Both Nebraska and Rhode Island recently redesigned their state logos.  Nebraska paid something like $65,000 for their new logo design, and according to the Providence Journal, Rhode Island paid famous designer Milton Glaser $400,000 to execute their logo design.  When a logo design costs this much, and public funds are being used, we think this at least opens the designs up for a little democratic critique.  First up Nebraska, with the new slogan; “Good Life. Great Opportunity.”

The first thing we would say about this is it is not a pure logo.  It is set inside this sort of business card shaped “poster” layout which uses the graphics at the bottom to play off the logo, and refer to the low rolling landscape of Nebraska, evoking a feeling of warmth, hospitality and tradition.  The butter-yellow swoosh that weaves through the word Nebraska and forms the cross on both the “A”s looks nice but we have to say… how many swooshes/computer brushstrokes go through the word out there and form the cross on a letter or two?  The other thing we would ask is will we even see the weaving of the swoosh when this design is printed very small, on a business card for example.  It reads Nebraska clearly, even at a glance or at a distance, which is very important.

Next up, Rhode Island’s new logo, designed by Milton Glaser; designer of the famous “I love NY” logo.

We are not going to argue with Milton Glaser only to say that the type could be bigger for readability at a small size.  Perhaps the tension or pull at the top could be retained with the type extending to the edges, making the entire design still a square, just larger type.  The type is sized more like a poster than a traditional logo.  Either way, the square shape is very utilitarian these days with the preponderance of square shaped social media profiles and applications that need to be filled.  This logo could drop right in to most of those small square applications without any major redesign.  Also, in the end the type can be positioned any way to the icon depending on the usage.  Overall our hat is off to this modern icon based logo for Rhode Island.

Contact us today if you need it all considered by professional logo designers before starting your logo design process.

“Simplify, simplify, simplify,” said Thoreau, and turns out he was darn right.  As this Starbucks design progression shows, over time their logo has become simpler.  This is the general trajectory for a company logo design over time, as the company matures and becomes more confident in it’s brand.  This simplification process of bringing a previous illustration into a more iconic form, although nothing new, has become even more acute in recent years as companies compete for fast loading times on mobile devices.

TIME magazine has just done a slideshow of the 10 most notable logo redesigns of 2015; the thing we see in common is in no case did they become more complex.  Each time the logo becomes more simple, more streamlined with fewer edges to take up less memory and time to load.  More and more often, it takes a talented designer to preserve the meaning and personality of a brand with just a few simple lines.

We here at Business Logos have also embraced simplicity with our upcoming redesign, which we have pre-released on our Facebook and LinkedIN pages.  Look for our new look to hit our website in the coming couple of weeks!

Hit us up for a redesign of your dated logo as well, we are always good for it.  In fact if you say “Thoreau was right” in your inquiry we will give you 20% off a logo redesign.  We are even up on the colors of the year, from Pantone, and everything else you need to create a stunning logo for your company.

Uh-Oh!  It looks like someone went with a logo design company that doesn’t guarantee their work as original.  This example of likely plagiarism was accidentally found while doing research by typing “construction logo” into Google.

At BusinessLogos, we guarantee all our design work to be original, and copyright-worthy.  You do not have to worry about a similar logo chewing a piece out of your hard-earned brand.  Don’t short your own company by chasing the lowest price out there on logo design.  Most of those companies are using outsourced designers in India and the like, and the results are spotty at best.

As a business owner, you know that your brand is important.  You can trust it to our North American design team.  Our work is guaranteed, if you ever find a similar logo out there, which you won’t; we will re-design it, for free.  Give us a try, you won’t regret it!

 

Once in a while, we pause from reporting on the logo designs in the news, and crow about one of the designs we at BusinessLogos have done for an interesting client.  In this case a permanent cosmetic salon logo we recently designed.  They came to us with the name “Forever Flawless” and a request for an icon that is made up of two “F”s which also form an infinity sign.

After seeing how this looked on paper, they decided to lay off of the “F”s and go with a wispy, hand drawn feather that curves to form an infinity sign.

The client came back with requests to refine the feather, and begin to match up typefaces that compliment it.  In the following graphic we can see the revisions to the feather, and finally the finished design!

… But we did not stop there.  Flawless Forever then decided to let us design their stationery.  We do four to five versions of each item, and then let the client finalize, revise, mix and match with those for a final product that is just so for them, which you can see here:

To clean up, or develop a new image for your business, give us a visit!

 

 

 

 

The University of Northern Colorado just redesigned their logo and posted it last Friday.  Those familiar with the old logo and the growing campus, know the redesign was well overdue.  The old logo can be seen on sportslogos.net.  The idea was a less ferocious, but more serious bear.  This tight design puts UNC’s branding on the same level as big, expensive universities such as Duke and the University of Connecticut.  The thing we really liked about this design is a custom font was used.  A slab serifed font was developed and named “Greeley” after the town of Greeley, where UNC is located.  Nothing is more powerful than when a logo design has a font that is totally unique.

 

Coming up this 12th of July, the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain will be held in England.  Along with the events, the commemoration has this nice logo design.  We might say some of the elements are too small for a business card but in this case the logo is more of a poster sized element, rather than a traditional logo design.  To make sure all considerations are taken beforehand when designing your company logo give BusinessLogos a look .