TORONTO—Taxi has redesigned the logo and branding for Yellow Pages. The project, says Dave Watson, creative director of design, North America, was not an easy task. “The brief the client gave us was very challenging,” he says. “Yellow Pages wanted to move away from the notion of being a print company, into the digital world.”



Watson says Taxi created about 50 identities to try and get one that fit Yellow Pages needs while keeping its brand equity intact. “The company wanted a revolutionary design but they also know they have huge brand equity in the name, the colour and the walking fingers,” he says. “As a designer that’s a big challenge when the client is looking for something revolutionary and you can’t change a whole heck of a lot.”

One of the changes in the new logo is a major modification to the walking fingers, a move Watson says gives the logo a much more dynamic feeling. The pebble used in the new design came from a Buddhist book, “A Pebble for your Pocket,” which was discovered by a Taxi employee, says Watson. “The client kept talking about how they wanted everyone in Canada to be connected because of Yellow Pages,” he says. “The book expresses a simple proverb that talks about if you have a pebble in your pocket you’re connected to everything and everyone.”

The font used in the new logo is Franklin Gothic, a switch from Helvetica Neue in the old design. “One of the things we wanted to do was downplay the word Pages,” says Watson. “We also added charcoal instead of the old black in the logo because we felt it was more of a warm attribute.” Contact: Taxi.ca, Yellowpages.ca