Proteus
October 26, 2009
Project 2 for Typography was all about choosing the right typeface for the situation. The challenge was to create logos and business cards for 4 different companies that all fall under one umbrella corporation called Proteus. The companies were as follows:
A nationwide chain of funeral homes
My first sketches were for the funeral home. I figured this would be the most sober (I.E. least fun) of all the logos. I wanted to do something that played on a phrase Stephen King has used to describe death: “going to the clearing at the end of the path.” I did some initial sketches exploring how that might be expressed in a form simple enough for a logo. The end result will probably look like a tree to most people but I think it still works.
I considered using a script typeface for the funeral home logo, but decided it would be better to go with something easier to read. I chose Stempel Garamond Roman for the typeface because it’s simple and elegant without being too ornate for a logo. I did use a script, called Freebooter Script, on the business card to display a company motto. The rest of the card uses Stempel Garamond Roman and Bold to emphasize the name and street address.
A theme resaurant chain, designed to appeal to the same market as The Hard Rock Cafe and House of Blues chains
While sketching for the book store and toy store, I realized that I had 3 out of 4 concepts involving a large upper case P represented by some object with the ascender hanging down to “hold” the secondary word. I decided to take a similar approach in the restaurant logo so each company would have a unique identity, but still be connected by this one common trait.
The bar and grill logo uses a typeface called A Charming Font, which I’m assuming is based on the television Charmed. Though the typeface is originally meant to have a witchcraft/Halloween feel, I think it also works well to evoke the feelings associated with hard rock or heavy metal. To solidify the musical theme of the restaurant, I added extra shapes to the end of the ascender of the P to turn it into an abstracted guitar, and substituted a stylized treble clef for the ampersand.
A chain of video/book stores catering soley to rare, unusual, cult and hard-to-find films
I selected Eurostile medium for the book/movie store logo. I considered Trajan Pro, for its popular usage in movie posters, but decided Eurostile was easier to read and still has a cinematic quality. I was never quite satisfied with the end result however, as I just don’t think the film real “reads” as a P the way I would like. Out of all 4 logos, this was my least favorite.
A chain of retail outlets for children’s clothing, products and toys
For the toy store logo I used 2 display faces, JellyBelly and Lockergnome. Both are suitably playful for a toy store, and they are nicely contrasted. My original sketches had the P formed out of a normal looking balloon, but it suffered from the same problem as the book store logo. Instead I just stretched out the ascender of the JellyBelly P and made it look balloon-like. For the text of the business card I selected Cooper Black. It’s rounded enough to fit with the “fun” of the logo, but still easy to read.
This was the result of another class project. I was never completely satisfied with the project as a whole, but I do love the logo I created to go with it . When The Flaming Coal Mine found its way into the short story I started writing this weekend, it reminded me that I wanted to post the logo here.
Posting the Dynamic Overlord Solutions logo got me thinking about my own logo again. I was never that fond of the original logo I was using for this site, so I decided to attempt a redesign. To the left you can see a comparison of the old and new logos. I think the new version is a big improvement.
Here in Phoenix there is a company called General Dynamics. Every time I drive by the building the name tickles my funny bone. It’s the most generic and yet somehow evil sounding name I think I’ve ever encountered in the real world. I have no idea what they do there, but I always envision something you might see taking place in the secret lair of an evil genius.