My short history of logos

A few weeks ago, I started following Smashing Magazine’s twitter while I was working on logo redesigns for my internship, and they linked to logoorange’s article on this year’s design trends. I thought it’d be interesting to go through my past designs to see where they fit in.

(… And of course by “interesting” I meant “harrowing”.)

Armory Gallery 1 (Fall 2007)

Armory Gallery 2 (Fall 2007)

Armory Gallery 3 (Fall 2007)

(The original files were lost in a terrible laptop mishap, so all I have are the printouts.)

This was from Ben’s typography class where we had to design a logo for the Armory Gallery, an exhibition space affiliated with the art department. All I presently remember from our client is that she wanted something “deco” and/or tying back to its location, as well as representing the gallery as a convening point between the school and the local arts communities. I … honestly don’t know what’s going on with the first logo. The second comp was supposed to be a deco letterform as well as evocative of a mountain, since the the gallery’s location is pretty mountain-filled. The third one went in a completely different direction, channeling a spirit of anarchy to represent the independent nature of the artists that show at the gallery. None of them were chosen, and honestly, thank God. These are all typographic logos, though the 2nd leans towards pictogram.

XYZ Logo (Fall 2007)

The logo for XYZ Gallery is all type set in Bookman Old Style. I think I was going for something reminiscent of the letter blocks you play with as a kid. This is too obvious, and “gallery” being shoved up between the “y” and the “z” are kind of uncomfortable to me now. I wonder if the rest of the officers would be up for a redesign … All typography here.

Wolf's Ridge Paintball (Fall 2007)

I did this logo as part of a brochure design for Wolf’s Ridge Paintball. I took the wolf from their site, cleaned it up in Illustrator, and set Stencil and Orator alongside it. Pretty straightforward, most likely won’t reduce too great, but I don’t think branding is a high priority for the client. I’m not sure this even falls under any of the trends.

The Second Read (Fall 2007)

I created The Second Read, a fictional used bookstore chain, for a class project on branding. I wanted the mark to exude elegance, so I designed an open book to mimic an ornament. Typeface is Garamond.

Take Your Kids 2 Vote (Winter 2007)

This logo for the Take Your Kids 2 Vote campaign was done under the art direction of Erik Muendel, creative director at Brightline Interactive. It’s basically only intended for the website as far as I can tell. I’m not sure I love the type treatment upon reflection. Now that I think of it, I guess this would be a tactile logo, wouldn’t it? Almost. Unfortunately the type remains two-dimensional; stripping the logo of the button, it’s a combination of type and pictogram again. The button mainly exists to add dimension to a mostly flat website.

Firestopping (Summer 2008)

These are three of many concepts for the “Firestopping” manual logo by the International Training Institute. The first one was the one that was actually used. While I’m not especially fond of the execution of any of these, some of the ideas are interesting I suppose. I definitely keep going back to pictogram logos.

1. Comps for iTi's "Head Load Calculations" 2. Comps for A World Fit For Kids (Summer 2008)

Yup. By the way, I didn’t realize until I revisited that the first logo for A World Fit For Kids that the large upside down heart/”W” looks like a butt.

I think I lean more towards typography and pictograms because I like the power in simplicity. Those styles also have the greatest flexibility amongst the other trends of 2009; I mean, as impressive as they look, the arabesque and tactile styles don’t reduce well and seem overly busy. Then again, I tend to design with print in mind, and as the piece says early on, many of this year’s trends work well on everything other than print. Of my designs, only the Take Your Kids 2 Vote logo was intended for web-only use.

Bonus round: my most recent work for Brightline Interactive. As far as I know, the firm is sticking with their original logo, so these’ll pretty much go unused.

Brightline Interactive Logo Comps (Winter 2008)

{ January 18th, 2009 at 7:33 pm | No comments }
Tags: logos