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What is a clever logo

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IntroductionThe following pages are examples of creativity that I have found, that show off a clever aspect to its design.

Sauna / Emil Paun

This is a prime example of a fantastic logo that is clever. The design itself is very simple. It’s only uses a typeface, but it doen’t really need a symbol.

If we take the idea of what a Sauna is suppose to do you can translate that across to this logo. When a person steps in to a sauna it’s to sweat out excess water in the body. So you walk in heavier then when you leave. This has been translated across to the design starting with a heavy weight in letter for the ‘S’ and graduadlly getting to a thinner weight for the last letter. It is a very simple idea but one that works very well I feel.

For more aesthetic Emil added a mist or a haze to the outside of the letters. This is particuarly noticable on the ‘N’. This is to represent the hot mist/steam produced in a sauna.

Based in Manchester and focusing on web written in

HTML5 and CSS. Digital and ranges of layout design

with a small amount of branding.

A classic example of negative space used to create another aspect of a logo. This very simple design is a great piece of design and something that really communicates what a clever logo is.

The main part of this design is the symbol of a plug. An american plug to be exact, the way that the coil has been drawn with those small lines at the curves which really add to the design. The use of the negative space to create an ‘E’ is really clever. It is creating a second part to the design effortlessly. Using this as a piece of personal branding is great.

ED / Eden Clairicia

A french designer that focuses on branding and

printed media. Photography is also a big interest.

Another very simple design for a logo. By using the typeface Stacker Bold the designer has added a triangle to the bottom of the I and the L to create the shape of a pencil. Very clever concept indeed. By adding a triangle to the bottom of a typeface the designer has managed to create a very clever identity indeed.

I sent Reghardt a few emails asking him a couple of questions and he sent back some responses found on the other page.

Pencil / Reghardt Grobbelaar

Q. Which country do you currently live in?A. Currently I am living in South Africa.

Q. How many years have you been a designer?A. I finished my honors Degree early last year, but started doing freelance work in my second year, so roughly about since about mid 2008.

Q. Do you work from home or for a company?A. I work from home on a freelance basis, but plan to open a small studio soon.

Q. What would you say your speciality was in design?A. I would say my specialty is looking for the minimal in everything, that is one of the reasons why I prefer logo design. One has to find the right image to show the qualities on a company in a limited.

Q. When you designed this logo was it a live brief or a project for fun?A. The logo was designed while working on another concept, it was further developed and now just waiting to go to the right home. So basically fictional brief inspired by actual client work.

A South African designer working with international clients while specialising in

Identity Design.

Interview

Q. Whats your main goal when creating a new logo?A. The main goal is always finding the balance between what the client wants and good design, finding that special something that brings the company’s ideals/qualities across.

Q. Whats your favourite logo at the moment, and why?A. This changes a lot and goes back and forth between an number of logos, but at the moment it would be the personal mark of Swiss designer David Pache.

Q. Whats your favourite colour?A. I don’t really have one favorite color, but do have a certain soft spot for orange and blue.

Q. If you could brand anything in the world what would it be?A. I would say the South African Cricket team.

Maxwell Fox / Brice Beasley

A Texan designer that shoots wedding videos as a

day job, but also loves branding and packaging.

When I first saw this logo I didn’t get it straight away, but I think that a logo that has a subtle bit of cleverness to it is great.

The typeface Brice used is Telegrafico his thoughts behind it were that it was similar to Gotham his favourite typeface but it is a little wider and a little sharper. Based on the surname he designed a simple mark that resembles the head of a fox. Incorporating the shape of the ‘M’ in to that mark Brice designed a very simple but very clever logo to brand Maxwell Fox.

Unlock / Cleber FariaA portugese designer who focuses on

branding and identity

Another very simple design and one that I understood instantly.

The typeface was chosen on the basis that a padlock has rounded ends, so a rounded typeface would be appropriate. Then simply added a square with rounded edges above the ‘U’ to create the look of a padlock. Perfect.

Rocket Golf / Sean Heisler

An American designer based in Omaha. He focuses on

logos and branding within graphic communication.

He likes beer and spicy chicken.

Rocket Golf is a creative approach to using negative space.

Sean has taken the aspect of a tee used in golf as one of his main ideas. Simply adding 3 lines below the tees he has created the illusion of a rocket taking off in the negative space. This is a prime example of clever design, and why I take inspiration from design like this. The colours that Sean has used here are definately appropriate for golf. The golf green, and the whole aspect of the grass so this fits well with the whole image.

Slice / Manual Creative

The concept of Slice was to create a brand that could work on all formats on all packaging for any product.

The designers at Manual started with a typeface and then developed the idea using the idea of angles and dynamics. Something you would associate with this kind of product. By cutting away a section of the type at an angle they created the illusion that it has been sliced. A very clever bit of design and something that leaves you think you had thought of it. Manual won multiple awards for this, and rightly so.

An American based design team established in 2009 by Tom Crabtree who

was born in Yorkshire, England.

Airtistic / Alex Toth

Q. Which country do you currently live in?A. I live in the United States of America.

Q. How many years have you been a designer?A. I’ve been a designer now for 12 years

Q. Do you work from home or for a company?A. I work from my home office.

Q. How did you get in to designing?A. I began my career as a web/UI designer and considered that my specialty for a long time. In 2005 I developed an unhealthy obsession with branding and decided to test my skills in logo design. I received an overwhelmingly positive response. To this day web development remains the bulk of my workload but I continue to receive logo design requests regularly.

Q. When you designed this logo was it a live brief or a project for fun?A. The Airtistic logo was initially for fun. I was working on a different project for a client and had the realization of how similar the end of a pencil was to a parachute. In that moment, the idea for

the logo was born. It has since been sold to a client.

Q. Whats your main goal when creating a new logo?A. My main goal in creating a logo is to capture the essence of a client’s vision for their product, service and/or company. This involves learning all you can about the client’s product offering, services, competition, mission statement, goals, vision, personal vision for their brand and how they want to be perceived by their target audience.

Q. Whats your favourite logo at the moment, and why?A. Wow... there are so many it would be impossible to choose only one favorite. I will say that one of my favorite logos lately is by Josiah Jost. He recently designed a rebrand for Tyroo. It is very clever.

Q. And finally whats your favourite colour?A. It depends on my mood and the project I’m working on. I do wear a lot of black.. but that’s not really a color, is it?

An American designer that mainly focuses on Web and UI design but loves to get stuck in to a bit of branding.

The Fashion Center / Pentagram

While researching clever designs like this one, I found a interview between Sean Adams and Michael Bierut from Pentagram. It was interesting because they discussed a lot of different subjects. One of them was about the design for The Fashion Center. Michael mentions that the identity was created to be a 2D design, but that in the end they made it 3D and thats what made it stand out. They made the button huge out of polyester resin

and put in on a roof held on with a giant metal needle. From that he says it was easily identifiable.

The ‘F’ for fashion is made from the holes that you would normally thread the cotton through to attatch it to a shirt or dress. This is a clever method of design because its subtle.

The choice of black and white is interesting, but I think that was to make sure that the work of the fashion show becomes the main part of any page and that the identity is what sits in the background.

Focusing on branding and web this polish designer produces

some high-end work.

Analysis

“easily identifiable.”

Folder / Rokac

A Croatia based designer that focuses on typeface

design, branding and printed layout.

This was a design from Rokac that was a concept he thought of. A clever use of negative space again.

Taking the idea that a filing cabinet opens outward like the logo. Then colouring the negative space which makes the shape of a ‘F’. A really clever idea and use of negative space. Its classic ideas like this, that

Diamond Book Store / Joanna Malik

Q. Which country do you currently live in?A. Poland.

Q. How many years have you been a designer?A. 10 years.

Q. Do you work from home or for a company?A. I work from home.

Q. What would you say your speciality was in design?A. Logos / Branding / Web Design

Q. When you designed this logo was it a live brief or a project for fun?A. It was a project for fun.

Q. Whats your main goal when creating a new logo?A. Make a smart, simple mark.

Q. Whats your favourite logo at the moment, and why?A. From my portfolio the favorite logo is Diamon Bookstore. It is simple and smart.

Q. Whats your favourite colour?A. Black / Gray / Purple

Focusing on branding and web this polish designer produces

some high-end work.Q. If you could brand anything what would it be?A. A bookstore so I could use my logo from my portfolio.

Lion Bird / Nashifan Nizam

Interview

Q. Which country do you currently live in?A. Sri Lanka

Q. How many years have you been a designer?A. Been designing for three years and two months now, and have loved every second of it.Q. Do you work from home or for a company?A. I work from home, but planning to open a studio soon.

Q. How did you get in to designing?A. My dad was a designer, and I just picked it up from him. He taught me how to visualise concepts and ideas creatively in an impressive way.

Q. When you designed this logo was it a live brief or a project for fun?A. Neither, it was to implement the conceptual idea that came in to my mind.

Q. Whats your main goal when creating a new logo?A. It should have a unique and impressive style. Thats my main goal.

A freelance designer based in Sri Lanka, that tends to focus on identity.

Q. Whats your favourite logo at the moment, and why?A. ‘Families’ logo because the idea expression is clever.

Q. Whats your favourite colour?A. Dodger Blue

Q. If you could design anything what would it be?A. I would really want to design a television station, I think that would be really interesting.

Think Tank / Logiq

Q. Which country do you currently live in?A. We are based in America.

Q. How many years have you been a designer?A. Personally 6 years, but the other guys in the office have been going longer.

Q. Do you work from home or for a company?A. We have a small studio with a small team.

Q. How did you get in to designing?A. I always drew, and I did some collaborations with these guys for a bit, then we just decided to start up Logiq!

Q. When you designed this logo was it a live brief or a project for fun?A. This was actually my personal idea that I did before Logiq, it just grew in to something bigger, so fun really.

Q. Whats your main goal when creating a new logo?A. I like to research around the client before I put pen to paper, but overall I just aim to please the client.

A creative team based in America that focus on high impact creative solutions for the web and social networking market.

Q. Whats your favourite logo at the moment, and why?A. Always thought that the Toblerone logo was great with the bear in the mountain.

Q. And finally whats your favourite colour?A. Mint