Tricount Logo Redesign: before & after

Redesigning TriCount’s logo and App Icon

TriCount truly is a neat little app. And yet… I don’t love it.

I have been using it for years travelling with friends, living in shared flats and, occasionally, even with my gf — viva la emancipación!

Functionally I couldn’t be happier.

It does one thing. And that thing it does extremely well: It splits cost for joint expenses.

No bells, no whistles. And I hope they never change that. But… huge ass but...

I never felt TriCount’s design. At all. It doesn’t invite me to use it. Doesn’t spark joy.

It looks like my grizzled old math teacher was back as an app to haunt me with basic calculus.   

The whole design just seems so utterly off-brand. And that’s despite their mission statement being „to bring you closer to friends and family“.

Tricount’s ultimate mission isn’t to bore us to death but to help us foster connections and closer relationships by making sharing expenses simple and transparent.

That’s beautiful. I can see Simon Sinek explode with joy and somersault through his golden circle.

Now shouldn’t that be reflected in their brand identity? Shouldn’t we get a sense of connection, of familiar warmth paired with a feeling of safety and trust whenever we interact with the brand?

I sure think so. So I figured let me take a shot here: can we make this work?

First  up, choice of colours:

The base palette being a creamy white on dark blue background. Giving us some trusty vibes without feeling overly corporate and cold.

Lets’ throw in some colourful gradients to really hammer home that we are all friends here. See how the colours fade into each other almost as if their were connected?

I think we are off to a great start.

The symbol is obviously some weird looking triangle. How very f*cking creative of me given their method of balancing expenses is called triangular accounting.

But, hell, sometimes obvious is just what the doctor prescribed.

It’s also no ordinary triangle because the individual nodes, those circles in the corner, symbolise not only accounts balanced but also humans connecting with each other through the power of triangular accounting.

Wow wipes away a tiny tear

It also scales perfectly from favicon size to paint it on your office building. The app icon actually makes me want to touch it indecently. It works in monochrome. It works with the word mark. It works.

Oh the word mark, almost forgot.

The word mark is set in Karbon Bold Italic by the always excellent KlimType Foundry with just some minor adjustments. It’s the perfect cut for a brand that’s optimistic and forward looking, that wants to portrait playfulness without sacrificing a sense of deeply grounded reliability.

As you can tell I’m pretty pleased.

But what do you guys think? Before or after?

Let me know in the comments!