A Study on Logos
Until one day it dawned on me.
At first glance it simply looks like an italicized “N” in a circle. But look closely, and the triangle to the left represents the “W” with a part of it having been removed. Not only that, but the triangle is also pointing to the upper left quadrant of the circle or the cardinal direction north-west on a compass.
Brilliant! The design was thought up by Landor Associates, the same brand consultancy firm that made the FedEx logo (have you seen its hidden arrow?!).
While the logo plays a large part in a company’s branding, the logo itself almost never encapsulates whatever it is that that company does or makes, or what services it provides. Yet, an effective logo can stand on its own and eventually become the single identifier of a brand, lifestyle, or product.
When I decided late last year to design my first “real” logo, I knew I obviously had to incorporate some aspect of photography in it. I thought of rolls of film, lenses, camera bodies, tripods, anything I could think of that would seamlessly include my initials in the design. I also knew I wanted another logo that would distinguish my lifestyle and portrait work from wedding photography.
And it all ended up taking just one Sunday afternoon.
Yet, having said that, I took several more weeks refining and adjusting it pixel by pixel before showing them to anyone. Then after that, I waited almost three months before making them “live” here on my website and on Facebook.
It took a little brainstorming and some rough sketches, but from there, it was just a matter of execution. I looked at a signature-esque logo but the initials GOP kind of set me off that path pretty quickly. Then I tried to play on the idea of the Orion constellation as a visual element but then realized Jasmine Star already had the corner on that. I settled on the idea of using the lens as the “O”.
I ended up getting carried away (though happily and content), and the outcome just seemed too stiff. It did end up being a neat little gif, though—which reinforces the importance of using layers for different elements so you can isolate changes if and when you need to get back to them.
While I was at it that afternoon, I also wanted to design a logo for my wedding photography—the aspect which I wanted to focus on more and eventually become the core of my business.
I ended up Googling wedding bands and found one that would make the most sense as a base template. After some vectoring and more Pen tool magic, I came up with another logo! Where I had gone for a grey tone, a recurring theme in my previous work, this time I decided to add the gold color later on so it would have the kind of lasting, regal quality to it.
And tadaaaaa!
The Basilica of Notre-Dame along the Avenue Jean-Médecin in the center of Nice, France looks good in any light. And they also kind of look like the Ravens’ colors.
www.glennorion.com
One of the reasons I’m glad to have stuck around with my webhost even though there are better (and pricier) options out there, is because while their feature set left much to be desired, it only meant that there was room for growth.
And grow they have. Largely in part a “drag and drop” website builder, it’s been exciting to be an eager recipient of the improvements constantly being made by the team behind Weebly. More customizations, more layout preferences, more theme choices, better back-end support, and so forth. The addition of the social networking icons last year was worth the wait.
And their newest feature I’m happy to incorporate is the Search box. Granted there isn’t much to search for here with four posts and simple menus, but it can only mean one thing—there’s room for growth! So stay tuned!
Marseille, the setting of one of my favorite books The Count of Monte Cristo. (Or was it just because it was required reading?)
A solid chocolate camera does not come cheap.
This one made by Hans Chung is going for $500. QUESTION: How long does it take to eat your way to the sensor?
yum (literally)!
Since moving to America I’ve found that apparently very few Americans know all this. So I spent six hours designing a fancy photoset to explain it all. Naturally.
(EDIT: I’ve made a number of corrections and removed a couple of generalisations/oversimplifications in response to a few snide comments. Hope this helps.)
informative!
(via kimbers)
Going through some europe pics—and remember liking this shot in my head while walking by one of the trains at the station in Innsbruck, Austria.
hehehehe
(Source: maddieonthings, via relaxhaveacupoftea)
yeee :)
(Source: belloyapak)
too cute!!
(Source: youtube.com, via relaxhaveacupoftea)
