From the beginning, the goal with Talkback was to create a logo that stood out from other online sound schools in Europe. We chose purple as the brand’s primary color—bold and uncommon in the audio education space. We looked to platforms like Coursera, Behance, and Domestika for inspiration, especially for how they balance simplicity with strong visual identity.

Our initial ideas played with keyboard-like shapes, placing the name inside buttons, or referencing the “talkback” systems used by live sound engineers to communicate backstage.

We knew we needed a symbol that could work across platforms—on course materials, social media, videos, and beyond. So we started thinking about objects that truly represent the profession. That’s when we landed on the butterfly lock—the signature latch found on flightcases, those rugged black boxes used to transport sound and lighting gear to gigs.

The butterfly lock has a distinct shape. No matter the brand, it always looks basically the same—and anyone who works in live sound has opened and closed thousands of them. The fact that it's called a “butterfly” added a nice layer of meaning. It gave the icon a chance to “fly,” to become a mascot of sorts, or a visual shorthand for the brand.

The full logo layout places the butterfly icon on the left, the word Talkback on the right, and the tagline “escuela de sonido” underneath. That’s our main format—for the website, footers, course books, and other brand materials. We also designed simpler versions to use as needed: just the wordmark, or just the icon.

Paco later suggested flipping the icon so the triangle points upward—giving it more of a badge-like look. “Just like this, I love it,” he said. “It’s simple, clean, distinctive, and perfectly captures the idea—with a nice nod to the flightcase.”

From there, we explored how to give the Talkback wordmark a subtle twist. We liked the typeface, but felt it needed a small detail to make it truly ours. One idea was to connect the end of the final “K” to the circle and triangle in the icon. Since real butterfly locks have two circular elements, this connection could help tie everything together.