Visual Identity for Oslo City Bike

Playful inspiration

The solution from design agency Heydays was a vibrant identity that communicates the city bike service in a fun and clear way. The identity is based around the logo, as Heydays explains:

– The logo presents a face in the simple abstraction of a bike. Its character and identity is revealed and expanded within the service, where it comes to life in various ways. It enriches the user interaction by informing you of slippery roads, technical errors, updates in the service, and the like.

Worked with several teams

Through smart interactive design and seamless service design, Oslo City Bike allows you to check availability in the area and unlock the bike with your mobile phone, which was previously done by a plastic card. The service also tracks your routes and even applauds your results.

The project successfully demonstrates what can be achieved with good, multidisciplinary collaboration. Heydays worked with several teams to create a service that takes care of everything, with the website and iOS app developed by Tight, the android app by Zeros & Ones and animated emotions by Ole Magnus Saxegård. The product design of the actual bikes and racks is by Frost Produkt.

Urban development on two wheels

In 2017, Oslo City Bike won Design and Architecture Norway’s Honours Award for its holistic service to the people of Oslo as well as three gold awards in Gulltaggen. According to Urban Infrastructure Partner, the new Oslo City Bike achieved over 2 million trips by the end of its first season, a 110% increase from the old system in 2015. Based on trips per bike per day, Oslo City Bike is now one of the most efficiently operated bike sharing systems in the world. Urban Infrastructure Partner has since launched city bike services in Bergen, Trondheim and Edinburgh.

Oslo City Bikes is not just about bikes and a stunning visual identity, but also about human-driven technology, smarter and more accessible cities and great collaborations. As Urban Infrastructure Partner calls it: this is urban development on two wheels.