Refining the Citi Bike Icon and Logo

I love using Citi Bike to get around New York City, and in general find their promotional material, kiosks, and branding to be well-designed and a pleasant addition to the city streetscape. That said, the logo and app icon – two of the most important elements of their brand – grind my gears every time I see them:

The amount of stuff jammed into that icon! and the poor forcibly-rounded and smushed letters in “bike!”

In a quick just-for-fun project, I got rid of the mushy rounded corners in the logotype, using a modified version of the Circular font to ensure the geometry of the letters would match. I also tweaked the spacing between letters to stop that K from crowding the poor E.

Continuing my unsolicited redesign streak, I worked up a new icon for the Citi Bike app that is clearer and doesn’t overload the small space with unnecessary branding. Making a simplified bike the focal point and using the red Citi arch and colors to indicate the branding make the icon more understandable and symbolic at a glance. My changes to these branding elements fit right in with the current identity, with just an extra touch of refinement:

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