SCM Designs: Washington DC | Virginia | Graphic Design » Logos

Opus Industries

admin — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:27:53 +0000

Opus Industries is a small industrial lens manufacturer who came to us looking for a new logo design that would indirectly depict a lens while not doing so in a literal sense. Fortunately, their company name was short, allowing for inclusion within the circular form. Reflections have been added in to add a three-dimensional aspect to the logo. The yellow cast in the bottom right helps add to the three dimensional aspect to the design, but also signifies new beginnings as they had used those words several time during our creative discussions.

Chester Donahue & Associates

admin — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 04:15:06 +0000

This is a logo designed for a small law firm by the name of Chester Donahue and Associates. They came to us looking to enhance the firm’s identity after experiencing a growth in workload and staff over the last couple of years. They felt it was time to have an identity that demonstrated the ideas that they are established, grounded and experienced in law, but they didn’t want something cliche (not literal to law). After our consultation, we learned that Chester and Donahue were actually the two last names of the founding partners and later learned that their initials were D. Chester and C. Donahue (or D.C & C.D. respectively). We thought this could be interesting in the overall logo design. The final logo, as seen, is simply a graphic that incorporates their last name initials “C’ and “D”(outer/larger forms). But we took it one step further and incorporated their first initials in a more subtle way. Within the outer ring, you might see the backwards C (white/negative space) and backwards D (in blue) appear inside the outer circle. We chose to center the graphic to lend to their expressed thoughts on wanting to have a logo that translated as established and grounded. Centering the logo has this kind of visual effect – making the viewer translate what they’re seeing as centered and grounded/established. Notice that in small scale, the graphic almost looks like a spin-dial lock, again giving the air of safety and reliability.

Ascendia

admin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:35:35 +0000

Ascendia, a mental development clinic for disabled children and young adults, recently contacted us to develop an image/logo they could build and develop their new identity around. They were looking for a logo that translated a sense of growth – a metamorphosis of sorts – to represent the emotional development of the young minds the work with on a daily basis. When told this, we immediately thought of a butterfly as they often represent that metamorphous from young to mature. Although it took a few trial and errors to get the form and motion right, this was the final result. The rightward slant induces a sense of a positive direction, while the colors “morph” from darker to brighter (something that we heard them say when referring to their influence on the kids several times when describing themselves and the business to me). Of the many proofs sent to them to review, they jumped on this one with only minor edits, and also felt it fit their vision perfectly. Below are the stationary and business card designs.

Health Diva

admin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:36:19 +0000

This is a logo designed for the “Health Diva”. She is a lifestyle and nutrition counselor who recently contacted us about having a logo design done to be used on her website, print material and other marketing collateral. She was looking for something somewhat youthful, edgy and retro-styled to inject a sense of her personality into her business identity. This logo has a looser line congruency, lending to the retro – almost hand-done feel. After several completely different renditions, she chose this one and we think it really does add personality to an otherwise simple but clean website. We must admit – this is not our typical direction, but we really think it works well and portrays a sense of the Health Diva’s personality!

If you’re as out of shape and eating as much junk as we are, visit her website here and have her straighten you up!

Below are some of the proofs presented to give you an idea of the process of elimination she went through to find the one she felt best represented her and her business.

Kangaroo Care Care

admin — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:50:36 +0000

Kangaroo Car Care (KCC) is a multi-faceted auto maintenance, repair, body shop and fleet management business run by an equally multi-talented Aussie entrepreneur. He recently contacted us to help him redesign his logo and identity package. He wanted something more modern and sought to keep the tie-in to Australia in his new image. He specifically wanted a stylized kangaroo and wanted it to portray the same speed and edge of his everyday business. Once his identity develops further, his hopes are to drop the full name from the logo and become better known as “KCC.” The initials were incorporated into the design so that later it can easily be broken apart depending on the application. This logo was designed specifically to be broken up and used as separate parts (ex: the kangaroo, the full logo and just the kangaroo and “KCC”) as they want to be able to apply it differently on their letterhead, than on their vehicles, than on their website, etc.

His new logo has been featured on logogala.com.

Below is an example of the new logo in use in their most recent flyer and ad. The postcard and ad include the color scheme of the logo to carry a unifying message.

Nightowls

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 01:59:47 +0000

Here’s a logo designed for a large community neighborhood watch program. They called themselves the Nightowls and wanted something they could use on their t-shirts, hats and outreach materials to community members. Given the nature of their group, we felt color wasn’t necessary. The solid black not only fit the premise, but also helps the eye focus on the forms of the circles and how they interact to form the owls face. It also kept down their printing prices as the program didn’t have a large budget. The logo is used as is and in negative format for black shirts, hats, etc. Below are the logos on black and white t-shirts as they are used now.

Fund for Education Abroad

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:30:07 +0000

This is a recent logo design for a non-profit organization. Their mission is to raise scholarship funds for students wanting to study abroad in places like China, Spain, Sicily, Syria and Japan. The “story” within the graphic is that each different colored arch represents the arms & shoulders of different people from around the world. The center sphere represents one head for all the encircling people – signifying that different people & cultures can work together under “one mind.” This logo is the cornerstone of their whole branding package, from which the colors and graphics are repeated throughout their business cards, letterhead, brochures, website and other marketing collateral.

This logo is also currently being featured on LogoGala.com . See it here.

Digital Performance

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:15:36 +0000

Digital Performance is a small business started by two brothers who sold digital timers, scales and other digital specific devices. Their hopes are to open a retail store in the near future, but realized they needed a brand identity to help attract investors to help fund their endeavor. They came to us seeking a logo design and ID package that would help them present a strong brand to these investors. They expressed their interest in having a logo that was appealing to their prospects while also representing their personal sentiments with respect to the direction they wanted to take their business. We could have easily chosen a boxy image or font as common associations of digital media tend to lean that way, but after seeing some of their products we discovered that digital products are far more advanced then one might think. Their screens and displays can render a very crisp, clean image now. So we thought their logo should reflect this, and not fall into a “retro” look. We decided on using a bold “D” with a superimposed stenciled “P” in the negative space that still allowed for clear understanding of both letters. The vertical lines tailing off to the left render a slightly more modern interpretation of a digital focus and adds a sense of motion to bolster the “Performance” aspect of their name. Below are examples of their letterhead, envelopes and business cards. Additional information is added at times depending on their application.

ZakNZee

admin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:31:49 +0000

ZakNZee is a small company started by three sisters, Zakia, Nahid, and Zainab. They’re starting a new business of selling creative original artwork, magnets and other trinkets to a wide audience. They have a very distinguish and keen eye for design and wanted a logo design that was contemporary, clean and linear. They were looking for a design that specifically incorporated their names as they are equal partners in the business and wanted that reflected in the logo design.

Spinnaker Sail Shop

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:30:45 +0000

Spinnaker Sailing Shop (in Florida) contacted us to have a logo identity designed for them. One that not only depicted the more literal sense of their business and the equipment but also the passion of sailing. The design had to be in a format that would work well with in the parameters of the specified sign spacing they had available outside their store. So we took the elongated landscape specs needed and chose a rope-like font accented by the likes of a spinnaker sail aloft. Naturally they wanted blue incorporated into the design, but we avoided the more common blues to give it a more upscale look. The logo is now the cornerstone of their visual identity.