Amanda Pike Logo - Johanan Colon

I want to apologize for not updating you guys with original content as of late. Believe it or not, I actually have quite a lot of ongoing projects in the making at the moment. I am just waiting to see them reach a level of completion, including being printed and distributed, so that I can photograph my designs in context. Expect to see some major projects being published back-to-back within the month. I’m super excited!

The above logo project was actually a class related project as opposed to a professional one. Our professor made us think of ideas to rebrand ourselves (which, by the way, will be happening to me by the end of this year) and sketch them out. He then randomly assigned us another designer in the class to design our personal logo, so that we get a taste of what its like to be the client for a change.

The Concept

AP Logo Sketch - Johanan ColonMy client was one of my classmates, whose name is Amanda Pike. She wanted a logo that was semi-professional, since she ideally wants to work with small local companies, but not give off a “corporate” vibe. She originally wanted to go with her initials. I tried to venture away from that as it seems like the cliche way to go. However, seeing as the ideas with the fox (one of her favorite animals) were crossing into the “too playful” territory, we returned back to the initials concept.

We decided to go with the initials on the bottom right of my sketch page, which she originally came up with in her own sketchbook. We both liked the idea of having interconnecting letters. Her initials flowing into each other also causes an ambigram effect, meaning it will still read as “AP” when flipped upside down. This adds an interesting wow factor to the logo as well.

The Process

She didn’t like the idea of it just being one solid color, so she recommend a faux-gradient effect with the letters to make it look more interesting, especially where the letters would overlap one another.

I essentially took a midtone blue-green Pantone color and created a swatch palette of tints and shades of the same color. Since I was able to isolate the logo by parts using the Pathfinder tool, changing the colors of each individual part, following a progressive flow from dark to light was very simple. It still gave the illusion that it flows continuously from one color to the next without it actually being a gradient.

Finally, I chose two contrasting weights of the same typeface called TodayShop for her name underneath the logo. I used the UltraLight version for Amanda and the Bold version for Pike. Then I aligned the text horizontally with the AP logo so that both elements are the same width, making it more “squared in” visually. This will make condensing the logo to fit logically across multiple platforms much easier.

Thoughts and Take-Aways

Honestly, I can’t speak on behalf of the rest of my class, but I personally loved this project. I feel like I got 2 lucky draws, considering how much I actually like working with Amanda Pike and Wesley Parsons, who ended up being the designer for my personal logo. His turned out to be pretty awesome! Check it out!

JC Design Studio Logo by Wesley Parsons