Chapter 01: "Just a name"

4 years ago, Nord Studio was publicized with the intent to build new solutions for critial applications that we use everyday, such as Campsite, a communication platform.

However, it didn't start out like this, in fact, "Nord" started out as a name I (tygrdev) was going to use to publish my own projects under.

I want to take a trip down memory lane, and take a peek to how we got to where we are today...

Figure 1: The book that sparked the idea -->

During the start of a normal day at school, all students would head to their tutors classroom before the first class started. One morning, I was super early and class didn't start for another 30 minutes.

While trying to think of something to do, I came up with the idea of creating my own brand to represent all the projects I've been working on at home. After googling "words that mean going up", I came across one specifc word that peaked my interest:

nord [nɔrd]

noun

the direction along Earth's surface towards the place where the imaginary rotational axis of the Earth intersects the surface of the Earth.

I loved it. The word "nord" means "true north", which can be symbolised as "going up".

However, a good name needs a good logo. I started off with just the letter "N", and started to play around with it. The result of which you can see in figure 2.

<-- Figure 2: Coming up with logo designs

Although I just couldn't get it right, throughout the day I tended to my notebook trying everything I could to make something that fit. A few pages ended up in the trash due to my frustration.

But during my math class, I took one of my original drawings and tried to expand on it. Soon enough, I had something going!

Page after page of refining, I finally got a design that I was very pleased with.

Figure 3: A few more logo designs with very similar styles -->

I took that same design and tweaked it in many different ways to determine if I was able to create something better.

I also numbered them, and went around the school asking teachers and students which one they like the most. Number #4 came first, then #1, #2 and #3 after.

As my fellow classmates displayed their excitement about Nord, (and kept calling me the next "bill gates" or "the guy who made apple"), my own excitement grew with this new logo. It was at this point when I figured that I didn't want to keep Nord as just a name. I wanted something more.

<-- Figure 4: Refining the logo