The visual effects pioneer talks about its fresh new look and how its core values are reflected in the new design.

A milestone anniversary and a wind of new changes presented the perfect opportunity for introspection on the company’s identity. The team took a step back to look at its accomplishments, reassessed its core values and identified the company’s goals for the future with “digital-first” design integration.

The studio was seeking a fresh new look, through a combination of a line refinements, modern font design and a slight hue shift in colour that has been revisited by giving it a more contemporary shade to being a touch of dynamism while respecting the colour known to the public.

LOGOVOLUTION

Hybride was founded in 1991 in a small ski town called Piedmont, located 45 miles north of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The original “flying logo” was composed of the letter “H” and a graphic palette, which showed the very nature of the company that operated in research and development and software applied research. Hybride’s logo represented a skillful blend of art and technology supported by an oval shaped painter’s palette and was differentiated by two colours (blue & red) for contrast.

Fast forward several years later, the studio was back in production and had become an important editing and visual effect service provider forever driven by technology. The studio, that was now producing visual effects for commercials, television series and station identification spots, opted for a major change in colour and shape for its new corporate logo, which was now orange with the letter “H” in the middle.

This change had been motivated by the studio’s location—far from the major cities and beautifully situated in the mountains surrounded by ski slopes (the curves of the “H”)—and the company’s continuous drive for innovation (represented by the colour orange). The logo was then complemented with a bold font in order to make a statement, and stand out striving to push forward in its international market positioning.

In 2008, Hybride became a division of Ubisoft—a creative fusion reflecting a renewed vision in an entertainment industry in rapid evolution. This new chapter in Hybride’s history needed to be reflected in the logo, which was refreshed by adding the Ubisoft identity all the while protecting the VFX studio’s core identity values. A second update, which was a lot more balanced and aesthetically pleasing, was made when Ubisoft updated its own logo. 

On July 4th, 2021, Hybride celebrated 30 years in the VFX business. This marked the perfect occasion to complete the most recent brand update and turn things completely around!

The new logo translates into a refreshed and simplified image that is part of the continuity and puts forward the distinct spirit of the Hybride brand: sleek, modern and approachable.

The evolution is directly in line with a broader change towards mobile social media presence. “We wanted to mark this new milestone in our company’s long history while protecting the core values of our studio”, noted Sylvie Talbot, Director of Communication at Hybride.

The studio opted towards a flatter design in order to simplify and minimize the noise created by too many details. The main objective was enhancing flexibility and adaptability for all types of media, canvases and merch.

Although totally revamped, the updated branding maintains familiarity with the studio’s audiences while the new modern and timeless font and colour bring a new freshness to the look. The oval shape has migrated into a perfect circle divided, but still united, into two dualities that have been present since the beginning, reflecting a balance between art & technology.

Still, the company’s core values remain: passion, inventiveness, transparency and EXCELLENCE.

True to its history in the arrangement of elements, the new logo now uses lower case versus upper case letters to reflect accessibility and humanity. “It puts forward the distinct spirit of our brand which is meant to be modern and friendly and in harmony with the Ubisoft logo”, observes Sylvie Talbot.