‘‘… when designing a logo for an artist or musician this approach goes out the window’’
Often it’s hard to step out of your comfort zone, especially when you’ve been doing what you do for over 10 years. It’s easier to stick to what you know. I see it a lot but as David Attenborough once said ‘fortune favours the brave’.
‘‘I usually tend to avoid these types of project as it opens up the creative process to an enivitable black hole of subjective tussle’’
Over the years I have seen many methods of approach when it comes to logo design and more in-depth branding projects. For me, the most important element of any design process is that it aligns itself with the customer that it is aiming to attract. This is achieved through a process of discovery and in formulating a brand strategy, to explore, identify and strategise on the correct methods of engaging with the target audience. Many designers make the unintentional mistake of designing the logo to the taste of the client as opposed to the all important customer. I usually tent to avoid these types of project as it opens up the creative process to an inevitable black hole of subjective tussle (the clients personal preference vs the designers creative output), without any in-depth foresight into the characteristics and aspirations of the end user. However, when designing a logo for an artist or musician this approach goes out the window.
Below: Maha Quest - old logo design
‘‘The purpose of the rebrand now comes from a place of passion, true graft and personal exploration, not just mere profit.’’
With any project like this it is so inextricably personal to the client, it requires delving into the mind, art form, motivations and aspirations of the musician, the target audience is irrelevant. This is a different kind of challenge because as a designer you are here (in this case) to make visual the style, feeling and aroma of the music they create. All completely subjective. Unlike corporate branding projects the purpose of the rebrand now comes from a place of passion, true graft and personal exploration, not just mere profit. This is exciting and an absolute privilege but it can also be a daunting prospect because if there is no real synergy between the designer and the client, things can go downhill very quickly. Fortunately, in over 10 years of working as a designer there has only ever been one occasion where I felt the client (a musician also) was not best served by my design style, so I suggested someone that I felt would be a better fit.
‘‘I wanted to bring the new design into the 21st century, give it an almost signature feel and to experiment with a type of custom script, i’d never created before.’’
With this project I was given full creative reign over the design which was a rarity in itself. The only request from Rowan (Maha Quest) was that it be text based. Looking at his old logo there were a few things that jumped out to me. The first was that when I had previously designed the Parallels E.P release (above) the colour scheme of the logo conflicted with the E.P design. I had to do-away with the logo colours and recolour to suit the artwork. This can be a big negative as you can potentially jeopardise the consistency of the brand if the logo has to be recoloured for every piece of artwork. Having looked through the back catalogue of Rowans music, every single visual used brave, bold palettes, almost fluorescent in their impact. The new logo needed to compliment, not clash with future designs. The second element that I noticed was the old logo had a dated feel to it, the thick black stroke, retro colour scheme and symbols within the name gave it a 90’s feel and didn’t help with the legibility of the logo. The music of Maha Quest is experimental and current so I wanted to bring the new design into the 21st century, give it an almost signature feel and to experiment with a type of custom script, i’d never created before. The new logo needed to function seamlessly, be read instantaneously, and stand out on a crowded platform such as Spotify.
‘‘I like to work with haste. It’s all about design thinking, always thinking about how to be a better designer.’’
I work amongst a few programs with the Adobe suite: Photoshop, Lightroom, Indesign, After Efftects, Dimensions and Illustrator but it was illustrator that I wanted to delve deeper into for this project. I needed the freedom of scalability that a vector program brings but I often found these programs to be quite sluggish in terms of workflow. The speed in which I can composite in Photoshop or After Effects far exceeds that of anything in Illustrator. For this reason I decided to use Illustrator for this project. I wanted to transfer my painterly techniques from photoshop to illustrator and delve deeper into the pencil tool. I felt that if i combined this with an embellishment of tone, predominantly through the use of pattern brushes then I could create something quite naturally and speedily. This is what you can see in the image above, a mix of the main external paths creating the flow of the lettering and the detailed inner paths of the pattern brushes. For this project I set myself half a day to sketch, build, detail and tweak. This design came in just under 4 hours which I was pleased with considering (what I class as) a basic knowledge of Illustrator. I like to work with haste. It’s all about design thinking, always thinking about how to be a better designer. Im after a more streamlined workflow that retains the level of quality I expect in my work and once I have it, I refine it… And refine it… And refine it….And….. R..e…f…i…n…e…….i..t.
This design was selected for The Best Black Logo Designs by DesignRush on the Best Designs Trends page 2023. You can view mine and other winners here: https://www.designrush.com/best-designs/logo.