SOFTWARE LAUNCH
Naming And Branding AUTOSOL’s MQTT Broker Ahead Of Its Launch
Role
- Art Director
- Project Manager
Team
- Grace Shephard
- Nathan Derck
- Ansley Earle
- Bernardo Reyes
Tools
- Illustrator
- Photoshop
- Figma
- Gemini
Duration
- 5 Weeks
Overview
In the second of two contracts working for AUTOSOL through SCADpro, we moved from the booths to the product itself. AUTOSOL was getting ready to release a new MQTT broker and asked us to name it and give it an identity. Over five weeks and three check-ins we went from four early concepts, to two pitched directions, to a design workshop with the AUTOSOL team and four final logo directions for them to pick from. AUTOSOL has since debuted their broker as FoundationMQ.
What is AUTOSOL?
AUTOSOL creates specialized data software that helps critical infrastructure sectors—like oil, gas, and manufacturing—safely monitor remote equipment. Because retrieving data from distant pipelines or wellheads is difficult, AUTOSOL acts as a secure digital bridge. Together, their three-part software ecosystem closes the data loop, transforming raw field readings into actionable boardroom insights.
eACM
Installed on remote equipment, this software acts as a smart filter that saves network bandwidth by sending data only when a field reading actually changes.
MQTT Broker
Functioning as a high-speed digital post office, it securely receives these targeted field updates and instantly routes them to company headquarters.
The product we brandedACM
This enterprise software organizes the incoming data into centralized dashboards, providing executives with the exact insights needed for strategic decisions.
One Broker With Two Tiers
An MQTT broker is the single point every device connects to and depends on to move data. AUTOSOL built theirs as a two part product, a Local tier and an Enterprise tier, so every name we explored had to work as a pair.
Enterprise
Centralizes data for large systems across multiple sites.
Local
Uses independent brokers to deliver features directly to the field.
Our Design Direction and Why
Before naming anything, we grounded the brand in what AUTOSOL already says about itself, then looked at how other brokers present themselves.
“AUTOSOL’s core mission is to provide reliable, flexible industrial automation and data delivery solutions that help enterprises securely access comprehensive field data for mission-critical infrastructure.”
AUTOSOL’s mission statement
We pulled four words out of that mission. Every name and mark we pitched was rated against them.
- ReliableAble to be trusted, depended upon, or counted on to do what is needed. Things that work well without breaking, and data that is true and accurate.
- FlexibleAble to change and adapt to new plans, ideas, or situations.
- ComprehensiveCovering completely, broadly, or including all or nearly all necessary elements, details, and parts.
- Customer-drivenA business approach that puts the needs, wants, and feedback of customers at the center of every decision.
But What Are Other Brokers Doing?
Mosquitto
They sell themselves as light enough to work with any product.
HiveMQ
Its brand line steps through three words: effortless, empowered, relentless.
Cirrus Link
Promises secure and efficient data exchange between industrial devices and enterprise systems.
What We Took From It
- Colors and styles are spread widely, so there is no consistent category to fit in.
- Animal logos are a trend among brokers.
- The strongest marks echo their own mission statement.
Our First Directions Around the Navigation of Data
Celestial
Criteria Rating
- IntermittentReliable
- SelectiveComprehensive
- RigidFlexible
- Corporate-DrivenCustomer-Driven
Tools
Criteria Rating
- IntermittentReliable
- SelectiveComprehensive
- RigidFlexible
- Corporate-DrivenCustomer-Driven
Landmarks
Criteria Rating
- IntermittentReliable
- SelectiveComprehensive
- RigidFlexible
- Corporate-DrivenCustomer-Driven
Our Feedback: Pursue the Landmarks and Celestial Direction
So We Created Our First Designs
Our initial Low-Fi design logos were displayed on a scale from the most grounded option to the most bold. Each design was based on research about the product, the business, and the AUTOSOL team.
Idea 1
Caprock Lite and Caprock Max
A caprock is the layer of rock above a reservoir that keeps the oil and gas from escaping. A reservoir without a caprock isn’t a resource, it’s a leak. Data without a broker isn’t an asset, it’s noise.
- Not borrowed tech vocabulary
- Authentically American
- Describes the role the broker plays, not what it is made of
Idea 2
Meridian MQ and Obsidian RTX
Meridian is the fixed point every device in the field orients to. Obsidian is raw pressure given structure, the way a broker cuts a volatile flood of field data into one clean surface the enterprise can build on.
- Divided cleanly along the same line as the tiers
- Escalates visually without breaking the family
- Neither name borrows the other’s territory
Idea 3
Unix and Guidex
Both names grow from nexus, Latin for “a binding together,” the point where many things connect and become one system. Unix unifies and Guidex guides.
- Names the architecture instead of a metaphor for it
- Reads as infrastructure, not personality
- Scales across AUTOSOL’s whole roadmap
Idea 4
Adicline and Abeocline
Abeona and Adiona are minor Roman goddesses of travel, one watching over the departure and the other over the safe return. Together they stand for the broker’s promise: data leaves the device and arrives where it should.
- Unique and easy to trademark
- Leads with the broker’s real value, safe delivery
- The myth gives the mark a sense of scale and meaning
Redesigned in Color
From those four concepts we carried the most grounded one, Caprock, forward and added a new name, Foundation. At the third check-in we presented both as full identities, with a mark for each tier, color, typography, and brand guidelines.
Direction A
FoundationMQ
AUTOSOL already describes its ACM as a “foundation for other applications or utilities.” Dependable, load-bearing, something you build everything else on top of: that is a literal description of what a broker has to be.
The surrounding space acts as the foundation, and the curve balancing the sphere stands for stability and for data flowing into one central system.
FoundationMQ should feel…
- Capable without being cold
- Reliable but not rigid
- Precise and personable
- Brick Ember#AF1115
- Glacier Blue#DBF1FD
Direction B
CaprockMQ
A caprock is the resistant layer of rock that sits on top of a deposit and keeps it contained. A broker sits on top of the data flowing up from the field devices beneath it.
The form is a central circle with waves of data flowing in and back out, showing the role the broker plays rather than what it is made of.
CaprockMQ should feel…
- Bold without being reckless
- Adaptive but consistent
- Focused while expansive
- Brick Ember#AF1115
- Steel Blue#0E1231
Both set the name in Helvetica Bold for its neutrality, clarity, and extension of AUTOSOL’s current system.
Our Feedback: Foundation was the stronger fit, and Caprock didn’t resonate with the AUTOSOL team. Push Foundation further.
The name was right. The logo wasn’t there yet.
So like any good designers we put as many ideas for Foundation as possible in one file.
But there was a catch.
Every Foundation pair of logos needed to represent something that might not be seen at first glance.
A common theme emerged:
Logos that represented the difference between FoundationMQ and FoundationMQ Enterprise
From there we narrowed it down and refined our final logo forms to present to the AUTOSOL executives.
Our Final Four
Each version is a pair, FoundationMQ for the Local tier and FoundationMQ Enterprise. On second glance, every logo forms an F for FoundationMQ and an E for FoundationMQ Enterprise.
Version 1
The curve balancing the sphere represents the stability a strong foundation provides. The logos represent strong foundation pieces, land and the sea. It also stands for the flow of data and its collection in one centralized system.
- #0C013B
- #0F75BC
- #23AAE1
- #262262
- #450000
- #E21F26
- #C0151B
- #861619
Version 2
The layered pieces represent growth upward from a solid foundation. The interlocking diagonals are data pathways, always moving rather than static.
- #262262
- #48AEE2
- #930608
- #86010D
- #E41E26
- #110552
Version 3
The circular nodes mark complex data being delivered to crucial systems. The connected line work traces the defined routes the information travels.
- #283891
- #23AAE1
- #641B24
- #ED1C24
Version 4
Angled lines converge on one point, showing many streams of data arriving at and leaving one destination. The sweeping curves carry the momentum of data moving through the system.
- #EB1C2F
- #3450ED
Booth and Graphics Mockups
To help visualize the logos in real spaces, each version’s brand guidelines included mockups on the 10×10 and 20×30 booths and internal sales graphics the team already used.
Continuing the Naming Architecture
As AUTOSOL moves through the continuation of their family of products we created names that would be easy transitions and keep the same feel as FoundationMQ, plus industry focused suffixes that work with any of them.
Names
- Bedrock
- Pillar
- Cornerstone
- Basin
- Foundry
- Root
- Core
Suffix
- MQ
- MB
- RT
AUTOSOL Debuted Their MQTT Broker as FoundationMQ
The broker was released on the show floor, in the booths we designed in our first contract. You can see the booths and the photos from the show on the Contract 1 page.
