This post describes the work around the new SCL identify, and how you can get involved.
Introduction
I’ve asked Steve and the Gang at Fat Frog to draw up the identity for Souter Consulting. I had thought of putting the work out to Crowdspring, but that could have been a bit too hard and difficult right now. That said, I’m keen to explore the crowdsourcing approach. Alex Bogusky has posted about this recently.
So, I’ve gone for a different approach. Steve has nominated Gino for this, and I met with him last week to talk through his initial thoughts.
By way of explanation, Gino normally works with customers in a slightly different way. They will give FF the brief, and then Gino will present a design which is pretty close to complete [er, I think that’s it :-s].
Steve and Gino were happily willing to go along with my suggestion that I be involved in the design process.
What I’ve done here is to take Gino’s creative ideas, and post the PDFs so we can see where he’s going with it all.
The Brief
My original spec
Doc I put together to gather my thoughts.
Spec for Branding & Identity for Souter Consulting
Gino’s doc
Gino put together this document from my original thoughts and our face-to-face discussion.
Souter Consulting identity brief
A typeface all of my own!
I mentioned to Gino that I spent some time hanging out at the St Bride Library, in my early twenties. Styled as “the world’s foremost printing and graphics arts library”, it’s a haven for typeface nuts – of which I count myself one. :-D
So, I was proper thrilled when Gino unveiled the following design. Key ideas behind this face are a mixture of tech & readability – probably to be used for headings. What do *you* think?:
Thinking about this meant that I dusted off these two books, which brought back good memories [Amazon Associates book plug btw]:
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Stop Stealing Sheep and Find Out How Type Works |
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Introduction to Typography (Pelican Books. no. A 288.) ASIN: B0017YE8M4 |
Initial ideas from Gino at FatFrog
This section contains Gino’s ideas for the visual identity for SCL. Please comment at the bottom to let us (Gino and I) know what you think.
Round 1
I like the idea of these primary colours being blended together to make black in the middle. Also, they struck me as being “accessible” – hopefully easy to ‘take in’ when they first see them.
I realise it’s a bit cheeky to criticise, but the thought crossed my mind at the time that perhaps they look a bit like Housing Association re-branding exercise maybe?! [Did I get away with that? ;-)]
n.b. there are 4 pages in this widget.
Souter Consulting branding – approach 3
Round 2
So, this time a similar approach in terms of colours, but more of a sense of motion, change, etc. The middle roundel / start at the bottom is great because the colours are built in layers.
They remind me of a corporate logo of yesteryear, but something here definitely to work on.
n.b. there are 5 pages in this widget.
Souter Consulting branding – approach 2
Round 3
This cube / hexagon is fascinating. Cleverly, the design means that it can be both.It reminds me a bit of the old skool Mystify screen-saver effect.
I like the thought that it represents some sort of continuum, with ideas flowing around the cube in some way. To me, the concept of a ‘digital nervous system’ covers
- Document and records management
- Knowledge management
- Process
- Lightweight application integration
- Social Media & collaboration tools
- And various other things I can’t think of right now
Souter Consulting branding – approach 1_final
Thoughts
- Flattered to have my own typeface – I’m a typeface nut :-D
- I realise that this waffle could rightly be construed as high-falutin clap-track, but hey!
- Would love to go some feedback on this, either through the form, or comments below.
- Any comments will go to Gino for his next round of thinking – so please could I have whatever you’ve got asap? Ta
