Brand Identity
Project Selection
Coral Crusaders
Coral Crusaders is a company devoted to educating people about the destruction of coral, and the importance it has on our society. This is done through high quality video, photography, and years long timelapses. Our goal - come up with a fun, but simple logo to kickstart the Crusaders into action.
Moodboard
The moodboard process helped us to come up with a gameplan, while conceptualizing brand image. Colors, level of simplicity, scalability, and more all became focal points at this stage. Scalability was a bit rough, as coral can naturally be so detailed. Deciding how to balance detail with scalability proved to be the biggest challenge of the project; we were all quite happy with the end result.
Ideation
We had to decide the aspects of the logo first: The coral, the particular type, as well as a framing shape, which became a shield. With Coral Crusaders ideally being leaders in the fight to save our coral, a traditional shield shape was the key to translating an “on the front line” motif into the brands identity as a whole.
Concepts
These are the concepts created for the brand. Some we thought felt too detailed, but we love to start projects more complex and even a bit crazy, then reel it back as needed to fit customer expectation, brand identity, and target demographics. Of these concepts, the middle top one stuck out to us most. From there, we continued to refine that particular version into it’s final iteration.
Zeroing In
When it came time for refining the concepts, we decided that although the shield was pronounced, it felt too pronounced. With this in mind, we decided to remove the shield outline entirely; to us, this was it. The coral is pronounced, the scalability works, and the shield still feels present but subtle..
Final Look
For the final look, the colors were really the last step to tackle. We find it very important to leave color until last, as the base of the logo must be good enough without color before introducing any vibrancy.
For the colors, a brighter pink and darker blue were the choice. The brighter pink portrays not only the traditional color of coral, but also a sense of friendship and passion, two leading traits of the Coral Crusaders. The darker blue demonstrates the knowledge and power we as people can use to our advantage to help save our coral.
Basics Surfing
Basic. Comfortable. Built to survive. The idea behind Basics is to be at the top of oceanic sporting apparel and equipment. The apparel is built to survive the toughest of conditions on the water, while putting emphasis on comfort, style, and safety.
Creative Process
Creative Direction | Final Look | Clothing | 3D Landscape | Programs used: Maya3D, Illustrator, Photoshop |
Ideation
The initial sketch phase presented us with many different directions we could take this project in. In the end, the sketch below is what felt the best. While the custom type feels powerful, the sleek corners and rounded bases allow for it to retain some flow, reminiscent of the powerful flowy waves in the sea.
Final Look
With a flowy wave icon, and a blockier font, the logo clashes very similarly to a harsh wave. Although both clash, they ultimately work in tandem, creating a powerful end result.
For the icon specifically, we utilized the golden ratio. You will learn more about the golden ratio in our Wildthings project below! The colors chosen are light, misty, and almost appear as sea foam — perfect for those tropical areas, and very reminiscent of what we see somewhere like Teahupo’o in Tahiti.
Men’s
Women’s
Clothing Tags
Clothing tags were created for Basics as well. Tags for men, women, and unisex options were created.
Unisex
3D Landscape
This part of the project came a bit later on. We were asked to take the Basics logo, and create a 3D scene surrounding it. We instantly thought of creating a beach scene featuring the logo.
Feneris
This was a project done for a client starting up an IT company. He has always had an affinity for Norse mythology, with Fenrir always being at the top of his list.
Fenrir, in Norse Mythology, represents strength, power, and freedom - embodied in the wolf. In the conception of this logo, emulation of natural life form was key.
Creative Direction
We knew we wanted more of a mascot logo for this design. While doing a mascot-style logo, we didn’t want to push too far into the realm of your traditional sports mascot logos. Those are often the bright, vibrant, chaotic ones you see. We wanted to ride the line of mascot and traditional icon logo. Our creative director, Zack, got to work with the initial sketches, taking into account the best poses, positioning, and scale of all elements.
Final Look
Introducing the final look for Feneris. Strong, balanced, smooth, but fierce. We stuck with dark grey tones for most of the colors, with the exception being that punchy red for both the eye and tongue.
Wildthings Furniture
A natural high quality furniture company made with the highest quality leathers and materials to last a life-time. What came from this was one badass bear, cool mountains, and some comfy furniture.
Creative Direction
For this project, we pretty much had carte blanche as far as brand image went. We were asked to include an animal of some sort, but we got to choose. In the end, we chose a bear. A bear signifies strength, courage, stability, and the ability to endure. With furniture, strength and stability are a must - it’s what defines heirloom quality. As a brand, the word courage can be very powerful. A courageous company that is not afraid to innovate sends a strong message to it’s future customers. Lastly, the ability to endure and push through things in life is very powerful.
The Golden Ratio
The golden ratio is a skill I always heard about, but never knew too much. Over the years, curiosity got the best of me, and a few branding projects have now utilized the golden ratio. Very simply put, the golden ratio is like a special number (about 1.618) that helps create a sense of harmony, and allows things to feel balanced.
The Final Look
Wildthings! Strong, courageous, and homey at the same time. As some extra goodies, we threw in some business cards, and a custom pattern that can be used for shopping bags.
Coffee Break
Now, we love coffee; we also love those quaint little coffee shops with the comfy chairs and jazz music playing. Perfect for getting some quality work done, or relaxing to clear your mind. The result - Coffee Break — the place you visit when you want a break from the world, and to indulge in good coffee. Below is the entire brand, as well as some coffee bag designs!
Moodboard
The mood-boarding process for this was more-so looking at photos rather than past logo designs from others. We had the idea of the logo in mind already, so the rest was just getting down an overall feel to support the logo vision.
Ideation
Being that we wanted this logo to be hand-drawn, and we did not have a tablet at the time, our process was to brain dump various logo concepts and names for the company, then digitally transfer the sketches to the computer.
Refined Sketches
This is the icon we ultimately decided to center the rest of the logo around. As mentioned, the lack of a design tablet meant finding a workaround. Once we had the refined idea ready, we neatly re-drew everything how we wanted, and, for our design nerds out there, image traced the logo. For the less experienced, image tracing is essentially just tracing what we have on paper over to a digital environment.
Final Logo
Hand-drawn, rustic, but elegant at the same time. The logos were designed for the various layouts needed for a coffee shop, from cups and packaging, to outdoor signs and business cards.
Packaging
