It should feel like the car | Tolleson
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It Should Feel Like The Car
10—18
2024
On Lucid’s design DNA:
With Jamie
In developing Lucid’s visual identity, there was more than a little at stake. We needed to brand an entirely new vehicle for an entirely new company, and create an identity that would embody the long-term vision of a new luxury category.
From concept to production, Jamie Calderon sheds light on our team’s meticulous process behind crafting Lucid’s distinctive design language.
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Where did you begin?
JC: We started with contrasting concepts that seem to sit at the center of Lucid’s vision: heart and mind. Heart represented luxury, beauty, and the California vibe, while mind embodied technology and precision. This balance guided our creative process and became the foundation of Lucid’s identity.
“The logo is a deliberate nod to the car itself—elongated, modern, sleek, and timeless.”
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Early sketches for the Lucid logo to determine final candidates for the name. We ended up choosing “Lucid” not only for its meaning, but also for its balanced bookended letterforms.
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How did you conceptualize Lucid through its logo?
JC: Our focus has always been primarily on representing the vehicle and its experience as a product. Every Lucid vehicle embodies a minimalist aesthetic, characterized by a reductive process. To capture its essence in a wordmark, we took cues from the vehicle’s own design language. This involved first exploring typography that fit its sleek and modern aesthetic, then pushing the typography outward to align the curvatures of the letters ‘L,’ ‘D,’ and ‘C’ with those of the vehicle. From there, we embarked on a journey to simplify and refine.
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What else influenced Lucid’s visual language?
JC: While we centered Lucid’s logo around the vehicle, we focused other aspects of the brand on capturing the essence of the California lifestyle—connection to nature, entrepreneurial innovation, and even casual luxury. California’s landscape and lighting heavily influenced our color palette, and permeated everything from the design of the vehicles to the tone of our messaging.
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How do you control the consistency of a logo with so many different renditions?
JC: Maintaining consistency requires a well-integrated team, from the people who design the vehicle—both inside and out—to the people who build it. Collaboration and communication are key, clear guidelines are essential, and everyone needs to share the same standards for application. It all starts and ends with the team.
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“Working so closely with the team allowed us to design the logo not only typographically— but as a tangible product that we could hold, touch, and see in motion.”
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How did you navigate the requirements of Lucid’s many brand applications?
JC: From surfaces to materials to environments, there were several key factors.
First, the mark itself needed to be completely customized to reflect Lucid’s vehicles—with thicker verticals, contrasting thinner horizontals, and rounded corners to mirror its aesthetics. Yet for adaptability and contrast across different weights and distributions, we also played with sharp corners. In short, the design process wasn’t purely mathematical. It was more optical, to make the mark appear balanced and cohesive to the human eye.
Once the mark was finalized, we needed to prepare it for both manufacturing and digital applications. This required extensive testing using various materials—such as metal, leather, glass, and light—to ensure that the mark performed consistently across different surfaces.
Through this meticulous process, we ended up delivering multiple versions of the mark—all visually consistent—to maintain the brand’s integrity, precision, and perception of excellence across all touchpoints.
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What was it like to work with Lucid’s team?
JC: It was invaluable on multiple fronts. Our team worked hand-in-hand, often in-person, alongside Peter Rollins, Derek Jenkins, and so many other brilliant minds in the auto industry—regularly sharing logo renditions for testing across the entire product experience. Working so closely and cross-functionally with engineers and product designers allowed us to design the logo not only typographically, but as a tangible and highly functional product that we could hold, touch, and see in motion.
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How did it feel to see the logo for the first time on the vehicle?
JC: Incredibly exciting, especially after working on it for close to eight months, visiting the factory countless times, and witnessing the entire process unfold. Seeing the final car with the final application of the logo felt like a significant accomplishment—not just for our team, but also for Lucid as a company.
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