer of 2016, I interned with a tech startup in St. Louis called Hummingbird Technologies Inc. The company was developing a product called the Nectar, a fully automated indoor gardening system that allowed the user to grow small to medium sized plants with minimal user involvement; the machine would be capable of regulating temperature, humidity, and other environmental factors, while the built in hydroponic system would eliminate the need for constant watering. As a design intern, my focus was on building the Nectar's brand image; I created a new logo for the product, redesigned the website [www.growithnectar.com], and made mockup designs for the Nectar smartphone app. Additionally, I created marketing materials and social media content for Hummingbird Technologies Inc. 

Nectar Logo

When I created the Nectar logo, my goal was to create a design that was not only memorable and transferable, but that also spoke to the gardening nature of the product and to the technological aspect. Some of my initial concepts included a more organic approach, including handwritten type, but these felt too "earthy" and did not suggest a technology driven product. On the other hand, other concepts felt too cold and calculated for a gardening product. Another problem I ran into was that certain gardening icons were all too readily available, especially leaves, flowers, and butterflies. Eventually, I decided to incorporate a watering can into the logo, a recognizable symbol for gardening that was less generic than the other symbols I had thought of. Another advantage of this watering can symbol was that it could function without the text and could fit in a square format, thus making it ripe for use in social media profile pictures. I also used a bright, warm green hue to create a lively feel and to connote vegetative growth. 

Website Design

After finalizing the logo, I created a website that integrated several elements from the logo [www.growithnectar.com]. This included using a black, light sans serif typeface and prominently featuring the same green that is used in the logo. Additionally, I created several icons using the same visual language as the logo. The website is responsive and is designed to be viewed on both mobile and desktop platforms.

smartphone application mockups

The Nectar Smart Garden sends data and responds to a smartphone application that Hummingbird Technologies Inc. was building. I created several mockups to give website visitors and potential investors an idea of how the smartphone app might look and function. I created the screenshot images in Photoshop and then used Adobe After Effects to create a short video ad for the app.