Client: Local Phi Theta Kappa Chapter

Project Details: A local Phi Theta Kappa chapter (PTK student honor society) at a nearby community college requested that I design a logo for their fundraising campaign to be launched in the fall of 2009. The premise and slogan behind the campaign is “Your change can change lives”. This slogan comes from a story told by the chapter’s advisor of how he collected spare change in a jar to help fund a family member’s College education from when she was born until she graduated high school.

The exact dollar figure he raised escapes me at this moment, but it was quite significant (thousands of dollars). Inspired by this story of goodwill, the PTK chapter hopes to influence community members to donate their spare change to help out local students.

Concepts: To help brand their fundraising campaign, I developed three logo concepts for the PTK chapter to choose from. In presenting these logos, I informed them of the five traits every great logo should have:

1. It is describable
2. It is memorable
3. It is effective with one color
4. It is scalable (works at any size)
5. It is appropriate

The logo concepts were as follows:

I then left it up to the PTK group to choose. They picked choice number one and will have the following logo imprinted on all of their materials associated with the fundraising campaign:

Final Thoughts: The students were very happy and excited with the logo choices presented to them. It was very satisfying to see their eyes light up knowing they would have their own visual brand to apply to all of their fundraising materials. I wish them the best of luck and hope that their fundraising campaign is successful (and hopefully my logo design will play a small part in their success).

Client: Riddle’s Hedgehogs (Christie Riddle)

Project Details: My wife often likes to take advantage of my passion for design. She used to run a very successful rabbitry, but has since decided to migrate over into breeding hedgehogs. Whenever she established a new venture, she asks for me to design her logo and promotional materials. Being she is my wife, I naturally charge nothing (aside from maybe a day to lounge around the house and do what I want!). Her only requirements for the logo was that it try to include the colors of brown, grey (hedgehog colors) and maybe a hint of purple (her favorite color).

Initial Concepts

My first step was to flesh out the design of the hedgehog that would be featured in the logo. I knew that using only typography in the logo would not work that well, as most people are not even aware of what a hedgehog is. Below are my first concepts based off of my initial sketches:

It was my wife’s preference to go with the hedgehog figure that was a complete silhouette. As I was not very fond of the concepts featuring the silhouetted hedgehog without the face element, I proceeded to draft some more concepts:

We both agreed that the final concept (the lower-right version featuring the hedgehog in white) was the most eye-catching and iconic. From there it was just a matter of applying the final color scheme:

The final product:

Testimonial: “Aaron did an awesome job with my logo design. I gave him a rough idea of what I wanted and he provided me with multiple versions to help me determine what was best for me. The whole design process went so smoothly and I ended up with something I absolutely love.” – Christie Riddle, Owner, Riddle’s Hedgehogs

Final Thoughts: I’m pleased with the end result. I think that the reversed silhouette treatment of the hedgehog figure makes the logo pop and catch your eye. The logo will also work very well when applied to a variety of items my wife may plan on using in the future (brochures, letterhead, business cards, merchandise).

Client: Footprints of the Mind, LLC (Irene Antonoglu)

Project Details: The client, whom I have done illustrative work for in the past, expressed interest in having a logo designed for her business, Footprints of the Mind, LLC. I had the client fill out a questionnaire, and learned that the business targets parents that want something more for their kids and understand that young children are capable of critical thinking skills even when they cannot read or fully articulate their thoughts. Irene also stated that part of Footprints of the Mind’s mission is to help create a safe place on the internet for little children. The client hoped for the final logo to evoke feelings of playfulness and professionalism.

Initial Concepts

In thinking about the company philosophy, I associated Footprints of the Mind with a few items: footprints (obviously), learning, knowledge, children, education, thought and the brain (mind). My initial sketches are below, along with the initial concepts I provided to the client:

The client liked the idea of using child’s footprints within the logo and wanted to stray away from the “brain” images. I agreed and provided some refined concepts for review:

Ultimately the client decided on logo number two above, and with a few minor modifications (the addition of LLC to the company name being one of them), we moved onto the colorization stage.

Color Determination

In choosing colors, I settled with a bright and bold green and blue color (Pantone 368 Green and Pantone 299 Blue with an 85% screen to be exact). The blue and green make the logo brighter and bolder…an important qualifier when trying to attract parents in search of child-friendly material. Also, the color blue is said to elicit emotions such as peace, tranquility, calm, stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conservatism, and security.

Trust is a big one, as the client’s company will be dealing with parents. As all parents know, trust and security is important regarding their children.

Testimonial: “Aaron did a fantastic job with the logo for my business. He was able to bring a rough concept to life and perfectly encapsulate my company’s mission and target audience with his creative use of art and color for the logo.” – Irene Antonoglu, Footprints of the Mind, LLC

Final Thoughts: Irene is a terrific client to do work for, so I am very pleased with the outcome of this logo. I feel it helps mesh the “playfulness” of children, while still keeping a professional / business look.

Project Details: This is a logo that I created for an Educational Foundation’s fundraising campaign. The campaign started in 2007 and is scheduled to run through 2009. I was provided only with the text “Invest. Impact. Inspire.” to work with, and told to create a logo concept for the Foundation that would appear on fundraising materials, publications and solicitations.

Using typefaces already present within the established visual identity of Foundation, I decided to give the logo a simple treatment relying more on typography than symbolism. The idea behind the logo is that if you “invest” money in education, you can impact” a student’s life and therefore “inspire” them to give back to their community.

Given that it is a three-step process, to me the most important step of the three is the inspiration of students. To inspire someone is a powerful thing . . . therefore I chose the word “inspire” to be the main focal point of the logo.

Final Thoughts: The logo is simple, recognizable and scalable – three of the most important traits that a great logo should have. There is nothing overly-decorative about the logo, which is why I think it is a successful end-product.

Client: Langford Home Sales (Natalie Langford)

Project Details: Natalie Langford of Langford Homes Sales contacted me via twitter to help brand her real estate company with a fresh logo. After meeting with Natalie and thinking about her philosophy as a real estate agent and home buyer / seller service provider, I kept coming back to the imagery of trees and leaves.

To me a tree / leaf represents growth, which is one of Natalie’s major selling points. Natalie helps her clients “grow” by giving them knowledge regarding the real estate market. Natalie is also an avid learner and teacher constantly seeking to learn more about the newest trends and ways to excel in the real estate market. Therefore her company is constantly growing in knowledge.

Therefore to me it seemed the most appropriate symbolism for the logo to contain was a leaf, tree or vine. Below were some of the finalized concepts I presented to Natalie:

I recommended number five for to me it was simple, yet memorable and powerfully associated her name with growth. I performed some final tweaks to the logo (adding a roof overhead to associate it further with the real estate market), and the project was completed.

Testimonial: “What began as a tweet turned into an exciting project resulting in a logo I’m proud of. I appreciate the interest in what I do, why I do it and how I do it. I feel my logo represents both my industry and my individual values. Thank you!” – Natalie Langford, Langford Home Sales

Final Thoughts: I really like how this logo turned out and consider it one of my current favorites. I am looking forward to helping Natalie apply the logo to her stationery and other display materials for branding.

Vehicle Signage (Update Oct. 15, 2009): Natalie recently had the logo imprinted onto her vehicle to advertise her business around the local community. I assisted her in making sure the colors transferred over correctly. Here are some photographs of the final result:

Data Matrix Solutions, Inc. (DMS) is a professional services firm offering business, financial, scientific, and engineering solutions to a variety of governmental agencies. As part of a larger re-branding contract agreement with Riddle Brothers Web Design and Development, LLC, I was tasked with the redesign of their current logo.

As you can see, their old logo was quite out-dated:

DMS informed me that they wanted to take their brand to the next level. To quote one member of DMS, their current logo and publication materials were “just not cutting it”. I informed them that their whole essence as a business and brand starts with a logo . . . something that is powerful and makes who they are and what they do instantly recognizable.

The Old Logo and Initial Concepts

When speaking with representatives of DMS, I learned that there was a hidden meaning behind the basic symbols used in their current logo. The main mission of DMS is to take problems or data, create a process to handle it and implement a solution through one of their provided services. Within the old logo, the square was a symbol of data, the diamond was a symbol for a matrix and the “sphere” was a symbol for the resulting solution.

Upon learning of this hidden meaning behind the current logo, I presented a few initial concepts to DMS, which are shown below:

During our next consultation meeting, we agreed that the company had to move away from integrating the symbols as part of their logo and overall brand. To the external audience, the symbols were simply three basic shapes with no meaning unless they are told the story behind them (as I indicated above). Therefore, it was agreed that I would head back to the drawing board to re-conceptualize the logo.

The Matrix Solution

While drafting the next round of logo designs, I felt that the main focus of the DMS company name was “matrix”. They create a “matrix” of processes to solve problems. To me this needed to be the heart of the company’s logo and brand.

In order to transfer the word matrix into some type of graphic or symbol, I consulted the dictionary. A “matrix” is defined as “a rectangular array of elements, arranged in rows and columns, that may be manipulated according to the rules of matrix algebra.”

My thought process lead to the creation of this next batch of logo concepts, which I presented to the DMS representatives:

A Final Choice

DMS selected the second option of the above batch to represent their company. They were very fond of the matrix symbol and circular, orbital treatment to give the logo a technological essence. I performed a final few tweaks to the logo and the final result was this:

I am now in the process of applying this logo to business cards, the re-designed Web site and other publication materials which will help to enhance the visual brand of DMS.

Like It? Love It? Hate It?

Your thoughts and opinions of this new logo are valued, so please leave your feedback in the comments section below. Thank you!

Testimonial: “No Riddle Here! Quality service, easy to work with and results driven. A real diamond in the rough resource.” — Ralph Buchanan, Data Matrix Solutions, Inc.

Client: AT Integrated

Project Details: Alex requested a logo for his Web development company specialicing in e-commerce and Web development solutions. In his words, the logo should project “high-end” technology services. The final solution I presented to Alex was the wordmark above encased with a circular swirl. The swirl surrounds the “ATI” emblem to reflect a play on “integrated”. The logo has been integrated into Alex’s Web site and business materials.

Testimonial: “I am very happy with the pricing, delivery times and quality delivered.  Aaron’s services fit my company and clients well.” – Alex Tchirakov, Business Owner, Developer, AT Integrated

Final Thoughts: While I like this logo and feel it represents Alex’s company well, in retrospect I feel I should have used a different “encasement” method for the wordmark. The swirl looks too much like an upside down Nike swoosh symbol.

Client: Virginia Community Colleges Association

Project Details: The VCCA held an internal competition (between association members) to design their 25th anniversary logo to be used on their celebration materials throughout the year. The requirements of the competition were that the logo had to be designed in black and white, include the phrase “25th Anniversary” and had to include their current logo shown here:

My submission was chosen as the winning entry and appeared on the VCCA’s promotional materials throughout the year.

There was a prize for winning, but I honestly cannot remember what it was ($50 or $100 sounds about right). While I normal oppose logo design contest as I feel they dilute the industry and cheapen services of qualified professionals, this contest was different in that it was only open to a handful of members.

Final Thoughts: I still enjoy how the “25th” sits playfully on top of the former VCCA logo. It is balanced and well positioned. If I could re-tool the logo, I would remove the banner from the bottom and re-style  the “anniversary” text.

Client: DMT Web Ventures Inc. (SocialRoster.com)

Project Details: DMT Web Ventures requested the design of a “Web 2.0″ style logo to debut with their Web site, SocialRoster.com.  The Social Roster site can be described as an social online utility for sports and recreational leagues. Members are able to register their leagues, invite captains, accept payments, share their schedules and interact in an online social environment through e-mail, mobile text message reminders and Facebook.

The above logo draws upon the design trends of Web 2.0 – bright colors, reflectivity, glossiness and simple imagery. The social roster team was very happy with the final result, and you can see the logo branded over their Web site: SocialRoster.com

Final Thoughts: I believe this logo stands strong with other Web 2.0 logos. Very simple, but iconic and appropriate for the purpose it was designed for.

Client: Riddle’s Bunny Barn

Project Details: This is a personal logo project I completed for my wife’s rabbitry and bunny breeding business. The logo features colors of her business’ brand (purple and pink hues) along with a vectorized sketch of a netherland dwarf rabbit that I drew by hand. The logo appears on her Web site, printed materials and business card.

Final Thoughts: There is something about the vector rabbit character that I really enjoy. The head shape and facial expression brings a smile to my face everytime that I see it. I hope the logo elicits the same type of reaction from all of my wife’s clients as well!