Project review
bear up design
Project Objective:
To help name the company, then design and implement a company logo and brand for an upstart graphics design firm in Southern California. That’s us!
Project Deliverables:
Determine a name for the company and design a new company logo, brand guidelines, and website.
The Process
As you probably already know, the creative process is not just seeking inspiration, but a methodical approach to sifting through pieces of the brand, heart of the company, intentions, product, vision, and symbolism to arrive at a representative, emotional, and memorable piece of iconography.
This process was made more difficult, because it was for my company, and I’m a hard man to please.
Grinding through the mindmapping process produced unexpected results, as usual. At the beginning of the process, identifying with an animal was nowhere in sight. But if you follow my process, you can see the concept of the bear emerge and the multiple ways the “bear up” phrase satisfies the heart of the mission and vision for the company.
The Concepts
The process often yields compelling ideas, but getting them translated to an icon, symbol, or logotype that satisfies logo design principles and the client is the hard part.
The burden to be uber-creative in finding a way to symbolize a creative company was heavy.
The Result
The final product took time and collaboration to accomplish. Of the concepts available, it was difficult to arrive at a decision.
The decision on this iteration was based on a number of factors, but the primarily influence was avoiding unnecessary complexity and associations with ideas or images we weren’t trying to convey.
The result is a versatile family of icons that uniquely expresses who Bear Up Design is and what what we are about.
Check out our other projects
