PROJECT OVERVIEW
For 2021’s Inktober Challenge (created by Jake Parker; www.inktober.com), I decided to do things differently. Instead of the standard inking or illustrative approach, I wanted to use some of the prompts to guide me in creating fictional brands. Each brand would include a primary logo, with the appropriate responsive variations, as well as a color palette, type pairings, and a mood board to convey the overall brand image. Each mini brand was created in 1 - 3 days.
PROMPT: CRYSTAL
As someone intrigued by all things, “witchy”, old-fashioned apothecaries, and spiritual connections with nature, the “crystal” prompt immediately made me think of a store where all of these things meet. The name “The Druid Den” came from the inspiration of one of my D&D characters, Nym - a Forest Gnome, Druid, with a deeply rooted connection to nature, and of course, an obsession with crystals (or anything pretty for that matter). I was also inspired by the Schitt’s Creek Rose Apothecary, and wanted to have that modern and airy vibe as well. The logo features a hand-drawn illustration in the center, of which, the moon can be separated from and used as a brand identifier on packaging, or in patterns.
PROMPT: SUIT
After some word list brainstorming for this prompt, space-suit was the concept that stood out to me. The idea of space and all things related has always been equally fascinating and terrifying to me, but I got to thinking about how space suits are made, and how that would be approached if in the future, a huge population is living in space. Whether it’s due to climate change, a nuclear war or radioactive atmosphere (I started thinking The 100), or just out of novelty, we might find ourselves with a sudden high demand for spacesuits which require specialized skills since people’s lives literally depend on them. And so, in comes AstroKnot, a trusted group of professional tailors who specialize in space-suit repair, creation, design, etc. who will ensure your life is not at stake simply because your clothes don’t fit you right.
For this brand, I wanted to make sure the mood wasn’t too futuristic feeling, and instead have the element that makes it feel like an everyday brand. This is a company that, in the future, will be a part of life’s needs, not a novelty. The bright colors are reminiscent of celestial bodies and the vastness of space, but by using the brighter colors more prominently, instead of the darker colors, it keeps the tone, happy, upbeat, and casual.
PROMPT: VESSEL
Most people’s first idea for this prompt, might be a ship, but I immediately pictured a huge ceramic vase. I have limited experience with pottery, and almost none with a pottery wheel, but I find watching Potters and Ceramicists at work to be hypnotic. One of my favorite things about hand-made pottery is the beauty in the slight imperfections, and the mystery in the glazing process. So for this brand, I envisioned a small studio of 1-3 Potters following their passion to make a living.
For the name, I loved the idea of the Japanese “wabi-sabi” technique, and finding the beauty in the imperfections, so I did a little digging into some other words that had a similar meaning. I love how many German words often mash a lot of other words together for a larger concept, so I started looking into German terms and found Sehnsucht. Sehnsucht is “The emotion of longing or hoping for a person, object, or outcome without expecting to achieve it.” I loved that concept applied to pottery. The idea that you have a general idea of what you want to do but just go with the flow of how the clay, wheel, glaze, etc. work on their own. Letting the materials guide you in the process. For colors, I wanted to keep it neutral to allow the products to stand out, but not so neutral it got lost in blandness. So I chose a soft blue/green inspired by a frequently used glaze color I see, to add some personality to the brand. I also designed the brand stamp with the idea that it would be a literal stamp that could be added to the bottom of products before firing.
PROMPT: KNOT
For this prompt, I took inspiration from Celtic Knots as well as all kinds of knots used in boating. After some exploration, I found a way to create a Sailors’ Knot icon in a way that resembled Celtic Knots. With this icon created, it naturally lead me to the concept of a Sailors’ Guild. A club-like group of passionate sailors enjoying the hobby together. After coming up with the concept, I knew exactly what font I wanted to use. From the moment I found Al Chevrola it immediately screamed sea-side to me and I was in love with all the beautiful ligatures (which unfortunately aren’t displayed much with the brand basics, but I envisioned the font used for headers on print and digital materials, especially a website). The name Helm & Hull came out of a long word list of any words I could associate with the brand & with sailing, and I liked the idea that the knot could act as an ampersand in the main logo. As for the colors, I took directly from the image of the side of a boat in the moodboard. The bright contrast and brilliant blue were a perfect fit for Helm & Hull each color representing different aspects of sailing - the blue of the water, the yellow sun, the white of the sails in the wind, and the only thing missing, was the sandy shore I added to round out the palette.
PROMPT: RAVEN
This prompt excited me so much. I didn’t want to go too expected, but I love the imagery that comes with the word raven, and brainstormed ideas from that atmosphere I wanted to capture, then it clicked. Edgar Allen Poe was exactly the direction I wanted. I figured a book-related brand was natural, and decided on a publishing company. This brand captures so much of what I love, and I leaned into it. The nod to a dark academia style, with a beautiful vintage font, tones of browns and neutrals, while still maintaining a clean, modern, welcoming, tone to appeal to Writers to come to them for publishing. For the logo, it was important to me to incorporate a raven, and using a footprint felt like a unique approach for a publisher. I kept to the vintage style adding a decorative oval for a wax-seal-like effect. A friend introduced me to the Milkstore font collection and I fell in love with it! Milkstore 03 is like a hand-painted sign, paired with Milkstore 05, a beautiful simple serif, gives the brand that vintage feel, but using Milkstore 04 for body copy would keep it modern (and more legible on a website and other digital materials).
PROMPT: SPIRIT
I quickly decided I wanted to focus on the alcoholic spirit instead of ghost spirit for this prompt, but had no idea what direction to go with so I started out looking for inspiration in images of drinks. When I found images of barrels of spirits, I immediately imagined them on large ships filled with pirates. After some more searching for inspiration, I found the dark, moody pirate aesthetic, and wanted to use that in a way that made for a very classy feeling distillery. And so, First Mate Spirits was created.
I worked to create a brand that truly encompassed (no pun intended), both high end distilling of classy cocktails, beverages, and tastings, but was also equal parts pirate. I opted to play more with typography for this logo, and chose the Cinzel font for it’s elegant simplicity and flowy capitals. I chose to merge as many letters together as possible too add to the flow and high end feel. Just the type alone was missing that pirate theme though. While I was brainstorming how to approach that, I was admiring the glyphs of Cinzel and spotted the lovely daggers. I tend to opt for asterisk footnote markers before daggers, so I rarely get to use them, but, of course, they’re called daggers! I had my pirate element, while still keeping to a typographic logo! I was excited to use the daggers in an untraditional way as well. For colors, I chose to stick with muted tones inspired by the materials of ships, the tools and machinery used in the distilling process, the spirits themselves, and a little touch of green for contrast; representative of garnishes on cocktails. I imagine First Mate Spirits to be very popular for tours and tastings, with a heavily pirate themed bar, and classy merch you see people sporting nationwide.
PROMPT: FAN
In continuously trying to use the prompts in less expected ways, I didn’t want to think of fan in terms of the thing that keeps you cool, but rather people who love something. Working at a youth orchestra, at the time, I was seeing us using platforms like Eventbrite, to sell tickets, and was inspired to create another event ticket seller. I did some minor research on other competitors in the field like, Ticketmaster, Live Nation as well to see what was missing. To me, I felt like the fans were exactly that. These companies all felt branded to the ticket selling rather than the fan atmosphere. I wanted to create something that screamed fun times with friends at events you can’t wait to go to.
I’m a sucker for a good pun or play-on-words and Fanatix was the perfect name. I don’t usually go for all lowercase typography, but the Tahura font in all lowercase, kept that soft, yet excited feel I was looking for in a clean logo. The tittle of the “i” lent itself perfectly to a small simple ticket icon, and a bold underline helped tie it all together a one bold, clean, exciting unit. Sticking to the focus of the excitement of fans, I wanted really bright colors inspired mostly by sunsets (the time of day a lot of events happen), and concert lighting, but that also speak to the types of events Fanatix sells for, all of which played into the naming of each color: concerts, theatrical performances, raves, sporting events & games, orchestral performances, and festivals. The Fanatix brand needed to be bold, clean, and simple, so events could speak for themselves, purchasing tickets is easy, and app and web designs would be clear and intuitive. I imagine Fanatix to have a large social media presence as well, making sure to get their name out in a positive and exciting light.
PROMPT: WATCH
Bino Streaming Service (pronounced bee-no) is an educational streaming platform for all ages. Bino is the Netflix of education. The prompt watch plays into this brand in multiple ways and leads to a string of connections. First we start at watching shows, programs, and movies, we add the bird watching theme, and take the name Bino from binoculars. The owl is the featured bird of the brand chosen due to it’s associations with wisdom which lean into the educational content offered. Bino has plans for schools, organizations, and personal use, and has a simple mission to better the world through learning.
I am extremely proud of this brand and logo. It captures everything I had hoped. I needed it to appeal to all ages, since you’re never too old to learn more. I chose Montserrat Black as the primary type for its clean structure, but unique playfulness, which allowed a more youthful feel once I rounded the corners for the logo. Pairing the type with mellow colors, however, added that level of maturity I wanted to appeal to adults. The sharp contrast of colors also would help allow for easier user experience in the app. I loved the owl logo mark I created, and noticed that when flipped upside down resembled a mountain, which inspired a series of icons, all created with elements of the owl, that could be used within the platform. The three below show land, mountains, and sea.
PROMPT: PRESSURE
Admittedly, I’m not quite sure the direct path my mind took to get to hot air balloons from pressure, but it had something to with air pressure of the atmosphere and the pressure in and on the balloons….I also may have been very inspired having just been to a balloon festival I was disappointed in the branding of. Nonetheless, I was excited to brand a balloon festival with a vintage bohemian style. I love The Wizard of Oz and Wicked, and absolutely had to name the festival after the Emerald City. But, like I said, my aim was still for a vintage bohemian style that would take place somewhere in the southwest (I hope to someday make it to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival since I love the imagery of hot air balloons over the desert), and not for an Emerald City theme. I kept everything simple, with a classic Bookman font, and muted desert colors, so the brand would fit right into photos of the balloons in the desert. I felt this festival had been started to honor The Wizard of Oz & Dorothy returning home in 1900 (when the book was published).