Free is a Verb logo, initial sketches

My wife and I were planning to go overseas for a year to do charitable work fighting human trafficking, and I think it was my Aunt Sarah, a graphic designer who astutely pointed out that we needed a brand to get people excited about our work, motivated to donate, and also to help us establish our work as part of something bigger. So we bounced some word associations around, looked at some fonts, and I got started sketching.

Since one of our main goals was not just to fight human trafficking ourselves, but to prompt others to do the same, I gravitated toward the phrase "free is a verb." And since human trafficking often involves physical transportation and literal tying up or handcuffs, the imagery focused on those areas as well. My initial sketches are below; in the following post we'll look at the finished version.

Elemental Food, business name and logo sketches

After much deliberation and prodding from those who have enjoyed his superlative cooking, my friend Josh is moving ahead with starting a catering/private chef business.  After discussing various names relating to his Oakland location, his cooking style, his approach to food, and his own name, we finally settled on Elemental Food, which reflects his belief in the importance of quality dining to the good life, as well as his usage of real, classic ingredients.

As you can see below, he is a very thoughtful client and was willing to pay for me to spend several hours brainstorming logos. This was crucial to the success of the project, because at first we started by talking about the periodic table, chemistry, stove heating elements, and the letters EF as jumping-off points. But by taking some more time, I was able to explore just about every angle we could think of: cast-iron skillets, flatware plus letters, chef's knives, anvils, produce, and multiple variations on each of these. Since this business is so close to his heart--you should hear him rhapsodize about charcuterie--it was satisfying to be able to do the process justice and only move forward once we'd done our due diligence. 

The general lesson I draw from this--and something I'd want every client to understand--is that their satisfaction and peace of mind about the final solution will always be greater if they have the patience and resources to spend more time in this initial concept stage. But anyway, you can see the starred/circled ideas, which were the ones I started comping on the computer (next post). 

Skyline Home Theater 1: business name/identity

My friend had done design and installation of high-end custom home theaters for several years, but his business had always been casual through word of mouth. But now, after splitting up with his former business partner, he needed to have an official business name and cards. So in brainstorming business names, I looked at a number of different angles: his name, the bay area, local geography and landmarks, and audio/visual iconography (see sketches).

We discussed the various initial ideas, and eliminated several for different reasons. Earthquake audio/visual looked cool, had a nice double meaning with the jagged line, but made more sense if he were doing block-rockin' car audio, not fully-integrated home systems for mutual fund managers. The strong graphic nature of Meier audio/visual was appealing, but part of the goal was to convince potential clients to spend tens of thousands of dollars, we needed to steer away from any name that might suggest that this business was really just my buddy, his knowledge, and his tools. So we concluded that Skyline Home Theater was the best all around, so I went to the computer to explore different ways of executing that.

The Green Grocer: logo (part 1)

My sister and brother-in-law were starting a local/organic/sustainable grocery store up in Windsor, a small town up in wine country (Sonoma county). So for their logo, my first sketches explored the idea of location, of food iconography, and of plants. (See sketches.) Regarding the design process, I always start with pencil on plain white paper, so that I can quickly explore as many ideas as possible without wasting time on paths that turn out to be dead ends. Plus, many more visually talented people than I advocate working with sketches first, computer afterwards--Michael Bierut is just one example.