Logo Development

Recently I was asked to design a logo for a new start up business that was engaged in supplying second hand tools to tradespeople and DIYers. It is a mobile service and the name they came up with was “Tools 2 Go”.

It’s interesting that even small one-man-bands these days are recognising the importance of branding their businesses. So I thought I would live dangerously and attempt to explain to process I went through in coming up with their logo.

It all starts with the brief from the client.

In this case he had a few fixed ideas about what he wanted:
• Firstly the name he’d chosen ‘TOOLS 2 GO’ needed to feature the figure 2 (not the word ‘to’)
• Secondly the colour scheme was to be yellow and black. The reason for this was his love for the well known DEWALT logo, a brand leader in the tools game.

Incidentally, yellow is also a colour often associated with low cost, no frills, types of businesses. You only have to think about ‘Smart Buy’ and ‘Pak n Save’ to know what I mean. This potential perception would probably not hurt his business especially in the current economic climate.

As far as fonts go the DEWALT logo uses a very simple, manly font with no frills which I’m sure is part of its appeal.

So, the first thing I did was get started with some different fonts and concepts to see what might work...

I often like to explore the possibility of using some kind of graphic in my logos but in this case my initial efforts were looking either too detailed or they were overpowering the name too much. In the image above you can see I was exploring how much ‘graphic’ input the logo should contain. In order to achieve a simple, manly result it would need to be a case of “less is more”. I needed to keep this thing really simple.

Also the right balance of colours would be important (ie. yellow and black). This would become more important if it ever needed to be reversed onto a black background. It would need to work equally well both ways. I also liked the idea of giving it a focal point by using a splash of one additional colour: RED.

As for the font. I liked the chunky, chiselled “Machine” font which had a tough manly feel about it. So there were some aspects of the initial concepts that I liked but others would definitely have to go. This is what I came up with...

The client liked the idea of a toolbox graphic, although initially he thought it was a suitcase. For me the idea of a toolbox lent itself well to being simplified down to a very simple, basic shape (more so than the delivery van idea) and yet it was still recognisable and emphasised well the mobile aspect of his business, especially with the word GO right there on that part of the logo.

The client was very pleased. So was I, so I used it in an advertisement for my logo design service which I placed recently on the classifiedpages website. Check it out here: logo designer north shore.

I also created a reversed version with his tag line added to be used as his website header.

Bull Dog design

There’s nothing like making a sale for boosting one’s confidence.

So before the excitement wore off I started trying to think of a new design theme for some more souvenir/apparel items...

I really love the whole combination of typography, illustration and general branding techniques. I know it’s probably not everybody’s cup of tea but it’s something I can’t help myself doing — probably all those years spent designing corporate logos and brands.

Bull Dogs are really cute in their own special way, so for anyone who owns one I created a few different products that honor these ‘beautifully ugly’ creatures.

See some of the products I created here.
Long Sleeve Tshirts
Long Sleeve Dark Tshirts

The ‘Calculated’ Approach seems to be working!

I wouldn’t normally talk about the same design twice unless there was a good reason.

In this case it seems the ‘calculated’ approach I took with this design is paying off. I mentioned in a previous post how I intentionally merged 2 popular ideas: 1. the love for a cute animal with  2. the brand awareness of a certain 'Tennessee Whiskey'.

Well, it’s appealed to somebody else now — this is sale number 2, which came from a completely different continent this time. It was obviously a woman — who customised it onto this long sleeved red t-shirt. It actually looks really good.

I hope she likes it.

I’ll have to start thinking of some new designs using this same approach.

Kakapo Merchandising

Conservation is on a lot of people’s minds these days and extraordinary efforts are being made to save a whole host of endangered species throughout the earth. Understandably, the people involved in trying to save them have become very passionate about the task at hand. I met somebody recently who’s involved in trying to save the NZ Kakapo.

The Kakapo is one such example on the endangered species list with only about 40 adult birds surviving in the wilds of New Zealand. Known as the “owl parrot” due to it’s nocturnal habits, it’s virtually flightless. Being extremely fat probably doesn’t help — some adult birds can weigh up to 3kg.

As a bird lover myself I find them really cute, not that I’ve seen one up close — such an experience would be a real privilege. So what better subject for a new range of merchandising items than the NZ KAKAPO. Hopefully there will be others out there who feel the same way as I do and are moved to get their hands on one of these items.

See more Kakapo items on my Zazzle site here: NZ Kakapo souvenirs

Purchase Cap: NZ Kakapo Cap
Purchase Tote Bag: NZ Kakapo Tote Bag

SOLD! “Jack Russell” Dog Vest

It’s nice to know somebody appreciates my work. Although I must admit, this was a rather calculated attempt at making a sale.

For a start it’s amazing how much people love their animals and it seems people are willing to spend as much money on their pets as they do on themselves. Aside from this, writing the words Jack Russell in the same font and format as the “Jack Daniels’ — Tenessee Whiskey” logo may have given the design a cool hint of familiarity for anyone that way inclined.

Anyway, a sale’s a sale even if I did only make a couple of dollars on it.

Pity I couldn’t get a Jack Russell to model it for me. But he is cute!

Check it out on the Zazzle site here

Playing with Patterns

It’s amazing what you can learn on the internet these days. 

Using a couple of New Zealand souvenir designs I created a couple of months ago I created these repeating patterns for an iPad cover. Thanks to a very helpful vector tutorial by Vectips it was actually pretty simple.

Now that I’ve figured out how to make a seamless pattern, there’s all sorts of applications this could be used for... I might even make the odd necktie! Watch this space...

I’ve posted this item for sale on Zazzle here and here

Obsessed with T-Shirts

I don’t know why I’ve been so obsessed with T-shirts lately. 

I think it has something to do with when I was a young teenager in the late 70’s. A friend of the family who had been to the US had brought back some souvenir t-shirts as gifts. They were so different from anything you could buy in NZ at the time. I loved them. They were a real pleasure to wear and the designs were quite inspiring for me as a young ‘wanna-be’ artist at the time.

Perhaps it’s the 30+ years of pent up desire to create a few of my own t-shirt designs that’s finally coming to the surface. Up until about a year ago there was no way I could manage the whole t-shirt printing process myself, from design to end consumer without forking out heaps of money — that is, until I stumbled across “Zazzle”. 

If you haven’t heard of Zazzle, you’ll no doubt hear me talk more about it on this blog, as it’s opened up a whole new way for me to showcase some of my work. At the same time it has made some of my designs available for sale to anyone who’s interested in buying a T-shirt, or any other product for that matter, including caps, mugs, aprons, tote bags, etc.

So, here are a few designs I’ve been working on...

This is how they looked on T-shirts...

Zazzle allows you to customise the various designs and products that are available. Choose your own t-shirt colours and styles, add your own text or put the design onto other products. Check it out here.