I’ve always been fascinated by logo design. A good logo can carry a brand for a very long time; it’s not something that’s meant to change frequently so the opportunity to design one doesn’t come along very often. There are a lot of things to keep in mind when designing a logo. Obviously it needs to be eye catching and iconic but the designer also needs to consider how the logo will fit into various compositions, how it will be used across mediums and how it will look in monochrome.
When I set out to redesign my logo I struggled to balance all of these considerations. I was happy with my previous logo but I had trouble using it in certain places because of its shape. There were also some unnecessary elements left over from an original design that managed to make it in to the final. When I made the decision to redesign my site, I figured it would be a good time to start from scratch.
I started by sketching out some ideas. I wanted the logo to include my initials but I needed to design it in such a way that it would fit inside a square or a circle. I liked the idea of using a hexagon. After coming up with an initial design on paper, I transitioned in to Illustrator to polish it up with some good ol’ geometry. I’ve found that sometimes, when I have a hard time finalizing design decisions, it’s easier to let geometry do the work.
The finalized logo is essentially just comprised of three hexagons with a few shapes subtracted to form my initials and a spiral shape-the spiral shape was actually an unintended bonus. My hope is that the logo is recognizable but that the initials are not immediately apparent. It’s always cool when some blatantly obvious part of a logo comes as a surprise when revealed even though it has been there all along – see the arrow in the FedEX logo or the A to Z in the amazon logo. My friend told me that my logo looks like an ‘evil corporation’s logo.’ I guess I’m OK with that.