12Rock

12Rock

by | Feb 17, 2015 | Case Studies, Featured Work, logos

12Rock is a men’s ministry out of Riverside Community Church. Though ministry to men has existed previously, 12Rock was an effort to highlight the ministry’s identity and purpose.

One of the first questions I asked when talking about this project initially was, “What do you hope a new logo will accomplish?” To sum up their answer, they were looking for something that would grab and attract the attention of men in the community and express the unique identity of the group as well as its connection to the main church. Over time this logo would become a visual reminder of memories, experiences and events associated with this group, further solidifying its impact on the hearts of those involved.

The name “12Rock” was chosen for the account in the bible of Joshua commanding the men from each of the 12 tribes of Israel to collect a stone from the Jordan river and assemble them as a monument to the power of God for future generations. Some of the direction I received was that they were looking for something edgy and rugged, conveying “strength” and “band of brothers,” connected to the history and to the branding of the main church, Riverside, while still maintaining a distinctive look. With these cues I took the following approach to designing the logo.

Connection to the Main Church

In the main church’s logo, the tail of the “R” in “Riverside” swoops below the name to create a river-like feel. I used this subtly, allowing the tail of the “R” in “Rock” to swoop down below the “O”

I also used the unique approach to color in the Riverside logo. Across all riverside branding is a pallet of blues set in a mosaic-like pattern. I used an aspect of the logo (stones surrounding the text) as a way to visually represent this branding, giving the 12 stones the same blue pallet. If the logo is taken to gray-scale, the difference in gray shades still allows the look to be consistent with the Riverside branding, which means alternative colors can be overlaid for use in special events.

Finally, though the logo doesn’t require it, I used the Riverside Header Font, “Roboto Slab,” as the title and sub-title font to further associate the logo with Riverside.

Traditional and Progressive

It was important to the client that the logo both carry an ancient and progressive look. Both the use of stones as a part of the logo and the serif font face used for the “12” offer a traditional feel, while the bold, sans-serif font used for “Rock” (modified Impact font) along with a slight tilt in the angle of the logo offsets the traditional feel with a hint of modernism. With full color and texture, the logo has an edgy feel which also lends to the progressive look.

Global/Local

I chose a circle in which to frame the logo. The circle is used widely in social media to represent an individual person or entity. This is important, as this ministry is, in part, about changing individual lives as a part of a bigger connection. The configuration of the stones in the circle gives it a globe-like feel. Though I didn’t want to go as far as to shape the stones like the continents, I wanted to give a subtle nod to the aspect of this ministry that endeavors to reach the world, while also showing that each individual part makes up a significant and powerful whole.

Diversity

I took care to give each stone its own unique size and shape and was careful not to place stones of the same color right next to each other. This was to underscore the fact that this ministry is not just for one variety of race, background, circumstance or standing, but for all men. This works really well in tandem with the globe-like feel mentioned before. Each individual part, each stone, makes up a significant and powerful whole, therefore each stone is significant and necessary.

Rugged With Soft Edges

Another thing I was careful to do in crafting not only the stones, but the text, was to give them the look of something stone-like and rugged, but with rounded edges. The idea I wanted to convey here is that there is often a difference between the biblical understanding and the secular understanding of masculinity and strength. The stones in the logo are neither perfectly round, nor are they jagged and sharp. Men are sometimes told or taught that they have to be stones with sharp, strong edges or feel like they need to be perfect. The Bible teaches that our strength as men is often found in the softer places and in the way the Lord uses our unique shapes and that we are the most masculine when we are not afraid to let those places show.

“Band of Brothers”

I used the randomness of the stone’s size, shapes and colors to make them look a little like camouflage. This is meant to trigger thoughts of camaraderie among group members, as soldiers holding the front line together. This is a subtle visual gesture to convey the “band of brothers” feel. The viewer may not necessarily recognize it as a camo-like pattern, but it can serve to subconsciously spark that element of brotherhood.

12RockSample

The people and the mission behind this ministry are very close to my heart, and it brings me great joy to think that this logo could be a part of helping them see success in their mission.

Quarry Logo – Case Study

Quarry Logo – Case Study

by | Oct 29, 2014 | Case Studies, Featured Work

Initial Meeting and Goals Discussion

When the founders of Quarry met with me to discuss their goals for their logo, they described an organization that would be a shared resource for people entering various places in ministry, providing start-up funds, information, training, teaching and other equipping. Their goal is to remove barriers for people who feel called to something bigger than themselves. They talked about their desire for the logo to express strength, history and community. The idea for Quarry was that a person would be encouraged and equipped in community and then sent out into the world, much like a precious stone being quarried from rock. The strength of this person would not just be in their equipping, but in their connection to and remembrance of the community or “quarry” from which they came. They shared some ideas for imagery, including a quarry, a globe, a book, a lighthouse… but emphasized the previous mentioned strength, history and community. Quarry will serve as a flagship for various manifestations of the brand, so it was important that the branding be able to communicate the overarching purpose, yet versatile enough to be utilized for various sub-organizations.

Notes from the initial meeting

Sketches

After having taken down notes and spending a few days researching and gathering inspiration, I sat down and began to sketch out some concepts. I was drawn almost immediately to this idea of the “Q” of Quarry being stone-like, and somehow the tail of the “Q” representing an off-shoot (the gem of) the stone or quarry. It seemed to be a natural fit to somehow add latitude and longitude lines to half of the “Q” to make it globe-like, using the tail of the “Q” as the lowest latitude line. In this way I could express the strength, community and history, while also expressing the idea of a person being sent out into the world. The globe also lends to the need for the universal application of the brand across various sub-organizations.

sketches

Balancing History with Reaching Forward

For the text representation of the logo, I decided to allow the larger mark and the “Q” of Quarry to be almost identical, and based the rest of the letters on the style of the “Q”. The style of the “Q” was such that I could go with a serif or sans-serif approach to the font. I felt that the sans-serif was causing the name to look a little too modern/futuristic, so I designed serif characters to bring in more of a traditional feel. The rounded box style of the lettering combined with the serifs really balance the text well between the historical and forward reaching expressions of the brand.

Final Hand-Drawn Draft

For the final hand-drawn draft, I used the latitude lines to make a quarry-like layered rock section to the left of the “Q”. Ultimately I decided this was making the logo too busy and was taking away from the significance of the “Q”s tail in being the precious gem sent out from the quarry.

hand-drawn

Digitizing

After finishing the hand-drawn draft, I scanned the image and began to work on the digital file. I performed a live trace on the mark and the text separately. After tracing the text I separated each letter out so that I could work on them individually.

The Mark

For the mark, I decided that it made more sense for the globe to be positioned on the right rather than the left of the “Q” as this would have the tail moving toward and through the globe, rather than away from it. I also took some time to balance out the sections between the latitude and longitude lines and changed the orientation of the lines to give the logo a bit more movement. As a last step, I decided to extend the upper two latitude lines just beyond the outer edge of the “Q” to give even more of an impression of motion. Additional, more subtle imagery that plays into the brand are the many intersecting lines that make cross-like shapes. The longitude lines also slightly resemble the flipping pages of an open book. Finally, I decided to frame the logo as a cutout of a round-cornered rectangle at a 4:3 ratio. This and the mark without the rectangle are options for presentation. I chose a blue just a few shades lighter for the main color (Pantone 646 c) to support the strength, community and spirituality of the brand.

MarkOnly

The Text

For the text, I recognized almost right away the need for the “A” to be consistent with the “U” and removed the serif at the apex of the “A”. Also, to allow more visual flow, I decided to have the crossbar of the “A” swoop up to keep the resulting horizontal line created by the two “R”s from attracting too much attention. Finally, I went back and made several fine adjustments to widths, kerning and spacing. I chose a yellowish gold that was closer to the orange size of the spectrum (Pantone 124 c). It is only a few shades off of complimentary for the chosen blue and is an eye grabbing combination. The yellow/gold/orange combination communicates courage, value and a daring that supports the audacious nature of the person surrendering to calling that is bigger than them.

Text Only

Versatility In Action

Below the main text is where the names of the sub-organizations will appear. For this I chose Gotham, a simple sans-serif font, widely kerned and positioned below the text at the same width. I chose a darker grey (Pantone 425 c) to give the text enough presence to be seen, a similar depth to the colors in the main mark and text, without taking away from the others.

QuarryLogoFinal

The final result is something that will work well across multiple mediums and for a variety of ministry pursuits. Here are a couple examples of the logo in action:

Business Cards

Global Missions

Anhalt Hall

Anhalt Hall

by | Jul 16, 2014 | Case Studies, Featured Work, In The Boat, portfolio

Goals and Summary:

The goal of the logo is to convey the rich history of the dance hall, while highlighting the fun, light-hearted, community spirit that people experience when they hold and attend events there. A refresh of their branding will help Anhalt Hall to stand out more prominently in peoples’ minds when they consider where they’d like to have their next party, wedding, family reunion, etc. resulting in a more steady inflow of new and returning patrons.

I designed a logo that dances across whatever medium it uses. I intentionally gave some of the letters a subtle characteristic of dancing feet so the logo would express the vibrancy one experiences in the dance hall. I hand crafted a German type style font that matches the historical feel of the venue with a light-hearted spirit. For the secondary text I used a simple, rounded, sans-serif font with a little bit of German flavored decor to anchor the rest of the piece. It says to its beholder, “Come on in! Willkommen… if you will. We’ve been around for awhile and we know how to have fun. In here are good times and fond memories.”

Content:

Main Title – Anhalt Hall
Secondary Text – Est. 1875
Secondary Text – Germania Farmer Verein

Mediums:

Road signs, Banners, Website, Business Cards

Mood-Board:

These are some of the pictures and images I collected while I was gathering inspiration for this logo.

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Process:

-Sketch & Selection
anhaltsketches
I first sketched out several different ideas. In the end there were a few that really stood out to me. I went with the layout I liked the most and pulled some type styles from a few of the others.

-Draft & Digitize
progress1
1. I did a rough sketch of the idea that I liked the most, to confirm that I wanted to go that direction stylistically.
2. I drew and inked a final version that I then scanned into my computer.
3. I used Adobe Illustrator’s “Live Trace” feature to get the lines as close as possible to the original intent.
4. I cleaned up the wavy lines and stray points to make the logo more fluid.

-More Adjustments
progress3
5. After struggling with the layout, I decided to use a different arrangement from the preliminary sketch phase and adjust the entire thing. I also started focusing on kerning and making other adjustments to design how the spaces between the letters would interact.
6. I made adjustments to the overall curve of the logo, making sure it followed the curve of the composition more precisely to make for a better visual. I also made more adjustments to kerning.
7. Finally, I made detailed adjustments to each letter to bring out characteristics I wanted to highlight.

-Final
anhalt-final1
The final piece includes the establishment year and original title of the gathering that founded the hall.

anhalt-image
This is a fun variation that overlays a picture of the interior string lights (a key feature of the dance hall).

Package and Delivery:

-PMS color values
Main Color: PANTONE BLACK 7 C
Highlight Color: PANTONE 7515 C

-examples
Entrance Sign:
sign example 2

Business Cards:
business-card