Two of my favourite design bloggers, David Airey and Jacob Cass are among those that post detailed ‘walkthroughs’ of their logo work all the way from the napkin scribble to the final cut. I thought I’d do the same for my own brand, Bad Blumau. In this post I’ll be focusing strictly on the logo, but I want to go through the site design at a later date after I finish ironing out some of the kinks — yes, like the footer!
My own logo was an important project for me for a couple of reasons: It embodied my presence at the absolute front line. Before people even read the company name they glance at the logo and as you know, a picture tells a thousand words. It’s make or break from the very outset. The second reason, obviously, is that a graphic designer should have a decent logo. Whether my final product cuts the mustard is undecided, but I think it rightfully embodies some of the emotions I want to conjure.
What does Bad Blumau mean?
The short answer: nothing meaningful. Under the skin however, I chose the name because it delicately emotes ideas of European-standard quality, a mischeivous daring and a rejection of standard practises. Some of the business names shortlisted included my own name, Gearside, and ranged all the way to cheesy word-plays like Engagency (geddit?) which was just a bit too advertising agency for me. I wanted something completely from left-field but having a historical background. Something that sounded as old as dirt.
I scanned a list of the name of every town in the world and read just about every one. I shortlisted Technikolor (not a town), Teutonic, Toledo, Syracuse, Elx and Bad Blumau. The rest is history and you can see what I ran with. A spa town in Austria.
Now, what does Bad Blumau mean?
It stands for premium quality with a hint of creative daring. How could I bottle that in the form of a logo?
Early use of the 'B' motif proved too strong
As Bad Blumau is a spa town it is also my personal stereotype of a European town. Snowy and freezing with well-built with stone houses and five-star hotels with flags running along roof. I started playing with the pennant flag idea with plans to introduce vivid colour for each flag. I was also thinking along the lines of gradients and ‘artificial frills’. It quickly became obivous I was deviating from one of the basic rules of logo design: it should work without colour. The B-flag idea just wasn’t strong enough on its own.
By the same measure, I wanted to incorporate the letter B into the logo in a subtle way. I think the use of initials relating to the name of the business in logos is arbitrary and often has no meaning other than looking nice. My early sketches, above, have the B as the main part of the logo. As I developed my designs I recognised the importance of making something that deviated from these (stale) fads but at the same time maintained a purposeful connection to the business.
Early attempts
With all of the above in mind, I was still undecisive. I wanted to preach quality and daring yet wasn’t quite grasping it with early attempts that got the quality part right, but wouldn’t ride the rollercoaster like I wanted them to. The typeface had serifs, traditionally a sign of being old-fashioned but dependable. I wanted youth.
Also, the problem with these ones was that they weren’t a logotype, yet offered very little in the form of an original logo. A blue square wouldn’t say ‘Bad Blumau’ and a purple lake, in hindsight, just looks like rubbish. But those are the steps you take as a designer. It’s the process baby.
Exploiting the 'Blu' in the name with obvious effect
A lake theme that forged a link to the name's Austrian roots
Getting warmer…
On a quiet Sunday morning in April I had nailed the typeface. The advantgarde Century Gothic feels almost like a serifed font without a touch of Art Deco moderne. It has Bauhaus-style curves yet remains legible. It’s classy yet adventurous and a bit less dependable than your Swiss-made Helvetica.
Looks nice, but too complex and reliant on colour
At the same time, I was experiementing with the logo itself and coming up with some creative but really disconnected ideas. The Colour Wheel above is nice but relies a bit too heavily on colour and texture and not sillhouhette. I felt I was making progress but still hadn’t found something that met the criteria in a unique way.
For one draft I took inspiration from the very-European United Colors of Benneton. I can describe the connection, but the logo below just felt that way in terms of its central, circular focus. It evoked Japanese influences (the pioneers of quality furniture and ceramics at the revival of the Arts and Crafts movement in the 19th century) yet remained modern with a hint of Euro.
London Underground hamburger looked nice but was too 'safe'
A bunny kid is born.
Well that’s what it looks like, doesn’t it? I was again back working on the B-motif and looking for really interesting ways to interpret the Bs when I struck gold. I was skewing and flipping them in almost every way possible and managed to make a face with one configuration. The top B formed goggle-like eyes and the second one, within a semi-circle, made a nice pair of buck teeth to rival Bugs. Yep, that’s it. It was cheeky and unique but controlled and polished.
Having run it past a few people to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, I developed its look to work specifically for my website where it would first be seen prominently. I decided to up the gauge of the font to bold to increase impact and add some colour in the form of two eyes within the first B. I added some dimension for the final cut with a ’silver-effect’ gradient (light grey to grey) and a drop shadow. Grey is a popular choice for websites and I’ve always liked it because it draws greater attention to the colours in individual works.
Done like a dinner.
It was a long process and people often forgot how long it takes to find something that speaks for the brand (people asking for $200 logos, I’m looking at you). I set out to find something that was about quality with a touch of daring. I think I pulled it off in a unique and lasting way, but only time will tell. Until then, let me know what you think.
Posted on July 5th, 2009 in Graphic Design, Logo Design, Process Case Studies | 1 Comment
