Comedy Central Re-Branding

This is a pretty cool video that shows Comedy Central's new logo and look for 2011. They have had this logo for a long time:

but they have completely revamped their branding and are going for a much more modern look.  It is very simple and I think it's a pretty cool move on their part.  Watch the video below.

Comedy Central Press
Comedy Central: Refreshed and Rededicated
www.comedycentral.com
Funny Jokes Ugly Americans The Benson Interruption

Evolution of a Logo: Creative Filmmakers - Part 3

After a little back and forth, my client ended up choosing the paint splotch/eyelash version of the first logo, and wanted the main logo display to have the text underneath.  Here is the final logo:

I then added the logo in grey to her existing website at www.creativefilmmakers.org

More to come!

Evolution of a Logo: Creative Filmmakers - Part 2

Once my client received the logos I sent from Part 1, she said that she liked the first one (the eye) but that someone she showed it too said it looked remarkably similar to the CBS logo.  Oops!

Too similar to use?  Not sure.  I doubt it is copyright infringement, but I tried altering it to make it a little more unique.  I also wanted to do more with the creative part of the name Creative Filmmakers.  The logo above shows an eye looking through a camera lens, or something along those lines, but it didn't seem quite funky enough for me.  So, I tried these: 

I simply added some eyelashes or something that resembled paint splotches (or the other way around). 

I also tried one more design that was more playful, which I really liked, seen below:

More to come next week!

Evolution of a Logo: Creative Filmmakers - Part 1

A few months ago I wrote a series of posts showing my process from beginning to completion of Urban Chick Boutique's logo. You can view that series of posts here. I received a lot of comments on those posts, so I decided to do it again.

This time my client is a Cleveland-based independent film company, Creative Filmmakers. I have been hired to create a new logo for them, as well as do some work on their website, which can be viewed here.

I like to design logos first in black and white so that they look good if they ever have to be printed without color. Once the core logo is completed, I try adding color and see where it takes me/us.  The client requested something fairly "corporate-looking," but with a bit of "arty"ness to it as well. Below are some of my first attempts at the logo:

For this initial design, I started with a large black circle, drew an eye shape and then subtracted it from the circle.  Next, to make the pupil, I added a smaller black circle inside and subtracted an even smaller white circle from that to finish off the eye.   

This was a second idea I had that plays with an abstract image of a film reel.  It consists of mostly black and white circles as well, and I also used a paintbrush tool for the incomplete circles in the center and on the outside of the reel.

  

This was an example I gave to the client of how the logo would appear next to the name of the company horizontally.  I added a white circle to the A to make a visual connection with the eye logo, as well as to emphasize the word creative.  

This was an example I gave to my client of what the title would look like if we placed it underneath one of the circular logos.  

Finally, just to provide another option for the client, I tried this logo which was simply the name of the company and a mock-up of a film strip, which is made solely of black and white rectangles.  

Please check back later this week for more logo work for Creative Filmmakers.  And please take a look at their work at www.creativefilmmakers.org!

Follow-up to Hidden Message Logos

Please check out this post  before reading below.

Ahhh, Baskin Robbins.  As a child, I had gone to the 31-flavored ice cream parlor and had become accustomed to this logo:

In the past few years, though, the logo has been redesigned and the branding for BR has completely changed.  Upon first glance, I just thought they kept the colors but made it look more whimsical and/or more kid-like.  I hadn't really paid much attention before but yesterday as I drove by a BR store in the Cleve I finally noticed the hidden message in the logo.

Pretty clever, B-Robs.  Pretty clever indeed.  Way to hide "31" in your own initials.

Hidden Logo Tricks = Supercool

This is a post from a while back on graphicdesignblog.org, a site which I check frequently.  I think this post is particularly interesting, as it shows how some logos contain hidden images, meanings, etc.  Enjoy!

http://www.graphicdesignblog.org/hidden-logos-in-graphic-designing/ 

My favorites are Mosleep:

and Horror Films:

Coffee House logo - but no coffee

For a while now I have been working on designing a new logo for Butler University's Coffee House Committee, which puts on events such as open mic nights, poetry slams, concerts, etc. in Butler's campus coffee house.  One of the first things I noticed in my research was that the committee's name was spelled both "Coffeehouse" and "Coffee House" on various websites and sources.  I told them that from a branding standpoint, that is an insanely huge no-no, and that they should decide on one or the other before we finalized the logo and then stick with that spelling from here on out, with which they agreed.

One of the only guidelines for the logo was that they did not want anything coffee-related, i.e. no mugs, no coffee stains, no browns, no coffee beans.  Here were a few of my first ideas, in very basic form:

These ideas were constructed before they had reached a decision on whether or not it was "coffeehouse" or "coffee house", but they were just to give them examples of directions we could take.  

This is a later version of a logo that was going for a more official collegiate sort of look.  They liked mic and the positioning, but not the tagline or the formality.  

This was a sleeker, smoother version I tried, which is actually my favorite of the designs I did for them.  The committee ended up choosing this version below, which I designed to look more "arty", with paint strokes, handwriting font, and a sketched version of the mic:

They said it embodies the nature of their committee perfectly, so I'm happy.

Urban Chick, Phase 4

After the color scheme was finalized and the logo was almost done, I was asked to alter the K to attempt to play up the "Urban Chic" part of the name.  I submitted a few designs, and this inversion of the black and white letter K was agreed upon by all parties involved as the best.  Below is the final Urban Chick logo. 

Currently, I am using this logo for business cards and flyers, which will be posted as they are finalized. Thanks for reading!

Urban Chick, Phase 3

Once it was decided that the Subway design should be the main focus, the owner requested a different color scheme because they wanted something brighter, but not cute.  After trying out different color schemes using anywhere from one color to six colors, different patterns, etc., I landed on this color scheme which kept the randomness of the placement of the colors, but still had a coherent look to it.

This design uses a white background and no outlines, and below is a design which uses a black background with an outline around the letters to help them pop.  

The black background was the winner of this round, but it is not quite done yet!  Tomorrow I will unveil the final design, which will be seen on the storefront sign and print materials when the store opens in July.

Urban Chick, Phase 2

After the first rough designs were sorted through, we were left with the Easter-palate logo and the Subway logo, so I tried a number of different versions of each, because neither I, nor the owner, felt we had the final design yet.

One thing I tried was an inverted version of the Easter-palate logo with brighter colors to get the image above.

A request I had was to play up either the "chic" or "ur chic" in the Subway designs.  I tried a number of different ways of accomplishing this, including using different colors, different fonts, different shapes behind the letters, etc.  Most of them didn't feel like it wasn't the direction we wanted to go.  Here is one of the versions which played up the "ur chic":

One of the side effects of these types of designs was that it also tended to emphasize "bank" more than was desired.

Eventually, the Easter-palate design was thrown out for being a little too cute for what the owner is going for and the Subway design was chosen as the model to use from this point forward.

More to come!

Urban Chick Boutique in Cincinnati, Phase 1

For a while now I have been working on a commission to design the logo for a women's accessories and clothing boutique opening up in Anderson Twp. in Cincinnati called "Urban Chick".  The logo will eventually be printed on the store's sign as well as business cards and various print items.  I was given very few guidelines so I began by creating some quick drafts of possibilities, the best of which are shown below:

In this design, I was going for a light, perky and fun look using random-sized ovals and an Easter palate, as well as a font that I think is really cool called "Party".

 

 The owner described her boutique as having a "New York City feel" so in order to capture that, I created this design inspired by the NYC Subway lines, using roughly the same color scheme as the existing lines.  Since there are no U, H, I, or K lines, I used black for those letters, and the result was a design that didn't have a clear pattern or any immediately apparent uniformity, which I believe worked well and helped to convey the city atmosphere.

 

This design used the same "Party" font as before but I put it in front of a rough cutout of the Cincinnati skyline with yellow font on black to evoke the idea of city lights at night. 

In tomorrow's post I will show the next phase of the design process for Urban Chick's logo and branding, as we narrowed down the designs and played with colors. 

New logo, New look.

Welcome to the updated site, complete with a new logo and a new look for the page.  I am currently working on getting a couple websites up, including my own, so look for links soon.  Let me know what you think of the new logo at adam8485@gmail.com.  

Bizznizz Cards

I recently just completed a commission that included logo design and production of business cards for a very talented watercolor artist named Marilyn Lebhar.  Her artwork can be seen here: Watercolors by Marilyn Lebhar.

This is the final business card which includes the logo of which I posted drafts in a previous post.

Logo Designs

These are some variations on a logo that I am designing for a client.  The M was taken from their signature. 

The finished design can be seen here: Watercolors by Marilyn Lebhar.

Hair (the musical) Poster Design commission

I was hired by the Surfside Players theater troupe in Brevard County, Florida, to create a series of posters, flyers, and logos for their upcoming production of "Hair."  I was given the copy, some restrictions and guidelines on some of the type, and pretty much free reign on the idea.  The previous designer had been working in Microsoft Paint (?!), so I also helped the troupe convert existing boilerplates and logos to vector artwork so that it can be more easily resized to be used for future show posters, etc.  My thanks to the Surfside players for the work!

This was the original postcard I designed for the show.

This is a smaller ad which was printed in grayscale in their local paper.  

Finally, this is an 11x17 poster with a boilerplate that contains their sponsor information.

Quick logo design

This is a logo I designed a few weeks ago for a project.

UPDATE: Click to see this logo used in a layout