It was exciting to see all the submitted logos because I am always inspired by other designers work. I hope you too can find inspiration in every one of the logos too.

These, of course, are logos that were never used, but feel free to click on each designers link to see their full portfolio of work. You will also see I threw in a few of my favorite unused logos from past projects. Again, thanks to all the designers who submitted!

Designer: Riavon | Riavon Enterprises | Contact: ria@riavon.com

Sparians Logo | Designer: Riavon

Whiskey Creek Logo | Designer: Riavon

The Dirty Logo | Designer: Riavon

Designer: Gerard Whelan | Brand Central | Contact: Whelan@brandcentral.ie

Lifeblood Creative Logo | Designer: Gerard Whelan

Designer: Eric Benson | renourish

Stitch Logo | Designer: Eric Benson

Designer: Mateen Poster

Core Logo | Designer: Mateen Poster

Designer: Jeremy Bolton

Associated Painters Logo | Designer: Jeremy Bolton

Insyndia Logo | Designer: Jeremy Bolton

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Alfa Vale Hotel Logo | Design by Denis Wong

One of the recurring design challenges that logo designers face is coming up with a design for something that may be viewed as cliché or obvious. However, when done right, even the mundane can become interesting. Take the above logo for example. Although the first idea that may come to a designer making a logo for a hotel may be a bed, this design takes that idea to the next level. The inviting typography and colors add to the overall idea of comfort. Find other great logos by Denis Wong on his Behance profile.

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One of the best parts of my job is getting an inside look into businesses outside my field of work. When I begin my research for a new client I try to learn everything I can about what they do. This helps prepare me for the branding process, but it also allows me to get a peek into a business I knew nothing about previously.

Associated Painters contacted me a few months to create a new logo for their airplane painting business. They are opening a new facility in Spokane Washington and wanted to find a local designer to help them update their logo. I was delighted to be contacted and always appreciate other groups looking for local talent. To give you some background here is a brief summary of just what they do:

For over three decades Associated Painters, Inc. (AP) has been in the business of painting commercial aircraft. With over two thousand aircraft painted to date AP has emerged in the aerospace industry as ‘the’ service provider of choice for aircraft manufacturers like Boeing, modification centers like Aviation Technical Services, Inc. in Everett, Washington and AAR Aviation Services – Oklahoma…as well as scores of international and domestic airline companies.

The work they do is both challenging and creative. The more I learned, the more fascinated I became with the process of painting commercial airplanes. Needless to say I was excited to start brainstorming ideas.

Design Brief

As always I started off by having Associated Painters fill out my logo questionnaire. This helps give me a background with regards to their business, competition, how the logos will be used, etc. Reading over the questionnaire and after a few phone calls I put together a list what they wanted a logo to convey:

• Superior Quality
• Painting Airplanes
• Reputation
• Class
• Honesty
• Timely Delivery of Services

Initial Designs

On the top of their list was a logo that conveyed the idea that “these guys paint airplanes”. Based on this concept I created an initial round of logos that clearly ties together the imagery of an airplane with painting. While I knew they did not paint the planes with “paint brushes” I knew that this would be the most easily recognizable graphic to relay the idea of painting.

A few initial logo ideas for Associated Painters

Understandably, Associated Painters did not feel the paint brush was appropriate (or accurate) so we decided to look at designs that were a little more abstract, but still gave a clear indication of their work with planes. The second round (shown below) produced logos that they felt were more appropriate and interesting.

Second round of logo options for Associated Painters

I took the second round of logos and played around with the idea of using various shapes to produce the outline of the plane. I was also inspired by the way Associated Painters used different sets of shapes to paint the various images onto their planes. This lead to a logo design that Associated Painters chose to finalize.

Associated Painters Logo Plane Element

The plane’s outline is seen within the negative space of the three arrow-like shapes. I find that logos are always more interesting if the viewer has to take a few seconds to realize what it is they are looking at. This also gives them an “Aha!” moment once they see the shape of the plane.

Associated Painters Logo Angles & Shapes

To give the logo a unified structure I made sure that all of the elements shared the same angles. This helped make the shapes cohesive and allowed repetition within the mark.

Color Options

As always I present the initial logo ideas in simple black and white (or grayscale when appropriate). I don’t like to move on to color until the logo has been approved. This is because color options alone can be infinite and can distract from the design of the mark which should be able to stand on its own.

Associated Painters Logo in Black & White

Color Options for Associated Painters Logo

Looking over the various competitors for Associated Painters I decided to use warmer colors that offered some depth to the logo. Many of their competitors had gone with what I like to call “business blue” which is a basic medium blue. It is a safe and professional color, but does nothing to differentiate you and your business. I played with tint and color combinations to give them a few variations to look over.

Final Associated Painters Logo Colors

The final colors that Associated Painters chose are a dark blue and a copper. This combination gives a professional feel that is unique within their industry.

Final Logo Design

Associated Painters Final Logo Design

We played with a few different typefaces for their name and settled on a clean font that helps add to the forward moving feel of the logomark.

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Better late than never, right? I meant to post this news a few months back when I received this award, but my busy schedule kept me from sharing the news sooner. In early April I found out that my Grape & Grain logo received a Brass Ring Award from Oklahoma Christian University in the Logotype/Wordmark category.  I have to give a big thanks to Oklahoma Christian University for this recognition and the beautiful and unexpected medal (pictured above) sent to me to commemorate this award. Here is a little background about the Brass Ring Awards:

The Brass Ring Awards competition is designed to motivate and reward students for excellence in art and design. This year marks the 24th year for the Brass Ring Awards, which attracted 949 entries in 2008 from 22 universities and 17 high schools. We award best of show, gold, silver, bronze and merit awards in each category based on the judge’s scoring. All winners will be shown online.

Now that I am no longer a student I am not eligible for the awards, but I highly recommend that any design students out there submit their work for the Brass Ring Awards next year. It never hurts to have your work recognized and it looks great on your resumé. You can check out the full list of the 2010 award winners at BrassRingAwards.com.

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. . .

During the logo design process it isn’t uncommon to come up with hundreds of sketches, dozens of designs and, of course, a few gems. But for various reasons a great logo may never see the light of day. If you’re like me you keep those logos filed away, hoping that one day they may fit the needs of another client. But in all honesty how many ice cream shops will you design a logo for? Or a doggy day-care? Or a motorcycle repair shop?

So I have decided it is time to showcase some of those logo design gems for the world to see. Of course I could just show off a few of my unused designs in a quick blog post, but what fun is that? Instead I think it would be much more interesting to showcase unused logo designs from various designers from all over the world. So consider this the official call for submissions of your best unused logo designs.

Guidelines for Submission

• Please include your name, business name, and website address
• Submissions should be creative and showcase conceptual and/or design principles
• Logos must not be currently in use by a business or organization
• All logos must be the original work of the designer making the submission
• There is no limit to the number of submissions you can make
• Images must be submitted in full color on a white background and saved as a JPG

Please send all submissions (including JPG files) to LogoSubmissions@JeremyBolton.com

That’s it. Pretty simple right? I can’t promise every submission will be included. I really want to showcase designs that are well thought out, clever, and/or conceptual. Those submissions that are accepted will have their unused logos in an upcoming blog post along with their name and a link to their website. This is a great way to get you and your work noticed. So pass the word along about the call for submissions and start sending in your greatest unused logo ideas!

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Logo Orange

Logo Orange Design Group is a design and branding agency based out of Paris, France. Here are a few great branding and identity resources they offer on their website:

• The Big Page of Branding & Corporate Identity Resources
• Design a Custom Corporate Identity
• The Corporate Identity Manual

Major Branding Terms

I always enjoy a clever concept and this is a great one. Kirk Littell and George Potts of Kolbrener have compiled a list of major branding terms using the idea of a “Periodic Table”.

• Table of Brand Evolution Terms

Logo Design Love

Who doesn’t like free? Logo designer David Airey has graciously given away a free chapter from his book Logo Design Love which covers all areas of logo and brand design and implementation.

• Free Chapter of Logo Design Love

Identity Guidelines

And finally here are a few examples of brand and identity manuals used by various companies and institutions.

• Cambridge University Identity Guidelines
• Honeywell Brand Guidelines
• Heineken International Brand & Company Visual Identity
• TNT Brand Web

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Museum of London Logo by design firm Coley Porter Bell

The striking new logo, designed by award winning agency Coley Porter Bell, takes the conceptual form of London’s thumbprint. Coloured layers map the shape of London over time, reflecting the ever-changing, diverse and dynamic make up of London and Londoners, past, present and future. The brand mark has been crafted to create visual impact, and link the Museum venues. — Press Release

I came across the Museum of London recently and was simply fascinated with the concept. The logo epitomizes the very essence of conceptual logo design. And it does so with style and flair. It also represents a logo that gives you an “Aha!” moment. It’s unlikely you will understand the logo concept at first glance, but when you are told what it represents the logo takes on a whole new layer of meaning.

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Pasadena Wine Festival | Design: Studio Fluid

Jackie Blue | Design: Vigor Branding

FinVin | Design: Van Paul

Grace Hill Winery | Design: Gardner Design

Bistro 1689 | Design: Raja Sandhu

Wines of Chile | Design: FutureBrand

Cellar d'Or | Design: Fandam Studio

Sarasota Vineyard | Design: Heisel Design

Proof | Design: Alphabet Arm Design

Corkscrew Wine Bar | Design: A3 Design

2 Saints Estate Winery | Design: The Meyocks Group

Naturavino | Design: Square Logo

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Insyndia is a new IT consulting company that asked me to help create a unique identity for their business. I was excited to help a business start fresh from the ground up. After having them fill out an initial logo questionnaire I began building a design brief and sketching out my ideas. Here is a brief excerpt from Insyndia‘s website to give you some background about the services they offer:

We tailor services to your realistic needs and budgets. From day-to-day operational support and application development, to strategic reengineering of infrastructure and network architecture – we strive to meet your specific needs in a way that provides your organization with the necessary scalability you need to remain competitive. At Insyndia, there’s no one-size-fits-all methodology, but together we’ll forge a technology management and support relationship that’s best for your organization, both today and well into the future.

Insyndia Logo Design Brief & Sketches

Design Brief
Because Insyndia was a brand new business I started the design process by gathering key words and concepts that the company wanted to portray. Based on their initial emails and questionnaire I narrowed down the key words to the following:

• Nurturing
• Innovative
• Trustworthy
• Transparent
• Loyal
• Unfailing Ethics
• Passionate
• Service Oriented

I then took these keywords and set out to create a variety of logo options that would represent the ideals of the company. It was very important to Insyndia that they have a logo that was clean, simple, and effective.

Logo Options

The more information I gathered the more I saw a pattern begin to emerge in the form of the letter “i.” The letter “i” was found twice in the word Insyndia as well as in the company’s tagline: imagine. ignite. inspire. I decided to build my logo designs around the idea and form of the letter “i.”

A Few Unused Insyndia Logo Options

After looking over a few of my initial logo options they narrowed it down to one that they wanted to move forward with. The logo they chose was based on two sets of arcing circles which were aligned around a central circle. One arc of circles represented Insyndia, while the other represented the client. Both arcs are shown coming together around a central circle which represented the project at hand. The logo also took the shape of an “eye” which became a play on the letter “i” as well as conveying the attention to detail that Insyndia represents.

Insyndia Logo Mark

Next, I chose a few simple yet unique fonts to work with the logo mark. After the mark and the font were finalized I began setting up the structure of the logo to give it uniformity and balance. Spacing was key to give the logo room to breathe.

Insyndia Logo Mark Structure

Color Options

Before moving on to color I showed how the logo worked in simple black and white. While the logo may not appear in black and white that often it still must be able to hold up as an effective design without the need for color.

Insyndia Logo Black & White Options

We were finally ready to start exploring color. This can sometimes be the toughest part due to the countless number of color options available. I sent over a few dozen color options as a jumping off point. The client felt the first round of colors were too bright and not professional enough.

They knew a lot of their business would be contracted through the government and they wanted to make sure their logo appealed to that demographic. I began creating darker color palettes that felt more appropriate for Insyndia. A blue and a gray were ultimately chosen as Insyndia’s color palette.

A Few Insyndia Logo Color Options

Insyndia Logo Final Color Palette

While the blue and gray were chosen for the logo, the client also liked how the logo looked in white on a colored background. We made sure the logo could easily be seen when it appeared in white against the new color palette.

Insyndia Logo Color Options

The Final Logo Design

The final Insyndia logo design is clean and inviting. The structure gives the logo balance while the color palette offers a professional look and feel.

Insyndia Logo Final

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Truce Logo by Turner Duckworth

Truce Packaging by Turner Duckworth

I have found my new logo design hero: Turner Duckworth. Duckworth is a logo, brand, and package designer. You may have seen some of his work: the Amazon.com logo, the Palm logo, Dolby logo refresh, packaging for Coca-Cola and PopChips, as well as many others. The above logo was created to brand a new vodka and cognac liqueur mix. As you can see the word truce is cleverly flipped and able to fit perfectly inside itself. This is an example of a great conceptual design using carefully crafted type treatment. I think it is just brilliant. Be sure to check out the rest of his amazing portfolio.

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