Andrew Kelsall | Graphic Designer | Logo, Poster and Large-Format Print Design

Recently, I was asked to produce a logo design and signage for a staff restaurant in one of Next, Plc’s new multi-million pound Distribution Warehouses, located in an area called Manvers Way (in South Yorkshire, UK).

My client, the management of the new Distribution Centre (Dearne Valley Boxed), wanted a logo design that reflected the heritage of the location this warehouse was built. The whole area around the Next warehouse and other buidings was built on Manvers Way — which was once home to the historic Manvers Colliery.

With this information in mind, I set out to create a meaningful logo that was both respectful and complimentary to the heritage of Manvers. The image above shows three pages of the original logo design concepts presented to the client, along with some research findings on the top of each concept-page.

As can be seen, the logo chosen comprised of a Pit Wheel — a familiar symbol of the mining era, which was almost abolished by Prime Minister and Conservative, Margaret Thatcher.

As I was finalizing the chosen concept, a member of the Next Management team wanted to see a tyre in place of a pit wheel. The idea of this was to see what the whole concept would look like if the staff restaurant was themed using a racing-track concept. I designed some variations (shown above) and actually chose the ‘Pit Stop Tyre’ concept instead.

Personally, I didn’t agree with the decision and expressed my concerns — especially the fact that using a rubber tyre with a knife and fork would give rise the the negative connotation “it’s like eating rubber”.

However, in the end, the management decided to revert back to the coal-mining theme using the Pit Wheel symbol. Additionally, they wanted the words ‘Manvers Colliery‘ included on the wheel. So I integrated the words in a way that suited the overall design.

When the logo was finalized, I designed a 164cmH x 45cmW DiaBond Aluminium Sign, which was printed by JustDisplays.co.uk, a specialist signage and large-format printer that I would recommend to anyone. As can be seen, the sign includes a backdrop of coal, the perfect compliment to both the logo and Pit-Theme.

When the logo is used in small-format, the alternate version of the logo is to be used (without the additional wording). Overall, this was a great project to work on, and I’d like to say a big “Thank You” to the Next Plc management team.

What do you think of the logo, theme and signage? I’d like to hear your opinion…

I was tasked by Gavin Evans, a driving instructor based in Hemsworth and Elmsall, West Yorkshire (UK) to design a logo and marketing designs for his Instructor Training Business named Gavin Evans Driver Training (or G.E.D.T). Basically, Gavin takes pupils and teachers them to drive and even does advanced motorway training courses.

After discussing his requirements, we settled on a logo design based upon a shield motif with the initials G.E.D.T incorporated into it. The image above shows this design in its print-formation (I’ll get to that next).

I initially suggested a shield-based design to Gavin, as shields represent strength, authority and stability — all positive aspects of what a Driving Instructor could possibly convey to any potential pupil.

The great thing about this logo is the varied configurations that it can possess. The image above displays an alignment that is more fitting for limited horizontal space (such as when on the bonnet of the car).

I used the logo design to design an advertisement (above) which featured in the Thompson Local (advertising directory) to both sustain and promote his growing business. As can be seen, the logo configuration I used here also coined the tag-line A Flair for Success.

This tag-line was used on all marketing and promotional material for Gavin’s Driver Training Business. The car print displayed above shows some of the general layout and colour-scheme of one of the two cars he has used to instruct pupils in. The sides of the car display his web-site address and other information.

The flyer design (postcard) shown above was printed onto 350gsm gloss-card and distributed throughout local areas around Hemsworth and Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

I also designed some business cards for Gavin printed onto the same type of card. The photo above shows one of the glossy cards, with the flyer (pamphlet) design in the background.

I also branded a web site design for Gavin, which is a place where potential pupils can contact him. The site displays his pricing structure as well as photos and other relevant information. Visit Gavin Evans Driver Training to take a look.

Recently, Gavin asked me to design some marketing material for the franchise side of his business. I suggested to him that it would be a great idea to segregate the two sides of the business with a different colour-scheme, with orange/grey being the most attractive and meaningful. As orange is associated with optimism, it ended up being chosen simply because it worked well and looked great.

Again, I designed a flyer for Gavin which is to be printed soon. This design is currently being used for various online publications on the internet.

If you run a Driver Training Business and would like me to work with you on a logo design, marketing, promotion and car print (livery print design), please contact me for details.

What do you think about these designs? I’d like to hear your opinions…

Recently, I traveled down south for a BBQ celebrating my Aunties 50th Birthday. For once this Summer, it was actually quite sunny and didn’t rain here in England!

Here’s me (er, the one sat down, pointed out)…

…and here’s my beer (in a Guinness Glass, yeah)…

Now that’s out of the way, I’ll talk about some logo design…

Logos on the Motorway

Whilst traveling on the M1 Motorway (highway) down the Chester, I was being overwhelmed with the amount of logo designs printed on billboards, cars, lorries and buildings on the side of the road. It was then I remembered a few blog posts I read, where designers listed all kinds of that they viewed varied logo designs in a day.

With this in mind, I singled out three logo designs I saw when traveling, each pertaining to a differnet reason why it is a great logo design, so here goes…

Travelodge Logo

When you’re cruising down any motorway in the UK, you’ll see plenty of these Travelodge Hotels tucked away amongst the Wimpy’s and McDonalds that feed our motorists with their daily dose of burgers. When road-rage is setting in because someone just cut-in on you — or all you want to do is sleep, this logo is perfectly targeted at you, the driver.

This design cleverly shows calming blues with abstract ‘hills’ imagery depicting someone asleep with a pillow, but set against a red background. I’m sure that red was used to convey a subliminal message along the lines of ‘flee the brake-lights’, or similar notion.

GreenCycle Logo

This logo design is nothing spectacular in itself, it’s more the whole concept behind it that makes it special. I clocked eyes on a white van with the GreenCycle Logo printed onto one of the doors. At first, it confused me a little, as I saw the word ‘Gen’ in the lighter green. Although just after I read the logo this way, I realised that it was actually the word ‘ReCycle’ spelt out in the darker green.

Because of this, I knew exactly what the company did. So, although this logo won’t win prizes, it still impressed me. Yeah, it also confused me a little — but it stuck in my mind. Isn’t this what logo design is all about?

DPD Logo

Now, quite the polar-opposite when it comes to instant recognition, this logo design for DPD gave me all the information about the companies services in a split second.

In the bat of an eye-lid — and even though I’d never seen this design before, I knew two facts about this company straight away.

1. It was a delivery service

2. It was a national delivery service, as the red arrows point in all directions. (This was reinforced by the fact that the vehicle was large and traveling on a main motorway).

For a logo to deliver (mind the pun) this information to the viewers eye in an instant is a credit to the company. The logo isn’t outstanding (it’s unbalanced for a start), but it communicates the viewer — the basis of Graphic Design. What do you think of these designs? I’d like to hear your opinion…

Further Reading from other Blogs:

A Binary life: A day in brands

Designers Who Blog: Branding before Breakfast

PhilsBlogging: Where we encounter brands

Aaron Russell: 13 Logos without moving a Muscle

Rob: Brand Timeline Portrait

Afs Blog: 12 logos in 12 Minutes

Mike Vogel: Brand Timeline Portrait

The Happy Corp: What Time is your Brand

Rafie: 10 Logos as you open my door

Dehog: My day in brands and logos

The Marketing Student: Day in a life of Gen Y

LogoDesignLove: 33 logos in 33 Minutes

Brand Awareness: 14 Logos in 14 Minutes

Vivian: Brainwashed in 8 minutes

J Smith Marine Consultancy Ltd is owned by a very nice fellow, John Smith up in Scotland. One day, I checked my voice-mail and heard quite a confusing message from John. He knew what kind of logo design he wanted, but was finding hard to explain.

With a pen and paper in-hand, I rung John back and after informal greetings, I asked him to further explain his requirements. Basically, he stated the following:

Well Andrew, what I want is a flag design for my company…I have a drawing here. It is to be blue and white, representing a J and an S. The J is like a striped-flag, and the S should have a square. Sorry this is confusing, it’s hard to explain what I require…

I assured John this was okay, but suggested he fax over the drawing of the flags so I could evaluate what needed to be achieved:

Image: John Smith’s initial drawings.

Aha, the visual representation — this is what I needed. Now that I knew what John was trying to explain, I agreed to provide him with 3 separate styles for his flag logo icon as follows:

Simple flag concepts with no gradients.

Illustrative-classic looking flag and Illustrative Web 2.0 style flags.

I created the flag for John in vector format, meaning that is could be scaled up or down with no loss of quality. Like shown above in red and black, I constructed vector-forms and filled spaces with colour (in a nut-shell).

John was very specific in what he wanted in regard to colour and shape, so I designed for him flag icons that would tie-in well to his Marine consultancy business. I’m glad he wanted white and blue, as green, for example, would wrongly procure connotations of the famous brand, John Smiths Lager.

Oddly, though, he never asked for any kind of type to accompany the flag. I asked him why this — and he told me he would just add the type himself. Obviously, I wasn’t happy about that, so I did some mock-up examples for him (with the icons plus text) and sent them as a PDF. I explained that, really, text was needed to reinforce his company identity. After-all, I wasn’t designing a symbol whereby the logo text could eventually be dropped, like the Nike logo.

When he saw my designs, he was very impressed and agreed the the type was (obviously) a necessity. He chose the classic-styled flag — which was my personal favourite, and received the logo in various sizes in professional formats and for varied use.

This is one particular project that I learned a great deal about working with clients that possess little knowledge of logo design. It was a pleasure working for John, yet the experience has taught me that sometimes, things that are obvious to designers aren’t so clear to clients.

I always endeavour not just to do a good job, but a great one. So I’m glad that I didn’t just do as asked and provide a logo with no text. Indeed, I wanted to design something we could both be happy with — and what would help grow Johns business. Anthony Zinni of Positive Space Blog has a great post on challenging your clients. It’s a great resource and a worth-while read.

Also, graphic designers David Airey and Jacob Cass both have excellent articles on the misconceptions and habits of clients. If you know of any other great resources on this subject, please let me know.

What do you think of the logos? Do you think the best icon was chosen? I’d love to hear your thoughts…