My aim set by the client is to design this taxi firm a new logo.
Seeing as this was all was mentioned by the client I took it upon myself to further research what it was that would be idealistic for a taxi firm. I found their guidelines on their website below which helped this...
The client then sent me this visual mock up of a taxi featuring the current logo, alongside the Norwich city council logo which will be closer to the rear of the car. Before starting mocking anything up I drew up an invoice for the logo design.
Current logo:
Looking at their website (which is not yet live hence the incomplete telephone number) it seems right to use colours that match so the logo will look at home on their banner, they too seem to have mimicked the colour of the Norwich City Council badge.
Importantly I need to follow guidelines dictating what service they offer;
"In modern Eco friendly, fully Licensed and Insured vehicles"
You can also pay using multiple different modern methods eg Apple pay etc, so logo must be modern
"Old school Values! Modern Way of Working!"
I started researching taxi company logos and found like their current logo, feature a lot of yellow, black and white; typical of black London taxis and American yellow cabs. They suggested speed were often 'glossy/shiny' suggestive of cleanness/ reliability but were typically more function over aesthetic. The garish yellow seems outdated and less purposely welcoming, more tacky. I did however like the use of the Trebaol Taxi (I assume that's what it's called the logotype makes it quite illegible) firm's iconography with the pinpoint.
I wanted to move away from this and focus on a more updated modern approach to such designs. In terms of visuals I asked if he wanted to keep the image (but update it) of a smiling taxi, whilst suggested using iconography of maps such as pin points which are used by Uber, Google maps and City mapper. The city mapper designs are especially relevant thanks to the smiley face included in the map pinpoint
Looking into the Uber branding it was interesting to see their design process, the reasoning behind their use of grids:
Grid: The grid is the foundation for organizing all the design components. You don’t see it, but it’s always there. It is as invisible and powerful as our technology, keeping the disparate components of our visual identity clear, cohesive, and beautiful.
Furthermore I read an article with the Citymapper brand designer Gilbert Wedam on It's Nice That.
“I think the one thing that sums up Citymapper best is its ‘Get Me Home’ button. Hard to put in words, but it’s a good example of the undertone of our entire product. I, as an app, dear user, I’m around, you do your thing, no matter where crazy life takes you. But you’ll always have an escape route. Get me home.”
Back home in London I use the Citymapper app daily, aiding my navigation from A to B in the simplest of terms, giving you a route and an expected cost of that route. The best feature I find is the 'Get me home' option. Wherever you are at whatever time at the click of a button you can access the most efficient route home, the app includes uber as an option for parts of the journey and other alternatives such as only buses, alerting you also the price of transport thus has helped me save money. The ease of the get me home option becomes particularly apparent when you're intoxicated and live on the other side of London...
The key design element is 'helpfulness' which is apparent through the simplistic san serif typeface, friendly icons (use of characters and smiley faces) and simplicity of layout as well as the comforting shade of green with connotations of a more eco friendly way of getting around, using public transport rather than a car.
For my logo however this eco-friendly aspect is not relevant but I do want to incorporate the same friendly helpful aesthetic as the transport in Norwich relies more on taxis especially at night. Having spent a weekend visiting my brother I found it very difficult to get a taxi after a night out, having to wait over an hour and queue for taxis outside a warehouse venue out of town. Considering this, the logo for the taxi company should be especially inviting as this may enable the firm to get more bookings, as well as a modern aesthetic giving connotations of being fast and reliable like Uber.
In summary I intend the new logo to be / have connotations of..
modern
friendly
reliability (licensed / insured)
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