Designition

Our logo was to represent an innovative company so we wanted to keep it simple but clean and professional. Originally the silverfish part of the logo was to be in the shape of an S. After a bit of brainstorming we decided to shape them into more of a circle. We believed that this represented the recycling symbol more closely, and it is one of the main messages we are conveying. In terms of the font, we considered having a part of it eaten away (this is a classic trait of silverfish) but we thought this might come across as too experimental or childlike. The reflective, steel look is similar to the sheen of the silverfish. As they move, it looks like they have a somewhat metallic silver, pale-blue shine. We included a more vibrant blue-ish colour for the main logo, because we wanted it to remain appealing while being able to stand out on a page. The colour blue is also a variation of the classic, green recycle logo. It also symbolizes trust and intelligence, which are all important factors we want associated with our brand. For the black and white version of the logo we decided on more of a silver, rather than your traditional black and white. The silver variation remains neat and professional, it would work well for a newspaper print for example. While selecting which font to use, we decided that sticking with a san serif would keep it more polished and sharp. The use of a wider kerning for the word “solutions” keeps the logo in balance. The type isn’t too overpowering, and because the silverfish can be used as a separate, independent logo, its size in comparison really projects the silverfish, and possibly puts more attention on that aspect. The stylized variation of Helvetica would attract a designers eye as well perhaps.

I opened up Illustrator and traced the drawings I had done in my book. There were a lot of logo variations and experimenting; I was trying to attempt a metallic glow on the silverfish. I found some nice examples of reflections on vector drawn bugs, but it was much harder to do than I expected. After much frustration and crying to mum, I finally settled on a somewhat reflected, steel looking silverfish. The original idea was to have an S shape, but we ended up going for a circle as it somewhat represented a recycle symbol more. When playing around with the font, I selected a script type, but after examining it some more, I decided it looked too much like a restaurant. I was keen on having a wider kerning for the “solutions” part, and figured both words would be a san serif to keep with the professional look. After a bit more experimenting, I decided on gill sans and a more stylised version of helvetica; coolvetica.

Once we had a direction of where we wanted to take our branding, it was time to sketch some potential logo ideas. I scribbled a number of logo variations until I was able to narrow it down. The main idea we were happy with was having two parts to the logo. One part would be an illustration of a silverfish and the other would be the textual part. I wanted to shape two silverfish into the shape of an S so that it could stand on its own and still be recognised as a part of the same brand. The colour selection would stay similar to the insect, so the group decided on metalics, silvers and blues. For variations of the font, I decided we should stick with something simple to keep it professional. We were considering have it being eaten at - a typical trait of silverfish.

For the next assignment we were given a topic and group, and were to think of an identity and campaign for that topic. We were given ‘silverfish farm’. Besides creating a giant silverfish, or using them on your enemies, I thought of using them on garbage sites. If contained correctly they could consume the majority of the waste, and most of which was left over could be used as natural compost. We could design a brand that was enviro-friendly, and good for nature. Time to brainstorm further. 

The next step was to create an example of how our logo would be used. I kept to the constraints of the style guide and produced a simple campaign poster. I've used a white bounding box underneath the logo so that it stands out from the photograph of the tiger. Another white box is used for the supporting text. I've kept the colours of the logo consistent, and I've also included the additional paw logo that I created. All of the elements in the poster make the logo easily recognisable.