Design a logo for a new Leeds based skate brand.
deliverables: finished logo & printed stickers
The whole concept is completely new so I helped artist Matthew come up initially with the name, he gave me either Suki or Rosa, the latter he had ideas for a rose flower logo but I warned this was quite an obvious unoriginal concept. Going ahead with Suki I asked why this name which I'd initially chosen purely because it sounded more abstract.
Suki was his childhood dogs name, a Japanese Spitz.
Adorable.
However something cute and fluffy doesn't really fit into the context of a skate brand, so I began sketching up some ideas trying to give the dog a bit of an edge.
Research
Brands that really stood out to me and are most relevant with their use of Japanese lettering, were Evisen, while their logo is a simple celtic looking 'E', their boards are incredibly detailed using collage. At the top there is MKI and Santa Cruz just below on the left, I think the use of red symbolic
"Just like the British flag is called "the Union Jack," the Japanese flag is called "hinomaru （日の丸）." "Hinomaru" literally means "the sun's circle." Since "Nihon (Japan)" basically means, "Land of the rising sun," the red circle represents the sun."
(Namiko Abe, Japanese Conception of Red: Is Red the Color of Love? , 2018)
Me and Matthew spoke about the possibility of painting some boards if I have enough time, I really like the idea of a detailed traditional Japanese dragon design stretching round a plain board, keeping the logo blocky and simplistic contrasting this. I feel the more effective skate logo's I have seen have been the simpler ones, they're more recognisable and suited to the skate aesthetic.
I went off on my own tangent with the traditional Japanese dragon designs inspired by the starting point of the Japanese Spitz, my favourite design concept so far was the more traditional style drawing featured about. I then spoke to Matthew to gage his feelings about any of the ideas, he favoured the Japanese translation, a style very common throughout skate brands; so I think this will fit the skate aesthetic but I want to avoid it looking too similar to all other brands like MKI.
Digital Experimentation
I chose the smiley as one of the Japanese meanings of Suki is a liking/ fondness/ love, initially sketching the translation Matthew commented that the symbols would look like a complete face by just adding a curved line underneath. I feel the thick blocky lines of this design are most appropriate:
I feel the dragon designs could be an indication to how the painted skate decks would look, while the logo I feel should remain quite simple so it doesn't look chaotic on the deck. I chose the circular or box shapes in keeping with skate logo trends, and considering making stickers these shapes are the most appropriate.
Feedback
- Dragons should be on the board they're too complicated for a logo design
- Also like the top right design with the eye but may be better thicker lettering
- The overall favourite is the one I've chosen, as it's simple you can imagine it being more recognisable as a sticker round a skatepark/ on lamp posts etc
- Would look neater having the top two parallel lines match up / straight
- Moving the smile up may make it look more connected
I tightened it up a bit, taking on board the feedback and am really satisfied with it, it looks a lot neater with the parallels aligned.
I then spoke to Matthew but he raised concerns that with the mouth it looked "too childish". I explained the importance of it in regards to the context of the meaning of Suki (like/love/fondness). He said he really liked the fourth design from the top and asked me to put the text inside but as I pointed out it then looks like it's referencing Chinese culture which would come across as ignorant, as the lettering is Japanese:
He agreed the one I chose had the strongest visual identity but did like it in red, he then noted we should include the english translation as the name would be somewhat of a mystery in English.
Circular use of text throughout skate brand logos
Feeback from peers:
- Experiment with different thicknesses of text and different typefaces but the circular text is a lot more practical in terms of stickers, in keeping with the skate brand aesthetic eg
- Use a typeface as thick as the visual
In regards to the latter comment I tried this but everything just seemed to blend into one, I feel it looks better and makes more sense to have the text thinner as a contrast, especially as it's all the same colour.
I really like the text circling around the logo, so as to not disrupt the circular aesthetic which will also look way better when printed as stickers. The client came back with a rave review which I'm very satisfied with, I personally think it's a perfect fit for the brief and am really proud of it!
I used a modified version of Neuropol which I'd modified for Lazy Gear Aloe Vera tops sleeves, I really love the sci-fi basis of the font but not certain things like cut out sections of letters, so I edited this to fit my purpose.
Printing Stickers
I chose to have the stickers printed out quite large to have more of an impact as almost all of the design is red characters I didn't want it to be too squashed and illegible, perfect also for sticking on boards/ laptops/ lamposts as a fitting form of promo. I also chose matte finish to avoid them looking glossy and tacky, especially when they wear say for example stuck on a board/ lampost they'll look more rugged and inentionally faded rather than something that was meant to be immaculate and has been worn down, as skater fashion and trends are this somewhat rugged imperfect aesthetic.
