2017.08.24: Crafting a logo & Company name origins
Logo (noun): a symbol or other design adopted by an organization to identify its products.
The logo is the point of reference for every company. You look at a bitten apple and know it’s Apple, or a colorful window and know it’s Microsoft, a curved check mark and know it’s Nike. The same goes for any app on your phone or with any car you see driving down the road. You can usually tell what it is by just looking at the symbol.
Some company’s logos directly correspond to the name (i.e Apple = an apple) whereas others are more abstract (i.e Starbucks Coffee = Siren). Interestingly enough, regardless of what the design is and its relation, people will eventually associate it with the company or product.
So where did WE start? We started with the name then everything followed suit. Let me give you some background into the origins of the company name:
I was on the phone with Alex brainstorming company names (we were preparing the paperwork for the company). As the gears in our heads turned, Alex’s turned so much that he powered the light bulb on top! He came up with Del, the mathematical operator to compute change. Our ultimate goal is to make a difference. What better symbol then the Del operator (especially since we’re both STEM majors)? We named it “Project” Del because it is literally our project to make a difference. Everything we do will be a part of that. As we figured on the name, Alex sketched up a cool logo idea. This sketch confirmed the name and we moved onward!
After this conversation, I continued to focus on the CAD I’d been working on previously. But as we began to create our social media accounts, when prompted with "Add Profile Picture," we didn't have one! So, I quickly sketched up an electronic version of the drawing Alex drew a week before.
After a few days, I spent even more time fine tuning the logo and deciding on stylistic details; black, white, or grey (with an e), shading or no shading, sharp corners or rounded, colored center triangle or transparent, two rectangles on top or one. In the end, we decided on light grey for dark backgrounds, dark grey for light backgrounds, rounded corners, no shading, transparent center, and two rectangles. Thoughts?
I just realized while writing this: Alex and I never discussed anything further than the Del symbol. We’ve talked about company/product names in the past and have had trouble conveying the idea through the form of an icon. But this idea came naturally and stuck! I suppose that's because 'Del' is in the name; therefore it makes sense that our logo is a del symbol. Creating the logo for ∇brüd will most likely be much more challenging since its abstract.
There’s always room for edits. As shown in the thumbnail for this journal entry, we’re trying to design the logo in Fusion 360. This way we can create accurate lines and dimensions in hopes that it’s easier down the road. We’ve yet to upload the design back into Inkscape and edit further, it's on my to-do list!
I’m not a professional graphic designer, but after hours upon hours of research and design, I’ve come to realize simplicity is key. I’ve read that a characteristic of any good logo design is that the user can draw it from memory.
Why is simplicity key?
A great example: I love the Starbucks logo, very unique and entertaining. But! Could you draw it entirely from memory? Could you shrink it down and still tell what company it represents? I can say "N" for the most part. Once a logo is simple, it can be implemented almost anywhere at any size.
For those interested...
Cheers,
Christiana
Little side story:
As we thought up names, we simultaneously looked them up to see if they were already taken (ALOT of our ideas were taken). I was partial to Project “Delta” rather than “Del” but unfortunately, Project Delta was a special reconnaissance unit formed by the U.S. Military during the Vietnam War soooo that name was out.