Free productivity tools on the web don't come much better than WeTransfer. Even with a huge Dropbox at my disposal, I still find I am normally asked to send files via WeTransfer on a daily basis. With a generous 2GB limit on the free version, it is “dead simple to send digital goods,”.
Today saw the launch of a revamped logo, identity and website designed in-house in collaboration with Bold Monday’s Paul van der Laan. Check it out below:
In a bold move, the company has decided to drop the word ‘transfer’ from its logo in favour of using the stripped back two letter ‘we’ as their main brandmark. As Thijs Remie, vice president of design at WeTransfer, explains: “We started with an empty canvas and a mission to create a symbol that captures the right personality, one that is technically well-executed, and can clearly be read as ‘we’.”
The challenge with this mark was to make the two letters work even when reduced down to a small icon for mobile (which can be a problem, especially when it comes to the lowercase ‘e’). Thanks to close collaboration with Paul van der Laan who worked on the finer details, the logo is successful in this aim while overall exuding a more friendlier, down-to-earth feel and gives the letters a personality which are distinctly lacking rival services such as mailbigfile and Hightail (originally known as YouSendIt).
The wider identity has been revamped from the inside out, to reflect how the service has evolved since 2009. It has a new colour palette, updated typography, a cleaner interface, a bigger message field that scales as you type, and a set of shapes – dubbed “particles” by the design team – to freshen up the look of the site, plus a set of spot illustrations commissioned for “key moments of the transferring process”.
As a regular user of wetransfer the new UI of the site is a marked improvement. The interface is cleaner and I welcome the removal of those awful tabs that used to be beside the form field.
As productivity goes, Dropbox is still my go to with the added edge of being able to share AND store my projects and the 1TB cloud storage more than justifies the annual cost. But there will always be a place for the friendlier looking wetransfer in my working life.
David Huskison
David is the founder of DWH and is involved in all aspects of the design process from the initial creative concept through to final artwork stage. With over 20 years of experience working with agencies across the Midlands, his role is to provide significant creative injection into client projects. By personally delivering creative concepts, he ensures that client briefs are effectively executed and that the final project is delivered within budget.