With the 2010 World Cup in South Africa drawing to a close, and an Octopus being the undisputed unsung hero of this tournament, all eyes are starting to look forward to 2014 in eager anticipation, even though the final of this years tournament has yet to be decided (if you ignore the Octopus in Germany, and apparently a Parakeet in Singapore who is now also making predictions).

So the logo for Brazil 2014 has been unveiled.

Here is what it looks like:

When I first saw it on Sky News this morning, my first thoughts were…well at least it is not as bad as the 2012 logo for the Olympics being held in London.

On a positive, I like the use of bright colours, reminiscent of the Brazilian flag, however, I am NOT keen on the use of gradients.

Furthermore:

• It’s clever the way it mirrors the shape of the actual World Cup Trophy
• The use of hands coming together to form the shape of the ‘world’ and a ‘ball’ is rather clever, and I like it. Having experienced a bit of world cup fervor first hand in South Africa during this world cup, there is no denying the power of ‘The Beautiful Game’ in bringing diverging identities together.
• I’m not wild about the use of bubble type text sort of squished in there in contrasting red.
• However, on the whole, it is a lot more visually pleasing than the logo for the current world cup finishing up in South Africa right now.

Here is what that one looks like…

My opinion on the Fifa 2010 South Africa logo is that the initial part of the log (the shape of Africa, the figure in black and the text are really quite fun, but I have NO idea why they chose to latch on the additional blue section to the right?

Why the repeat of the sphere?

What is it’s purpose? With the sharp blue corner, bottom right? Was this something that FIFA insisted on to keep their name front and centre?

The logo has received some flack from more eccentric corners, and has even been called the eye of Horus (if viewed by turning your head 90 degrees to the right) by some religious fundamentalist groups who actually believed that the world cup was the start of the apocalypse. Seriously.

So! Who are you supporting for the final? The Netherlands or Spain?

Do you believe their is any credence to be put in ‘Paul the Octopus’ ‘s predictions?

Here is that London 2012 logo, in case you missed the monstrosity the first time around.  I still can’t get over *that* one.

All logo images courtesy of Wikipedia.

I have been working with this client for some time now, first for a logo redesign, then later on a business card design, label design and lastly on a brand new website using WordPress as the CMS (content management system).

The blog design journey has been fraught with interesting and fun challenges, and the site has had many incarnations,  fascinating exercise, as a designer to leave personal taste out of the equation. After all, if we always insisted on forcing our clients around to our way of thinking, all our work would begin to look the same, and the client would probably  not be as satisfied as they tend to be, when they have been an integral part of the design process, and had a hand in most of the decisions. As a designer, I find that the best role for me is to advise, suggest, provide samples, and then leave the final decision up to the client.

Here is a series of images, showing how this particular blog design developed.

[View with PicLens]

What you will notice is the abrupt departure from the original design about three quarters of the way through. My theory is that when you feel like you’ve been looking at the same design for too long, and made too many changes and tweaks sometimes it helps to throw a brand new design into the mix, keeping those original elements that the client liked initially. What you end up with is a cleaner, less fiddly design, that works all around, and that the client is happy with!

The content is still being loaded, but if you want to stop by and check out some of the best looking cupcakes I have ever seen, then check out Yummy Mummy Cupcakes!

I love doing logo design.

Particularly when one has such delicious subject matter to deal with!

David Airey is a graphic designer whose work I really admire, and he is well respected throughout the industry.

He set out 5 principles for good logo design in a recent blog post:

1. It’s describable
2. It’s memorable
3. It’s effective without colour
4. It’s scalable (works whether it’s large or small)
5. It’s relevant to the industry in question

You can read the rest of his post here.

I agree with all of the above points, but in the practice of designing a logo, sometimes it’s difficult to bring these points across when you have a client who has just started their very first business, and has an idea of what they want their logo to look like, and that ‘look’ has all sorts of gradients and drop shadows in it.

However, having said that, even though as a designer we may know what is best (or think we do!) ultimately, my goal is to make sure I have a happy client who is going to recommend my services to everyone they meet.

This is why it’s important to present at least three concepts to a client. I usually present 2 which go along with the principles of good design, and then a third, which is exactly what the client asks for.

More often than not, the finished design will be somewhere toward my side of the scale, but still in a place that the client is delighted with.

Ultimately, it’s great to be able to bring a client around to your way of thinking. But if they leave your studio with a design with which they are going to sing your praises, and they have paid your bill in full, then consider it a job well done.

Here is a recent logo that I am still working on for a client.

The text still needs quite a bit of work, and right now the client has a preference for the last one in the series which I am glad about, as it will work beautifully in grayscale, and the entire concept has yet to be finalised, but so far so good!

Incidentally the background for this preview was thrown together quickly to best show off the logo designs with corresponding colours, and the client likes it so much that I’m going to incorporate it into the final website design as well.