Sid Stromsdorfer

Who are you? What do you do? What is your company all about? Just some questions I run in my mind when I am meeting with a new client. Trying to figure out pictorially/graphically, and typographically what their business will become. Their logo. The logos below each have a particular focal point to their presence. Let’s begin…

The Law Office of Rachael Zeiph Burley, is a family law practice. The business card that Ms. Zeiph Burley had was functional. It did not capitalize on her name and make her stand out in a shared space of other family law practices. The main aspect that presented itself with respect to her practice, was her surname Zeiph Burley. Upon further investigation through Google, and then Wikipedia, I found out what or whom that surname was, and what they did. Not even Ms. Zeiph Burley was aware…

A scholar/transcriber of religious documents who shared the very same surname: Zeiph. Took what was transcribed in Hebrew to Greek, and vice versa. These scrolls were then held, and cataloged in the famous Library of Alexandria, Egypt. Now whether this scholar and Ms. Zeiph Burley are related remains to be seen. But their common bond is this surname. One that you don’t hear all that much. And it does stick out. Which is why I used a script font: French Script MT to display it prominently. A bit of elegance, and class in a very serious profession – family law.

HERS Breast Cancer Foundation, Fremont, CA. Was started out of a garage in Pleasanton, CA, selling bras to breast cancer patients. I was commissioned to do the typography for their name, and to make it match and work with the illustration. The illustration is an original drawing created by Laurel Burch, and gifted to HERS as part of their logo for their non-profit. The non-profit is associated with the Washington Hospital, Fremont, CA.

My task was to find a font that reflected the energy contained in Ms. Burch’s drawing, and complement it. I chose decorative and script fonts to emulate this movement. Bickley Script was the font that brought out the best character in the illustration. The second font used was Gentle Sans – Regular and Light.

When I first saw how HERS was using their illustration/logo in promotional material(s) they relied upon either a pink stock or generic pink ink, calibrated off of their office printers. The original drawing that Ms. Burch did of the women is in full, warm, colors. The pink that I chose came from the flower off the middle woman’s ear. It was then turned into a global spot color, identified from now on as HERS Pink.

Metta Wellness Center, San Ramon, CA, a true place of health and healing. The logo is based on several aspects: the building that housed the holistic health center; an oak tree leaf; lastly the Chinese symbol you see in the center of the logo. That symbol translates to heaven and earth. The colors were derived from the interior paint of the office spaces. Because this logo was to reflect balance, and energy at once typography had to be as calm, and substantial as possible. Goudy Old Style was chosen. If you look closely at the turned up serif to the font it mimics the flair to the Chinese symbol at its tips.

Cardinal Construction, Pleasanton, CA, this was a makeover for an established company that does interior/exterior full remodel of existing residential spaces. Their name is based off of a town football league in Pleasanton, CA. The colors originally were burgundy and black on a white background. The logo at that time had nothing to do with construction of living spaces.

My task after meeting with one of the owners – Anthony Neto, was to bring an aspect of construction back into the logo. Color would either stay the same, and alternate color combinations  would be presented as well. At the time of this project, the apartment building that I was a resident at was undergoing remodel. I decided to take a tour of a basement studio apartment. The drywall was being screwed in at the time of my visit, and that is when I decided to head to Ace Hardware for a drywall screw. I also had photos of screws embedded into the drywall; I took my time to watch how the screws were going into the surface of the material and dimpling it.

The logo is a very stylized version of the shadows produced by strong light on the surface/flat head of the screw and the drywall. You can see that we did not stay with the burgundy and black color combination that Cardinal Construction had for over 25 years. The blue was chosen by the client.

My final logo for this posting is Shy Marketing, a marketing consortium whose members are based around the San Francisco Bay Area. The owner of the company, Ronald Bolden needed a logo that reflected the help he would provide for his clientele. Most of whom had great products or services, but were too shy about tooting their own horns. It was that support, a lending of the hand that Mr. Bolden would provide. A photo of my hand cupped helped to provide the base or bones for this logo. A traditional font: Garamond was chosen to reflect stability, and a sense of friendliness. During my first meeting with Mr. Bolden, I asked him what colors he liked. The combination that we chose was a reflection of reaching for the stars at night… as close to a midnight blue and yellow to emulate the light from those stars or wishes his clients had surrounding the growth of their businesses.

As you can see, logo design is a collaboration and a dance between the designer and the client. What comes about has a sense of style from the designer, as they stir the project, and fine tune it. But the flavor and personality rely heavily upon the client, their likes, and the product they will be presenting and providing to the consumer.