--- title: "How Travelight came about, its new identity and future plans" description: "Since the beginning of 2017 we've been doing ultralight not only in our free time but at work too. In 2020 we went through a big change. A new identity, a new e-shop." canonical_url: "https://gramino.com/blog/how-travelight-came-about" last_updated: "2020-06-08" --- # How Travelight came about, its new identity and future plans Authors: David Hotař Date: 2020-06-08 Since the beginning of 2017 we've been doing ultralight not only in our free time but at work too. In 2020 we went through a big change. A new identity, a new e-shop. It was shortly after secondary school that our era of hunting down cheap flights and hitchhiking trips began. We often killed the long evenings on the road dreaming up our own travel hacks that would make the whole thing more pleasant. We were looking for ways to pass on what we'd learned, seen and lived through on the road. After a few thousand kilometers, the adrenaline rush of unpredictable adventure started to lose its intensity and we began wondering what to do next. ## How Travelight started The turning point came on our trip across Sardinia, when our plan for a relaxed twelve-day hike turned into a clumsy ordeal with 20 kg backpacks. We laugh about it today, but we'd packed a 4 kg slackline set, for instance. Oh well, every experience counts. From then on we started thinking seriously about how to lighten our gear and how to let go of the unnecessary. It was the first time we came across the term [ultralight backpacking](/blog/lightweight-hiking-benefits). We took the walking trips that followed with a considerably smaller caliber of pack, and I'd say our journeys started taking on a completely different dimension. Shortly after that, we knew exactly what we wanted to spend the coming years doing. So when the idea came along for a project focused on ultralight backpacking – one that would combine our fun with our work – we didn't hesitate for long. And so on 1 February 2017, Travelight (today Gramino) was born. Thanks to my earlier experience at the digital agency [devx](https://devx.agency/), we were able to release the first version of the website fairly quickly. The beginning was anything but textbook. The fact that David moved to Portugal for six months a few weeks after we founded the company gives me goosebumps today. About a month after launch the first order came in, then another and another… and after a while we knew that a quickly thrown-together shop wasn't going to be enough. Toward the end of the year we started building a new one and toured travel clubs with our story about [crossing Iceland](/blog/on-foot-across-iceland-preparations-part-1). The following year we launched the second version of the website. We'd learned from our early days and applied valuable feedback from customers and friends. We got started on [travel articles](/) and published several written interviews. David then set off on a two-month solo crossing of the Carpathian arc, and at the end of the year he was out doing talks again. A year and a half in, we realized Travelight meant something more to us. We wanted to build a long-term project, and our ambitions started to grow. The second version of the site served us well for a good two years. We managed to grow into it and win plenty of happy customers. Something was still missing, though. It was as if we had no face, or couldn't tell our customers who we were. We wanted to change that. We started putting together our idea of a new identity and a new shop for the next few years. And to make it really worth it, we decided to bring in a third party. ## What our brief looked like It took us a month to decide who to pick for the job. In the end we went with the design agency [Blackfish](https://blackfish.co/). It had been founded a year earlier by a good friend of ours we trusted. Convinced by the abilities of a young, agile team, we put together a brief. We'd reached the start of a kind of creative process and began asking ourselves questions like: - Why does Travelight exist? - What added value do we bring to visitors and customers? - What values (work-related, moral) do we want to present? - What should the new identity capture? - What are our vision and goals? I won't write an essay on marketing communication here, I'll just pick out the most important things we tried to pass on to the guys so they'd understand us and our brand. Travel, hiking and time spent in nature have always been about relaxation and mental calm for us. But at the same time they're a way to take on personal challenges and live through unforgettable experiences. The ultralight concept then fitted into all of it, as the saying goes, like a glove. It opened the door to bigger adventures and deepened the joy of the smaller ones. That's why we want to focus our shop exclusively on ultralight gear and create content that goes with it – what to pack and why, where to head, how to behave in nature, and so on. We're the ones who test firsthand what works and what doesn't. We take our time writing product descriptions and shooting photos so our customers always know what they're getting into. We want to meet and connect with enthusiasts who are on the same wavelength, and build a community of keen hikers through the site. ## How the rebrand process went It didn't happen the next day and it didn't happen in a month. There were plenty of discussions, ideas and sleepless nights. After roughly six proposals, we decided to go in the direction of contour lines. A simple element that can say a great deal. And it's contour lines that often set the direction and tell you where the route goes and where it doesn't. The second element we reflect in the logo is where we come from. We're from the eastern edge of the Czech Republic, from Třinec. To the east and south we're surrounded by the ridges of the Beskydy mountains. We believe these mountains are largely responsible for our positive relationship with nature. They're our reliable base for spontaneous trips and the place we most often head to clear our heads. They're something we could hardly give up. The final version didn't take long after that. Using the contour lines of Lysá hora, the highest peak of the Moravian-Silesian Beskydy, we created a unique logotype. We didn't change the primary color. Orange represents two things we love about sleeping outdoors – the atmosphere of sunset and sunrise. To it we added only a dark green, characteristic of the conifers that make up about three quarters of all trees in Czech forests. We like the combination of these colors and we believe it'll help us stick in our customers' memory more easily. Once the symbol was settled, the battle with the typeface that would go with it began. Serif, sans serif, condensed? All lowercase or all caps? After long deliberation we ended up choosing the more playful serif over the austere sans serif. We definitely don't regret it. ## What do you think of the result? The first and second versions of the site together took us about as much time as this third one, which we launched two weeks ago. Along with the identity we also got a complete brand manual. If you find a moment, we'd love it if you wrote to us at info@gramino.cz or anywhere else, to tell us what you think of the new brand. ## What we're planning next We can take a product apart in every last detail and tell you things about it the manufacturer doesn't know or doesn't say – but what good is that to us if nobody finds out? We want to reach the right people, but also speak to those who are only just thinking about lightening their gear or looking for a way in. ### A wider range of ultralight gear There are some important product categories where our shelves are basically empty – we know about it. But we're already actively testing a few new pieces and hunting down attractive brands. You've got something to look forward to! ### Our own video reviews One video is worth more than a thousand words. When we shop online and can't touch a product ourselves, we appreciate any video we can get. We want to get started on regular video introductions to the products in our shop. ### More authors, more content We're planning to put a lot more into creating content for our [blog](/). But we can already feel we're gradually reaching the limits of our capacity. If we're on our own with it, we won't manage to produce good, interesting content as regularly as we'd like. So if you feel we might be on the same wavelength, you're creative, you've got an interesting journey behind you, or you can think of another way to join forces, don't hesitate to reach out through one of our [contact channels](/contact). For Travelight, David Hotař (author of this article) and David Czempka ## You might find this useful - [CNOC Vecto 2 L 42 mm](/p/cnoc-vecto-2-l-42-mm.md) - [Katadyn BeFree AC 1 L](/p/katadyn-befree-ac-1-l.md) - [Darn Tough Men's Hiker 1/4 Midweight](/p/darn-tough-hiker-1-4-midweight-mens.md) - [Darn Tough Women's Hiker 1/4 Midweight](/p/darn-tough-hiker-1-4-midweight-womens.md) - [DexShell Ultra Thin Crew](/p/dexshell-ultra-thin-crew.md) - [Liteway Pokkie Pack](/p/liteway-pokkie-pack.md) - [Sea To Summit Ultra-Sil Dry Bag](/p/sea-to-summit-ultra-sil-dry-bag.md) - [Kula Cloth](/p/kula-cloth-pee-cloth.md) - [Gramino SagiFlow](/p/gramino-sagiflow-ultralight-bidet.md) - [Gramino AURA Pouch](/p/gramino-aura-pouch.md) - [Gramino Ultralight Waterproof Backpack Liner](/p/gramino-ultralight-waterproof-backpack-liner.md) This post is also available as [HTML](/blog/how-travelight-came-about). ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](/sitemap.md) for all pages.