Commission: Mambo Beach House Logo

Having had postcards printed of my logo for El Palmar, I showed them to a couple of people in the village both of whom run guest houses. They both immediately asked if I could adapt it for their businesses, but since I’d agreed to the first offer as an exclusive design (allowing for the fact that I would still use the original design for my own purposes) I had to decline the second.

I started by making a digital sketch using photos I’d taken of the house and we used this to plan the changes in more detail

The brief was established: to move the tower to the left background, add an illustration of the guest house in its place and change the text; adding the name of the guest house to a longer banner at the top and moving ‘El Palmar’ to the bottom instead f the flowers.

At this stage I made some line visuals to show the client, just to make sure they were totally happy with the proposed new layout. They chose this one

Then I set about adjusting the outline with my tablet.

I sent this to my clients and they replied that they had changed their minds and wanted the title text to reflect their ‘brand’, requesting that it be changed to match the style they had used to paint signs on their house.

I set about making the changes; first by drawing the new text on print outs of the logo, then by scanning them into photoshop

Finally I coloured the logo in photoshop and added a granular texture. They are delighted with it and couldn’t decide on which background colour they liked best so I gave them both including png, RGB and CMYK versions for web and printing use.

What did I learn from this project?

• I underestimated how long it would take me to modify my original design so I set my quote a bit low in terms of an hourly rate. 
• When the client first requested that I use their ‘fonts’ my reaction was negative as I didn’t really like it and felt that I’d done the job I was asked to do. However after considering it a while I came to the conclusion that their desire for ‘brand consistency’ was correct and that making changes to designs is part of my job and had to be accepted. We renegotiated the fee to take into account the extra time involved and I insisted that I redraw the fonts in my style which is more symmetrical and neat.

Commission: Zanzibar Logo

Brief

·         Context

Logo for a new bar 

·         Content

One version with the word Zanzibar

One version with just the initial Z

·         Role of Image

For use on flyers, t-shirts, a sign and perhaps a mural

·         Audience

Bar/party goers

·         Stylistic aspect/ Effects

Simple, elegant, one colour

·         Theme

Seaside, tropical island

·         Tools and Materials

Digital image for flyers, screen printed t-shirts, hand painted sign/mural (time allowing)

·         Size

To scale 10x15cm

·         Timescale

1.5 days for the logo,1 week for the t-shirts

I was asked at short notice to design a logo for a new bar which could be used on publicity materials and t-shirts.

Images collected by the client

Thumbnails sketches made on site

The client selected the Z-palm tree sketch, which I later traced and made 3 line visuals in pencil

The client selected version 1 having asked first to see it with the ‘anzibar’ of version 2

I made a ‘semi-vectorised’ digital version using photoshop and illustrator

Also supplying inverted versions as the client had decided on a white on black for the screen printing

Screen printed T-shirts

Screen taped and ready to print

Fronts printed

Backs printed

                                          

Splodgy print caused by a seam in the shirt

                                        

All ready for the opening party

What did I learnt from this project?

The tight deadline spooked me when I got the job offer (especially as I had 3 other commissions on the go and an exhibition to keep stocked with prints, postcards and business cards) so I was cagey about what I could produce in the time.

I asked that the client collect research material and have some idea of what she wanted from the logo, that it be simple and one colour. It proved really useful to do thumbnails on the spot at our meeting and to have one selected there and then to develop into visuals. At our meeting we also worked out a timetable for the approval of the visuals, delivery of the finished logo and production of the t-shirts.

The client said that she would design the flyer around the logo and get them printed; this eased some of the pressure.

I also asked that the client provide the t-shirts for the screen prints to eliminate any quibbles about sizes and styles.

There were a couple of print faults caused by a seam in a shirt, a wrinkle in the card on which the shirt was supported and using too much ink. Luckily, the shirts being black, I was able to touch up the problem areas with black ink.

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