Another one of my logos has been selected to be published as part of the Master Library series, titled Typography & Enclosures- a part of the LogoLounge new series of books. This one is for a package design I put together for Jaki’s Eye Makeup Remover Cloths. This project was maybe one of my favorites. I loved the illustration and fun feel of the design. It was just really great to explore this range. The logo was selected for its typography treatment.
A logo is the point of entry to the brand.
Milton Glaser, designer
What is a Logo.
I am often asked what I think the purpose of a logo is or in other words, what is its job description. My answer is always the same. It’s an emotional trigger. It is the most boiled down essence of a business. It’s there to either remind you of the expereince you have had with a business or service, whether your experience is limited to your ad in a phonebook or a full blown marketing campaign.
More importantly, I continue, is what the logo’s job IS NOT. It’s not there to give your potential customer the low down on everything you do. It’s not there to fulfill the role of a capabilities brochure or website or advertisement. In fact, the more you put into your logo, the more confusing the message often is.
A logo is the entry point to the brand message.
“While brand speaks to the mind and heart, brand identity is tangible and appeals to the senses. Brand identity is the visual and verbal expression of a brand. It begins with a brand name and brand mark and builds exponentially into a matrix of tools and communications.
Brand identity is a tool that is powerful and ubiquitous. It is the shortest, fastest form of communication available. It is an asset that needs to be managed, nourished, invested in, and leveraged. Done well, brand identity is the consistent reminder of the meaning of the brand.” Alina Wheeler, Designing Brand Identity
On Building a Logo.
It used to be that once a logo was created, you left it alone. It stayed true to itself for years, never failing in its unflinching ability to remain ageless. We now live in a different world. People are fickle and easily swayed. We have access to loads of information, loads of brands and ways to buy them. What we think is cool one day is not necessarily so the next. I believe that a logo today needs to live and breathe. By that, I don’t mean that you change it up all the time just for fun. You allow it to be flexible and adaptable when necessary while staying true to its core essence. But one thing that has not changed about logos, or at least strong logos, is that it absolutely must be a functional design.
The basic rules for judging this functionality are:
· Does it succeed in one color as well as multiple colors?
· Can you shrink it and maintain clarity or blow it up large without degradation in quality?
· Can you embroider, screen print or give it some other treatment successfully?
· Can you give the logo to someone for use on a poster without any issues due to filters that do not translate from one file format to another?
I just finished designing a new logo for Ben and Holly Jason of Living Solar- formerly Sustainable Living Technologies. I’m really really pleased with this I.D. It seems like many logos you bump into for a solar company, or business include the sun. While that’s an obvious symbol for solar, it’s also very overdone. The challenge here was to develop a logo that is memorable, and different. When Holly told me that she has always thought of a frog as a great mascot as they are incredibly sensitive to their environment and solar energy clearly has its perks when it comes to protecting the environment. It made so much sense. Ok forget that frogs are also sensitive to dry heat and the more literal problems with a frog representing a solar company. It’s a risk image, but a memorable and fun one. I believe one that will work.
But really this brings me to the bigger issue of what a logo should be or do. I know I have written on this before. It’s a big thing for me, because you often see logos that are trying to do too much. It does not have to include everything that a business does. It really just needs to trigger an emotional response. This little frog guy does that for me. It makes me curious, want to know more, smile and think about solar technology and its impact on the world.
I think that’s a good thing.
We are soooo pleased and happy to announce that once more our work has been chosen for inclusion in Logo Lounge, an international publication of identity marks. My understanding is that there were over 34,000 logos entered for consideration this year. Logo Lounge Volume 6 will be available for purchase in February, 2011 through Rockport Publishers.
We’re doing our best to keep Durango on the map for graphic design! Our featured logo:
I am often asked what I think the purpose of a logo is or in other words, what is its job description. My answer is always the same. It’s an emotional trigger. It is the most boiled down essence of a business. It is often the first time you have any contact with that business. It’s there to either remind you of the experience you have had, whether your experience is limited to your ad in a phonebook or a full blown marketing campaign. It sets the tone for what more you will discover about this business. And by the way, there is a lot of good reading on the subject.
As importantly, I continue, is what the logo’s job IS NOT. It’s not there to give your potential customer the low down on everything you do. It’s not there to fulfill the role of a capabilities brochure or website or advertisement. In fact, the more you put into your logo, the more confusing the message often is. Keep it clean, keep it simple, keep it functional. It has to do a lot of work for your business.
A logo is the point of entry to the brand. I think someone famous by the name of Milton Glaser wrote that.
Get your bag of seed starter out- it’s time to plant! While it is the middle of January and Mother Nature has left us with no less than 8 inches of fresh snow outside last night, a lucky few us get to get our hands in the dirt. SonnyLight has received its first shipment of LEDKitchenGarden and LEDGrowGarden grow lights. They look smart, are green, are easy to use and best of all inexpensive to run due to the LED technology. And, we are particularly fond of the logo.
I don’t know about you, but having a garden ripe tomato with fresh basil in the heart of winter borders on being scandalous. And I intend to jump whole heartedly into the veggie bacchanal!
Get yours at SonnyLightLED.com
We’ve been working on a very exciting identity system for a company called SonnyLight. They have developed a counter top sized LED Kitchen Grow light for all of us that struggle with starting seeds in the spring. Now you can have fresh basil all winter and not stress about getting your annuals started. We designed their identity system and are in the works on packaging and ad campaign.
The new LED Kitchen Lights won’t be available until later this fall. They can be found either online at sonnylightLED.com or through Brookstone.
The new Logo Lounge 5 book is now available for purchase. Good news! We have 4 of our logos featured in this issue and are feeling really great about that. It’s a wonderful resource book for all designers and showcases some of the best logos in the country and beyond.
Here it is. I’ve been getting a lot of question about the new name. Why Pool? What does it mean?
After Creative Conspiracy, I began the mental search for a new identity. How do you re-brand yourself? Never an easy task, especially when you have been one thing for over 12 years. I can do it for others, but its always challenging to do this for yourself.
I wanted a name that was short and simple. A name that represented reflection and clarity in business. A name that was in constant motion and was just sort of clean. A pool of ideas, a pool of creativity, a community, fun. It just felt right.
So much of branding is the experience you have with a particular business. If the experience is positive, the brand feels more positive and secure. If the experience is negative, so will the brand. We pride ourselves on our customers experiences with us. We try to make the process of self-branding a good one and one that helps you grow as a business. It can be transformative and is always in constant motion. pool.
We just got the Jaki’s Eye Makeup Remover package hot off the press. This is a very soft makeup remover cloth that’s gentle on the eyes and easy to stuff in your bag and go. Keep the smudgies away.
We printed our Jaki girl up in two different colorways to bring some more appeal to the clip strip hanging system. There’s no difference between two. Are you a warm tone or a cool tone?
At the moment they can be found at Nature’s Oasis in Durango, Colorado.
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