Logo development is something that generally takes me a considerable amount of time to finalize. Not sure exactly why. I can piece a layout or a simple composition of images and type in no time. Albeit it takes some patience and time to finesse and tweak it to perfection. But really crafting a word mark or logo takes a special focus of attention. I have my practices that I follow and my processes to adhere to, but often times I find myself really hammering out a solidified concrete form through hours of experimentation. I thought I’d showcase some of the transitions that my thesis logo has been gong through.
I started with the title Kinetic Underground. I started to study the letters and figure out connections between them. I then began to form shapes out of the two words. This led me to cracking open Illustrator and playing around with a few choice fonts and typefaces. Although the direction was clear, I was still unaware of how I was going to follow this path. As you can see from the examples shown above, a good majority of these marks were derived from piecing together the two words to create a form of sorts.
I felt I could take this way beyond a simple existing typeface. So I tried hand rendering the logo, scanning it, and then manipulating it through various effects and treatments. This proved to be a major chore as the quality wasn’t up to my standards. But I pressed on and took it as far as it would go. Eventually, I started to see the potential in crafting my own unique font and logo out of thin air. Even if I didn’t settle on any of these represented below, I did finally start to zero in on my concept and get a tighter focus on what I hoped to create.
By the time I got to my third round of logos, I was really starting to feel confident in how this was all unfolding. I kept pushing the boundaries until I came up with a breakthrough. After creating a plethora of word marks, it dawned on me. “I don’t need to settle on one defining mark. This is totally my vision. I can have as many as I want. So I decided to select a few logos and build from them. This would ultimately lead to a number of unique options and ideas. And it has. Currently, the logo will be used for a variety of applications so for it to work on these platforms, minor variances will have to be implemented. But I’m not totally finished. Every time I revisit this logo development, I’m nudging something here or tweaking something there. This could really go on forever.
