logos – FreeAssociates

Fck your logo. Focs on your brand.

In his article Forget About Your F*cking Logo. Nobody Cares. Australian designer Jon Hollamby (who designs logos himself) notes that far too often marketing managers conflate logos with brands. They obsess over their logo and, meanwhile, miss the point entirely.

Here’s the relationship a logo has to your actual brand: it’s a marker. An identifier. It can help someone find you. It can attract them. It can remind them of you. But ultimately it has about the same relationship to your company that a rancher’s brand on a steer’s rump has with the taste of a steak. (#VeganApology.) Read More

A second Silver from Graphis!

Wow! We did it again! We received another Silver Award from Graphis, the international design journal. This one was for the same project — the rebranding of Legistics, international providers of practice support services and equipment to law firms. This time, the award is part of Graphis’ Logo Design 9 annual — a different competition, and still pretty damn cool.

We’re delighted that the work we did for Legistics continues to be recognized by our peers and our industry. And continues to make an impact on our client’s business as well.

Huge thanks to Anat Rodan and Amy Crossan for their stunning design concepts and execution. It’s gratifying to be leading such a great team.

Kid’s-eye view of brands

What a lovely idea. Show a 5-year-old a series of logos and see what she thinks about them. Ohio-based designer Adam Ladd video’d his daughter as she gave her impressions of the brand identities we see around us every day. Amazing what creeps into our brains as children.

You can bemoan the level of brand saturation we all live under. Or you can accept it, enjoy it and maybe even use it. One man’s overwhelm is another man’s choice. But no matter how you slice it, we humans are smart about patterns and very good at first impressions. We had to be in order to survive in a prehistoric world where we could instantly become food to dumber but more powerful beasts. (Oooh, maybe corporations aren’t people! They’re….)

So it’s no wonder a kindergartner can so quickly grasp the essence of a symbol, and associate it with something she’s experienced. Want to hear what she has to say? Check out this video.

Bands really should play in unison

The music program at Santa Monica High School (known affectionately as Samohi) is legendary. Last year, their Jazz Band swept the national high school competition at Berklee School of Music in Boston, blowing away some 300 other schools. Listening to them play is astonishing. All the various bands — jazz, marching and concert — are near-professional quality, and performances are always a treat.

Robb Brown, who tirelessly volunteers in support of the program, and whose son Eli is a stellar trumpet player, asked me to create a system of logos that would unify all three bands under the aegis of their parent program, yet still give each its own unique identity. The new visuals had to work on t-shirts and signs, as well as print materials and websites.

Here are the four new logos, each with its own sensibility, yet with elements — shapes and, especially, the school’s own blue and gold color scheme — that pull them together under one umbrella.

[slideshow]

Blumark brand identity launched

Dynamic. Different. Distinctive. The new Detroit-based financial advisory group wanted to be perceived as anything but traditional. So they chose a name that would set them apart: Blumark. And they picked a marketing and public relations strategist who could help them find their voice: Sablan Communications. And Constance Sablan introduced them to FreeAssociates.

Our goal was to embody the youth, energy and vitality of the new start-up, but to temper it with a little warmth and and a lot of professionalism. In their words, “Traditional values. Innovative financial solutions.”

The crisp, clean typography says “We know what we’re doing.” The handmade brushstroke — the circular “mark” — speaks to the personal, human relationships that the partners forge with their clientele. And the single blue letter provides both focus and hook, letting the marketing team talk about how “U” are at the center of everything Blumark does.

Simple, bold and memorable, the new Blumark logo should drive the the Motor City firm’s branding efforts forward in high gear.

Fck your logo. Focs on your brand.

A second Silver from Graphis!

Kid’s-eye view of brands

Bands really should play in unison

Blumark brand identity launched

What can we help you find?

What else is new?

Don’t miss the next post