The brief
Two cities. Two founders. One AI engineering studio. The logo had to read serious — not "just-launched startup" — and survive every context: favicon, business card, Schiphol billboard.
What we tried
We built five HTML mockups, side-by-side:
- A · Editorial Wordmark — JARVA LABS in Inter Tight 600 caps, two hairline rules above and below. No icon.
- B · Heritage Seal — circular emblem with a JL ligature, foil-stamp aesthetic.
- C · Punchcut J — heavy industrial geometric J, like a railway sign.
- D · Coordinate Beacon — two dots connected by a line, representing Dubai and Amsterdam.
- E · Brutalist Asymmetric — lowercase
jarva·labswith a deliberate weight contrast.
Why we killed four
The italic-J + gradient + pulsing core dot is the most generic AI-startup-launched-in-2024 mark possible. Every Vercel/Linear/Cursor clone has one.
The italic-J variants kept reading as "another dev tool startup." The seal felt like cosplay — we don't have heritage we haven't earned. The punchcut was distinctive but felt cold for a brand that talks about partnership. The beacon was clever but tied us to two specific cities forever — what if we open a third office? The brutalist asymmetric was the second-best, but the asymmetry forced explanation.
Why A won
Pure wordmark forces the type to do the work. No flourish to lean on. References we trust: Stripe Press, A24, Aesop, Loro Piana — all wordmark-first, all confidently iconless, all aged 5–20 years without an update.
The two hairline rules are the only craft detail: a Penguin Books colophon framing. Reads as "established publisher" not "launched 2024."
What it looks like in production
The wordmark inherits its colour from the parent. Set the parent and you've set the brand. No SVG, no gradient, no animation. <span class="wm wm--md" style="color:#F5F0E6"> and you're done.
At favicon size we drop to a JL glyph — Inter Tight 700, tightly kerned. Same letterforms, same ink, smaller surface.
The lesson for other studios
You probably don't need an icon mark. You need a typeface choice you can defend, two letters of detail, and the discipline to say no to every gradient suggestion that'll come up over the next three years.