Logo Design & Signage for ‘The Pit Stop’
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 buildings 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…
Very nice work, I especially like how you worked ‘Manvers Colliery‘ into the wheel so tastefully. I like your presentation sheets too (in the photo). Thanks for sharing, you’ll have to post a picture of the sign in action once they get it up!
Thanks George.
Yeah, I’ll add an update to the post if I get a photo sorted out, I’ve never done a DiaBond Sign before, only perspex-plastic previously.
Some nice work, Andrew – I like the addition of ‘Manvers Colliery’ to the well too!
Cheers Richard.
It was good to work on a project that took into account of the history of the surrounding area — and respect for its people. The addition of Manvers Colliery suited the sign logo well.
Hi Andrew,
It’s great to see how you present your work to clients i.e. with the logo and concept referencing. I’m always curious how other designers do this, as I know I can improve upon how I work through this stage of the process.
Enjoy the weekend.
Hello David.
You know what? This has always been one of my own curiosities too. It’s one of the reasons I included imagery of my own concept-pages. This is not something many articles include, so I thought I’d break the mould.
Maybe one of my future posts will be about the subject, asking others how they ‘do theirs’. I suppose there is no right or wrong way of doing it, as long as they’re professional, personalised and commutative I suppose.
BTW, Weekend’s been great…I’ve finally started to use Twitter. Enjoy yours too David…
Great work, I also love the way you present your work to the client. I’m just starting out as a freelancer whilst i’m coming to an end of my a-levels, and have my first big job on at the moment. Gonna have to get myself some nice concept letterheads like yours!
@ Callum
Glad you like the “concept letterheads”. Recently, and as can be seen, I have updated my logo, so all my paperwork now includes the new version. Hope your studies go well for you…
Great work, I also love the way you present your work to the client. I’m just starting out as a freelancer whilst i’m coming to an end of my a-levels, and have my first big job on at the moment. Gonna have to get myself some nice concept letterheads like yours!