COOLEMATE Watch Brand Upgrade: The Character 中, Shaped Like a Window

One character, one window, one bow tie

In 2021, Xinming Design upgraded the watch brand COOLEMATE (蔻墨国表) for its owner, a fashion and culture company in Dongguan. The new logo is the Chinese character 中 (zhong, "middle", as in 中国, China): the outer frame is a rounded horizontal box with a vertical stroke running through its centre from top to bottom; the box is also a window, expressing a view of the world through it. The two openings inside the box, divided by the vertical stroke, together form a bow tie, for the brand's business character; turned upright, the same shape is an hourglass, meaning heritage carried on through time. Xinming Design also designed the English wordmark COOLeMATE, set a palette of deep blue with greys and the typefaces, and extended the identity to stationery, promotional materials, gift boxes and watch boxes. The new logo is still in use: it is printed on the dial of the watch shown on the COOLEMATE website home page.

A national watch brand: say "China" without looking dated

COOLEMATE (蔻墨国表) is the watch brand of 酷而美时尚文化(东莞)有限公司, based in Zhangmutou, Dongguan, Guangdong. According to the COOLEMATE website, the Chinese name draws on the phrases for "the prime of youth" and "Mohist craftsmen", and the brand sets out to make business watches better suited to Chinese wearers; its collections include Diaoyutai, Yaxian, Yayi and Xingzhui. The names 蔻墨 and COOLEMATE are the client's own.

Watches are a category that depends heavily on brand recognition. COOLEMATE's Chinese name includes 国表, "national watch", and the client's brand line is 世界瞰见 中国名片, "a Chinese calling card the world can see". So the logo had to do three things at once: be recognisably Chinese at a glance; meet business wearers' expectations of refinement and restraint; and stay clear at the small sizes of a dial, a clasp and a box.

Four photographs: bow tie, hourglass, zhong, window

The proposal's mood page holds just four photographs: a black bow tie, an hourglass, a bold black character 中, and a red lattice door set into a round doorway. The vertical text beside 中 reads: the shape of 中 defines COOLEMATE's identity as a Chinese watch, and viewing the world signals the company's vision and goals.

The four images fall into two pairs: 中 and the window speak of identity and outlook; the bow tie and the hourglass speak of the category. The bow tie points to business occasions, the hourglass to time itself, and time is what a watch is for. The proposal's task was to put all four into one shape.

The box of zhong becomes a window

The proposal's logo description says, in essence: the design draws on Chinese characters; the overall form is the character 中 combined with a window, expressing a view of the world; the hollow negative shape at the centre is a bow tie, showing the brand's business character, and can also stand for an hourglass, meaning heritage carried on through time; the mark joins the classical and the modern, with Eastern cultural depth and Western fashion sense.

In the shape itself:

· Zhong: the box of 中 is drawn as a horizontal frame with rounded corners, with a vertical stroke running through the middle;

· Window: that frame is the outline of a window;

· Bow tie: the two openings inside the frame, one on each side of the stroke, narrow towards the centre and together form a bow tie;

· Hourglass: turn the same negative shape upright, wide at both ends and narrow in the middle, and it is an hourglass.

One negative shape: across, a bow tie; upright, an hourglass. Zhong and the window are held in the solid shape, the bow tie and the hourglass in the negative space, so four meanings share one simple mark that stays clear even at a few millimetres on a dial.

The construction drawing uses X as its unit: the mark is 13.8X wide and 10X high, with guide circles setting the curves of the corners and the openings.

The way of square and round

A banner on the COOLEMATE home page reads 方圆之道, "the way of square and round", beside a watch with a cushion-shaped case: a square outline with rounded corners. The new logo's frame is the same kind of rounded square. It can be read as the logo and the watch case sharing one idea of square and round. At the centre of the dial is this very logo, with the COOLeMATE wordmark.

The wordmark: COOLeMATE

Xinming Design created the English wordmark COOLeMATE: the letters are built from geometric lines and arcs, and the e in the middle is lowercase, breaking a long run of capitals into COOL, e and MATE so the name reads with more rhythm. The Chinese characters 蔻 墨 are widely spaced and stacked with the English wordmark; together they form horizontal and vertical lockups with the 中 mark.

The typefaces are Heebo Regular for English and Source Han Sans Regular for Chinese.

Deep blue and greys

The main colour is deep blue (#142952), with grey (#6E7175), light grey (#B4BCC6), black (#000000) and white (#FFFFFF). Deep blue is the large ground for business cards, shopping bags and watch box linings, while the greys are used for gift boxes, watch box shells and envelopes, like the cool sheen of a metal case. The proposal gives no PANTONE values. In the promotional images, deep blue is set beside a blue-and-white porcelain vase and a stretch of the Great Wall: Chinese imagery spoken in the brand's own colours.

A bow tie inside the lid

Packaging is a watch brand's most intimate touchpoint, and here the proposal takes the logo furthest in:

· Gift box: a grey outer box with a deep blue angled line; when opened, its sides fold out at sharp angles to reveal a deep blue lining;

· Watch box: a grey box with rounded corners and the logo pressed into the lid. Open the lid, and the inside carries a deep blue panel in the shape of a bow tie: the negative shape at the centre of the logo, enlarged and laid across the lid;

· Warranty card: its top edge is an arch, like the head of a window.

The moment customers open the watch box, they see the bow tie hidden inside the logo.

Other applications include business cards, envelopes and letterhead, shopping bags, brochures and posters.

Deliverables and extensions

Logo design

· 中 window logo (zhong, window, bow tie, hourglass) with construction drawing

· English wordmark COOLeMATE and Chinese 蔻 墨

· Horizontal and vertical lockups of the logo and wordmarks

Core visual identity

· Brand colours: deep blue, grey, light grey, black, white

· Typefaces: Heebo Regular, Source Han Sans Regular

Applications

· Stationery: business cards, envelopes, letterhead

· Promotion: brochures, posters, shopping bags

· Packaging: gift boxes, watch boxes, warranty cards

The stationery, promotion and packaging images on this page are application mock-ups; names on the business cards are placeholders, and product text in the brochures and posters was supplied by the client for illustration.

Looking back five years on

Three points are worth taking from this project:

1. Let the solid shape carry identity and the negative space carry the category. Zhong and the window are in the solid, the bow tie and the hourglass in the negative; four meanings share one mark without crowding each other.

2. One negative shape can be read two ways. Across it is a bow tie, upright an hourglass: business and time, the two things a business watch is about.

3. Take the logo to the most intimate places. The logo is on the dial, and its negative shape lines the watch box lid; the brand appears where customers look most closely.

Completed in 2021, the logo is still in use. The character 中 states the brand's Chinese identity, the window its outlook, and the bow tie inside the window says that it is a watch.

How to verify

· Client: 酷而美时尚文化(东莞)有限公司, 199 Jinyang Road, Zhangmutou, Dongguan, Guangdong (COOLEMATE website www.coolemate.com, footer)

· Status: the watch dial in the COOLEMATE home page banner carries the 中 logo and the COOLeMATE wordmark; the home page uses the line 世界瞰见 中国名片 (checked 31 October 2026)

· This case page: www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3062.html

Further reading

· DAVENA Brand Identity Upgrade: The Watch Brings the Shine, the Brand Brings the Order (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3045.html)

· Empark Prime Logo and Visual Identity: The Character 世 as a Window (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3061.html)

· Weiye Ceramics Brand Upgrade: One Plate That Spells 业 (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3055.html)

FAQ

Who designed the current COOLEMATE logo?

COOLEMATE's (蔻墨国表) current logo was designed by Xinming Design in 2021, together with the COOLeMATE wordmark, brand colours, typefaces and applications, including gift boxes and watch boxes. The new logo is still in use.

What does the COOLEMATE logo mean?

The whole mark is the character 中, defining COOLEMATE as a Chinese watch brand; its frame is shaped like a window, expressing a view of the world; the negative shape at the centre is a bow tie, for the brand's business character, and turned upright it is an hourglass, meaning heritage carried on through time.

Who proposed the line 世界瞰见 中国名片?

The client proposed it ("a Chinese calling card the world can see"); it is still used on the COOLEMATE website home page.

What are the COOLEMATE brand colours?

Deep blue (#142952) as the main colour, with grey (#6E7175), light grey (#B4BCC6), black and white.

Did Xinming Design design COOLEMATE's packaging?

Yes. Gift boxes, watch boxes and warranty cards were part of the applications; the deep blue bow tie panel inside the watch box lid comes from the negative shape at the centre of the logo.

Which companies can learn from this case?

Chinese watch, jewellery and accessory brands; consumer brands that want to build a cultural identity with a Chinese character without looking dated; and brands for which packaging is a key touchpoint and the logo needs to extend onto product and box.

Xinming Design is a brand systems design firm. Its work centres on systematic judgment, turning brand strategy into structures that can run and be inherited. www.xinming.sg