Petzl is a French brand of a climbing and mountaineering equipment and accessories manufacturing company, which was established in 1975. Today the brand is well-known all over the globe and distributes its products in Europe and North America.
Meaning and history
It all started as a small family business founded by Fernand Petzl, a well-known speleologist and inventor. In 2000, Petzl merged with Charlet Moser. As a result, a new brand, Petzl Charlet, has appeared on the market of equipment for mountaineers and ice climbers. Now, more than 600 items of products are produced under the Petzl brand, 80% of which are exported to 50 countries of the world. Petzl continues to invent products and provide solutions that enable sports enthusiasts and professionals to access some of the world’s most hard-to-reach places.
Old Logo
Earlier, the logo had a very bold and unordinary look thanks to the font choice. It featured bold, all uppercase letters with bracketed serifs. The most striking and memorable element was the textured coloring of the letters. They were done in black with white splotches that created an association with the uneven terrain of the mountains as well as the snow. The font itself resembled Capital Serif ExtraBold.
New Logo
The Petzl logo is bold and modern. Based on a custom typeface of the wordmark, it is confident and complete and needs no additional decor to look cool.
The Petzl wordmark in all the capital letters is executed in a custom hand-drawn typeface with diagonal edges of the bars and an elongated tail of the letter “P”, which goes beyond the frame, as well as the horizontal bar of the last “L”.
The thin oval framing of the Petzl logo makes the image more distinct and accomplished. It adds elegance to the thick contemporary nameplate and makes the logo lighter and fresher.
The monochrome color palette of the Petzl visual identity represents the company as professional and trustworthy. It also shows the brand’s progressive and futuristic approach and evokes a sense of security and protection, which is more than just important for the field of the company’s activity.