Every Good Plan Starts with a Logo?
I can’t be the only one who’s wondered why we need a logo for an economic action plan, but more importantly (and ironically) how many tax payer dollars were spent on it? With individual signs running up to $7000 I can imagine they paid a pretty penny for the logo itself.
Just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. A good Canadian agency would do this kind of work pro-bono, with patriotism and pride as sole payment. Harper probably outsourced this to a U.S. agency…anyone know who did it? and how much it cost?
Making Trouble
About a year ago I had the opportunity to work with local band Trouble Maker creating their logo and mascot. They had just formed and were doing some gigs around town and wanted to create a fun and memorable identity for themselves.
The band members had said they wanted a mischievous kid type character, akin to Dennis the Menace, a red headed problem child, slingshot in hand. Possessing a strong background in drawing cartoon type characters but having done little professional work in that area, needless to say I was pretty excited about this direction and felt it was right in my wheelhouse.
First step (as in any illustrative logo project) was to hit the sketchbook and start banging out some early concepts (in red pen no less). Once those were roughly complete I scanned them in, and the creative process moved into Illustrator.
Since the primary usage for the logo was on a bass drum head, I quickly determined that a full illustration of a kid pulling back on a slingshot wouldn’t work well in that space. I instead focused on just the head of the character, maximizing my space usage on the drum head. By doing so in a classic skull and crossbones arrangement I could create something that would work well in a circular format while projecting the fun (yet bad ass) image the band was looking for.
I ultimately coupled the character with some bold cartoon-style typography and soon it was soon ready for a first draft review with the client. That first draft was circulated amongst the band members who soon returned with feedback that they liked it, but would prefer it to be a bit darker, dirtier, less juvenile.
I went back to the drawing board and brought out a darker palette. Gone was the red hair and freckles in favor of a raven black head of hair, the gnarled tooth was replaced with a lit cigarette. The blue disappeared in favour of a goth crimson (scary red eyes), and the background got a hit of grungy texture. Revisions complete I presented the second option to the band, which also happened to be the final which is in use today:
In the end both the band and I were thrilled with the outcome. We worked well together in creating an identity and mascot fitting to a party/cover band with just the right combination of party fun and rock ‘n’ roll attitude. I was extremely happy with the way it turned out and simply loved the opportunity to work in this style.
I’m certain by now there’s probably more than a few groupies rocking Trouble Maker mascot tramp stamps. If you do see one in the club, make sure you snap a pic for my portfolio – and if you ever are in Calgary and have a chance to see Trouble Maker, check them out – always good times with some good tunes.
My Polar Plunge
Here’s the video of my dip at the 2010 Mahogany Polar Plunge last week, more pics and videos of the whole event can be found here. Thanks to Hopewell for a great event, it was fun for the participants, and maybe even a little bit more fun for the spectators. For the record, I would totally do it again… but not until I thaw out.
Pardon my dust…
I’ll be tweaking the look of the blog in the next while, please be patient.
Love,
Cam
I’m Not Into The Calgary Public Library Ad Campaign
So how do we make reading cool? Watercolors and bad script typefaces? YES!
Yes, shockingly I don’t like this new campaign by the Calgary Public Library. The message is good, “Everything you’re into.”, whatever you like you can find a book or movie or whatever about that topic at the library. That works. It’s just the execution and look of this campaign that’s absolutely terrible.
This ad should be targeting people who currently are not using the library, young people…it should be hip and cool, bold…maybe even clever or funny. It should attempt to draw a new audience to this aging institution, and draw more attention to the modern offerings of todays library (public internet access, free programs). It could maybe even leverage some popular young adult library content like Twilight. It should not appeal to your 75 year old great aunt with it’s soft watercolor tones and bad script typefaces. Those are the people who already use libraries (in between attending craft bazaars at their local community centres)!
There were some aspects of this campaign that were good, they did buy some ad space in supermarkets and shopping carts that ran with messaging that juxtaposed food items with literary offerings (Everything you’re into. From cream pie recipes to Curious George. From ham to Hamlet). That’s probably a pretty good way to grab a captive audience in the produce section. But still, something with a better look would be far more effective.
Misguided attempt at an ad campaign aside, I’m still a huge advocate of the library. $12 for a year of borrowing privileges is the best entertainment dollar you can spend in this town. So I won’t be shamefully turning in my library card just yet. But next time around I hope they better spend their $35,000 on a decent rebranding…hopefully something I could get into.
I’m Here – Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze has a new short film entitled “I’m Here”, which recently made it’s debut at the Sundance festival. According to We Love You So “It’s a robot romance and a futuristic fable rooted in the universal emotions of first love, ruminating on youth, identity, autonomy and loss.” Looks pretty cool to me. Debuts online in March at the official website www.imheremovie.com.
Machotaildrop!
For the record, this movie looks amazing.
