There was an abundance of great logo design in this year’s Logo Design Awards entries, something we’re especially excited about because when it comes down to it, logo design can be both highly challenging and exceptionally rewarding. After all, distilling an organization’s essence down to a single graphic form is often the result of a very rigorous process. (If you’re interested in examining the necessary steps and processes to achieving a great logo, check out Logo Design Basics: Designing a Logo from Start to Finish—an excellent new course for only $99.)
Last week, the readers of HOW voted for their favorite logo design and favorite identity application from the top 20 Logo Design Awards winners, which were selected by judges Rodney Abbot (Lippincott senior partner) and Bill Gardner (president of Gardner Design and founder of LogoLounge.com).
Check out all of the winners below, plus see the two Reader’s Choice winners below and in a future issue of HOW magazine!
Reader’s Choice Best of Show Logo Design: A– Z logo
Designer/Firm: Jökulá
Creative Team: Bjorgvin Petur Sigurjonsson (art director/designer), Sigtryggur Arnthorsson, Andrei Carpen
Client: A–Z
Description: The A– Z logo was carefully thought out to be minimalistic, unique and bold. It is smartly designed in a way that you can see all of the elements of the company name A – Z in it. The company provides all kinds of service (everything from a-z) from finance to marketing. Also the logo has hidden meanings; not only does it have [zig zags] which represents the adventure and trail they are ready to overstep for their clients, but it also has a mountain and a lake running from it, which refers to their location, which is Iceland.
Reader’s Choice Best of Show Identity Application: Huti’s 5
Firm: Test Monki
Creative Team: Suzy Simmons (art director), Gabby Nguyen, Yiwen Lu, Julie Pelosi (designers), Brad Petak
Client: Huti’s 5 Free-Fire Grill
Description: A successful restaurateur nurturing a concept to bring fresh, healthy food at an affordable price wanted to create a high-energy brand that millennials could connect with and love. Inspiration came from the culinary adventures he experienced on his travels combined with the beloved Donkey on his ranch that served as the inspiration for the hard work it would take to get this restaurant off the ground. Enter Test Monki. Traveling highlands, lowlands, and all places in between, Don Kee Huti, serves as the inspiration for the South American inspired cuisine.
Blablabla
Firm: Phoenix The Creative Studio
Creative Team: Louis Paquet (creative director), Christopher Nicola (art director/designer)
Description: Tonik Agency is a public relations agency that has a newswire. So after having found the new name for the newswire (Blablabla), we had to find a main logo and logo variations for the subcategories of news. The purpose of a newswire is to spread the information to the media. That is why we played on the visual of diffusion. The logo represents the effect of water droplets (the news) and waves that they generate falling into the water. The ripples are the news displayed at large. With the same concept, we developed the visual thereafter for each news categories (sports, Arts and Culture, Finance, Entertainment, Travel, Business and Politics)
Campo D’Oglio
Designer: William Raineri
Description: Campo d’Oglio is an innovative reality that condenses different aspects related to the world of golf. Campo d’Oglio created a pole where the golf became a way of life, a green oasis in the Franciacorta dedicated to the family and linked to the area where it stands. … The logo is original, easily reproducible, clear and striking. The name recalls the river near the complex. … Also it was [a] play on word[s]: in Italian language, “Capodoglio” is “sperm whale,” the big cetacean, [and the] image used to create the logo.
The Morton
Firm: Conduit Studio
Creative Team: John O’Neill (art director), Kelly O’Hara, Ryan Mitchell (designers), Brighformat (printing), Jill DeVries, Dean VanDis (photography)
Client: Rockford Construction
Description: The Morton is a century old building renovated into modern housing. While keeping its historic name, the building needed a new logo that nods to its history, feels modern and current, and looks forward with a goal of aging gracefully. We kept the core logo and identity elegant and classic while also providing secondary marks and type applications that help the identity feel exciting, of the moment, and appeal to the young professional resident our client was hoping to attract. We styled a demo unit, art directed photography, and created print and digital promotions that express the identity consistently across multiple touchpoints.
Hotel Sorrento
Firm: Civilization
Creative Team: Gabriel Stromberg (art director/designer)
Client: Hotel Sorrento
Description: The Hotel Sorrento opened its doors in 1909, at the tail-end of Art Nouveau. In the last century this landmark has seen many changes, but has always remained a cultural hub with strong ties to Seattle’s literary community. The original woodwork and marble flooring that remain give the hotel a library feel. For inspiration we studied vintage publishing house colophons and matched a shade of green drawn from a vintage hardcover. The Sorrento attracts the movers and shakers from the arts community, patrons who dress to be seen and speak to be heard—evoking the spirit of a peacock.
LAVALAVA
Firm: Csaba Bernáth Design
Creative Team: Csaba Bernáth (art director/designer)
Description: Logo redesign and rebranding for a leading hungarian underground house music party series / event organizer group LAVALAVA.
Orleans + Winder
Firm: Civilization
Creative Team: Gabriel Stromberg (art director)
Client: Orleans + Winder
Description: Fashion and design purveyors Orleans + Winder are named for the cross-streets where their showroom resides, in the creative center of Detroit. Taking the Orleans + Winder initials “O” and “W” we formed a logo that gives the appearance of an uninterrupted winding road, paying homage to the intersecting streets. In creating the lettering we took inspiration from the brand’s gritty, industrial noire-looks paired with their minimal, stripped-down aesthetic.
The Center—A Contemporary Event Space
Firm: Hyperquake
Creative Team: Holly Shoemaker (art director), Emily Zalla (designer)
Client: The Center
Description: The Center, a former museum of contemporary art, sits at the heart of downtown Cincinnati; furthermore, the space itself is comprised of sweeping angles and circular features. The logo reflects architectural details within the space and its location within the city, and nods to its history by pairing a humanist serif with a contemporary sans. A flexible, geometric pattern series speaks to The Center’s strategic positioning as the only customizable “blank canvas” venue in Cincinnati. An elegant, neutral-and-blush palette reinforces the venue’s historical gravitas, while inviting clients to flex their creative muscle and bring a modern touch to each event.
The You Experience
Firm: 28 Design Consultancy
Creative Team: Nuno Pereira, Anis Bengiuma (art directors/designers)
Client: The You Experience
Description: The You Experience is a newly established advertising agency in Dubai, that aims to be different through the philosophy of cutting through advertising jargon and delivering smart ideas that don’t try to change people’s needs or behavior. The corporate identity design is an experimental approach to The You Experience’s vision, by simplifying the ‘You’ in English to the Urban dictionary and combining the ‘Ya’ letter in Arabic with the two dots and where intentionally it becomes a colon in English to tell a narrative for the written or visual language, defining a flexible and lasting identity.
World Trade Center
Firm: Landor
Creative Team: Craig Dobie (art director), Elliott Scott (designer), Anne Dilillo, Anthony Deen, Brad Scott, Mike Boylan, Lady Tanmantiong, David Ricart, Paul Owen
Client: Port Authority of NY & NJ
Description: The World Trade Center is a unique entity across the globe. Together, it is at once of five office towers, a transportation hub, a retail complex and several major tourist destinations, all adjacent to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. The World Trade Center brand identity was developed to closely reflect the energy of the entire district; respecting its past while staying focused on the future. The identity is constructed from the iconic symbols of the site; past, present and future. Together, they form a singular identity, which reflects the determination, importance and optimism that forms the World Trade Center.
BAROAK Annapolis
Firm: Streetsense
Creative Team: Roberto Sablayrolles (art director), Hung Pham (designer), Steven Noble (illustrator)
Client: Loews Hotels, Annapolis
Description: The BAROAK logo features a modern interpretation of the lion shown on Belgium’s Coat of Arms holding two mugs full of frothed tap beer. True to Chef Teddy Folkman’s food concept, this logo underscores BAROAK’s original take on Belgian specialties – namely craft beer and mussels. The lion was created by artist Steve Noble using a hand carved wood print technique – with the same spirit of craftsmanship as the restaurant’s culinary offerings. The logo’s amber color calls to mind the restaurant’s extensive beer selection, while the black tones represent the pots of steaming mussels coming out of the open kitchen.
Echo Capital Group
Firm: TRÜF
Creative Team: Adam Goldberg, Monika Kehrer (art directors/designers), website designed by TRÜF
Client: Echo Capital
Description: Echo Capital is an Investment Firm for Millennial entrepreneurs in the CPG space. They wanted a brand identity that reflected their forward-thinking edge while maintaining a very professional image. Simple shapes and unique colors create the repeating ECHO letterforms in the name, while the circles and squares lend themselves naturally to a system of patterns and icons. The clean-lined Avant-garde feeling stays away from “echo cliches” and establishes their distinctive presence in the financial industry. The responsive Website: utilizes scroll activated HTML5 logo and icon animations and immersive, entrepreneurial imagery.
FLOW
Firm: Studio Hands
Creative Team: Hilmer Thijs, Sjoerd Verbeek (art directors/designers), Koen Berkhout (video), Sabine Metz (photography), Johnny van Bergen (photography), Dana Dijkgraaf (set assistance), Allyourmedia (web development)
Client: FLOW by Franky Rizardo
Description: Dynamic logo and Identity for Flow. House music needs to have Flow. Flow is the musical initiative of DJ Franky Rizardo that started in 2013 as a Dutch weekly radio show. The initiative has now evolved into a musical movement, with a number of stage hostings on prestigious festivals both in The Netherlands as well as abroad like Dance Valley, Free Your Mind, Summer Festival, Amsterdam Dance Event and so on. Flow is also a house music record label as of 2015. The logo represents the three different sub-genres of FLOW: deephouse, tech house and house music in general.
Kumho Museum of Art Museum identity renewal
Art Director/Designer: Mogwon Son
Description: This Logo was inspired [by the] exterior of the Museum’s building. Kumho Museum of Art building has a very different appearance that looks like a square. So I wanted to use that unique shape and turn it in to their very own identity.
Little Urbanites Preschool
Firm: Hybrid Design
Creative Team: Dora Drimalas (art director), Crystal Chou (designer), Crystal Chou (illustrator), Kim Yokers (project manager)
Client: Little Urbanites Preschool
Description: Hybrid developed an identity system for Little Urbanites Preschool around the idea of playful building blocks. The goal was to create a logo and identity that expressed the urban nature of the school, the fun of learning and play, and the creativity of San Francisco.
Morris
Firm: Pearlfisher
Client: Morris
Description: In a market saturated with cookie-cutter offerings, Morris was an outlier with true expertise and a love for sharing great food. The challenge was how to create a foundation upon which their brand could grow beyond the current marketplace, exposing the world to enriched food experiences. Pearlfisher Strategy created a holistic base rooted in the brand’s enthusiasm for good food, elite culinary expertise, and a love for sharing the two through transformational but accessible food experiences. From there, Pearlfisher Design developed a brand identity that could evolve with each new offering and a cohesive secondary language to evoke the brand’s heritage and legacy. The resulting system has allowed Morris to grow seamlessly from challenger food truck to New York institution.
Seoul City Museum of Art – identity renewal
Creative Team: Yong-Hyeok Shin (designer), Se-Ra Yoon (art director)
Description: This is a project that I redesigned—the old MI of Seoul City Museum of Art. The connected shape of [the] logo symbolizes the connection between the museum and audience. The appearance of line changing and flowing represents the vision of SEMA, which is “leading the flow of modern art.”
SU:VPA Brand
Firm: Leibowitz Branding & Design
Creative Team: Paul Leibowitz (chief creative officer), Dana Reinke (creative director), Claudia Mark (art director), Erin Sauro, Matt Peters (designers)
Client: Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts
Description: At Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Each of the College’s six academic divisions is distinctly different, and they become powerful when they come together. Each academic speaks with their own tone of voice, and within the brand, they have been assigned their own unique typeface. Using a letterform from each, the eclectic composition of the College is reflected within the construction of the logo and variations. The result is energetic and bold and allows the academics to be specialized, while the College remains a collaborative environment.
The Honey Paw
Firm: Might & Main
Creative Team: Sean Wilkinson, Arielle Walrath (art directors), Sarah McLean (designer/illustrator), Morgan DiPietro (designer), Knack Factory (photography), Wolfe Editions, Full Court Press (printing)
Client: The Honey Paw
Description: The Honey Paw is a new “non-denominational noodle bar” serving pastas from across the globe. The brand identity takes its cues from the restaurant’s name (according to Chinese legend, a bear scoops honey with its left paw), and pan-cultural traditions, styles and trends. It was designed with careful consideration for materials, from the letterpress edge-painted business cards and custom-printed masking tape, to the large-scale abstract noodles that adorn the façade.
The HOW Logo Design Awards are presented by HOW Magazine and F+W Media, publishers of Logo Lounge 9. LogoLounge.com, the brainchild of designer Bill Gardner, was born from a need for a more efficient way to find reference material for logo design. The LogoLounge database makes research simple by making it searchable. With nearly 235,000 logos and growing, and direct access to some of the best designers in the business, LogoLounge has become an indispensable tool for logo designers the world over. In addition to this international repository of logo design, LogoLounge members also enjoy of-the-moment articles and interactive features pertaining to the design industry. And for research purists, LogoLounge offers a best-selling book series that regularly highlights the best of the best in logo design. LogoLounge recently partnered with HOW Magazine and F+W Media to publish the ninth book in the series, which goes on sale this winter.
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