Branding :: Round 1 logo designs for North + West
Today I'm following up on a post I shared two weeks ago showing the mood board I created for the Eugene, Oregon shop, North + West Collection. I'm using this particular project as an opportunity to share my brand development process one step at a time.
Stage two of the process focuses on the primary logo design. While a brand is not solely it's logo, the primary logo is the most visible component of the brand, so it receives multiple rounds of edits (three, to be exact). I try to come up with five to eight designs in the first round, each featuring a variety of layouts, typography, and design elements the client and I have arrived at during the previous mood board and inspiration gathering phase. I tend to not add the color palette to the mix until the brand build out in the final phase.
For North + West's first round of logo designs, I was inspired by the sense of place in the name and utilized design elements featuring compasses and arrows. I also wanted to hint at natural components of the Pacific Northwest, seen most obviously in the mountains and river of the bottom right-hand design, as well as the topographic mountain background of Spencer Butte outside of Eugene in the top right design. I played around with a mix of bold and light typography, mostly modern and clean sans-serif.
Overall, Nicole of North + West liked elements from various designs from the first round but was ultimately drawn toward including softer mountain decals and focusing on a horizontal layout. We also explored the design in the top left-hand corner, as she was interested in a more graphic compass design. We scraped the arrows and bolder, more feminine typography. Finally, we agreed to table the bottom left design for the secondary logo (a part of the final brand build out).
Stay tuned next week as I unveil the second round of logos and further detail my design process!
Interested in working together on a brand development project? Contact me with details and any questions you may have.