Sid Stromsdorfer

Sometimes clients will come in with a fairly strong idea or an idea that they really want developed fully. Just to their design aspiration. It is something that just needs a bit of sprucing up. Strengthening, and curtailing when the professional boundaries get crossed or mixed up do to  level of expertise. These are sometimes the most challenging of identity developments. I try to stay true to the character that is present in the rough concept, but clear out those rough edges. Bring in the elements of the design that may be floating about. And really concentrate on the type of font that will convey the character of the logo and the business that it is representing; putting forth to the public.

Above is the sister division to Peacemakers’ Inc., San Leandro, California – YourWellbeingness.com. This division of Peacemakers’ Inc., is going to foster nutrition and changes in family lifestyles, with every student that participates in Peacemakers’ Inc. This logo’s strength lies in its use of color, the organic shapes, and the attempt in a program that cannot facilitate movement:  MS Word. I hauled in this logo as it was set up, and began to retrace the images in Illustrator CS2. Below is the finished logo. A fine dance in compromise between a marketing professional and me, the graphic designer.

My next client needing a manicure… The Johnston Group LLC

I did not have to think about color as the client had defined it to their liking. The major focus to the logo was the J in the blue field. Several variations of positioning and sizing were given to the client, with the option of going back to the original concept. We focused back on the original concept. One area of concentration to strengthen this understated design was with fonts. We have a decorative font for the company name, and in this rough concept you can see that there is a serif and san serif being used to convey name, title and contact information. It makes for some incohesion to the overall design.

When you make a conscious decision to use a decorative font in your logo, you’ll need to keep the rest of the cast calm, cool, and collected in order to show off that funny/fancy font; decorative fonts are fun and fancy. Even when paired with a semi-conductor company. We were going for a touch of strength, and a hint of fancy. The rest of the crowd needed to show up in black dresses and tuxes. Here is the final resolve for the front of the business card.

The last client needing a manicure… East Bay Judo Institute

This is a design story that can begin with the words, “All good things come to those who wait.” I have been waiting to clean this logo up ever since I first laid eyes on it. My good neighbor, Sayaka Matsumoto, is the daughter, former/current student, and teacher in this Olympic producing Judo school. There are many visual representations of this capable institute out in the public eye. And, I am here to say that not one of them looks like the other. I have been hired to produce logos for atheltic wear, but upon seeing the copy that Sayaka sent me, and then witnessing all the other derivations on the theme out there I felt I had to reign in the rules on company icons. Logo branding is a bit like the word/term/phrase:  location, location, location. Or, consistency, consistency, consistency. Otherwise you will not be recognized so well. Even if you send world class athletes to the Olympics, and plan to in the future. I will post below our current clean up done in Illustrator CS2. We are waiting upon a hand done reporduction of the symbol in black depicting the word – East. Please look for designs in the future of the athletic wear we will be developing. For now, the remastered symbol I have created is a place holder for that symbol. As you can see, we have clamed and strengthened the institute’s logo.