The best way to start this series is with our own story. What started as a basic, illegible, logo, was developed into a modern logo that much but fits the overall message, as well as what Big Picture Creatives stands for. In this post you'll not only learn where we ended up and how we got here, you'll also learn our thought process the entire time. A few different designers here helped inspire every iteration of the Big Picture Creatives logo. It truly was a team effort to arrive at our final design.
Version #1 Artistic Mediums
The very first version is the black and white logo. It's completely flat, no focus on color or depth at all. The main goal originally was to utilize multiple art forms to really sell the "Creative" part of our name.
"Slightly inspired by what I was doing at Fiscal Web Designs, right before I started my own company. I wanted something that didn't take itself too seriously and had a fun vibe"
- Francisco Jones, CEO & Lead Designer
Eventually we developed it into what was our logo for the first couple of years. Still the same ideas, but with some added detail. Obviously the major change is color. We love the black and orange combination, so much so that it's the one element we carried over in our latest redesign. After changing the spray paint to orange we added a black circle to add more contrast in color. We also added a black highlight to the brush strokes in order to add depth. All and all a solid look that did the job.
The Problems
So yes we had a logo that got the message across and we were able to use it for a quite some time. And although there were quite a few problems with it that it'll go over in a second, first I want to discuss the main issue, legibility.
The two legibility issues the logo had were the font and the size. If you look at the first image on the left you'll see the main issue with the font. While most of it can be read by the average person, the "P" specifically looked a lot like a "D". We didn't create the font so it just happened be what the creator chose. Every other letter looks perfect so worked with what we had.
As for the size, if you look at the second picture you'll see how difficult it is to read when shrunken down. This effects things like our favicon and social media posts. When designing a logo you need to make sure that either the entire thing is legible when shrunken down or you have an icon in your logo that you can use when you need a tiny version of your logo.
There are 3 other design issues. First it wasn't very modern. If you look at the latest trends on modern logos, they're all becoming flatter and simpler. Back in the 90's logos had a much funkier design. If you look at the major companies that have redesigned their logos in recent years you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.
The second problem was that it wasn't unique. We needed something that was specific to us, something that couldn't accidentally be replicated. The third and final problem with our old logo was it's lack of memorability. What I mean by that is nothing sticks out that people would remember. A good way to test how memorable your logo is by talking to a friend or stranger, show them your logo for 5 seconds, then have them attempt to draw it in 10 seconds. If they're able to recreate it in a legible way then you have a memorable logo.
Version #2 New Concepts
Towards the end of 2021 we began to consider a rebrand. At that point we had already begun working on a new website that we custom built for ourselves so the timing seemed perfect. Everyone on our team began submitting their own ideas. The images on the right are a couple of our early concepts
"Honestly it was just a lot of fun to try my hand at logo design. I didn't make anything as dope as the graphics team but it was nice to be given an honest shot. I put work into my idea and they actually took it seriously. And it's cool that my design ended up inspiring [our new logo]."
- Will Porter, Junior Web Designer
Will did in fact find the font that inspired our final logo. Once we had the font we began to address the sizing issue. We needed an icon that would work in small instances, that means simple and easy to read. Below are all the various icons we were considering using as inspiration. First we were just looking at icon options, then we moved on to the use of color.
Eventually we decided that we needed at least some of the text to be white if we really wanted the logo to pop. After we all finally agreed that it should be half white and half orange, we had kind of collectively grown attached to one icon in particular, so much so that we thought it was going to be our new icon. We started looking at different accents we could add to it, meanwhile, our amazing leader Francisco was working on his own icon. Something that would stand out and be truly unique to our brand. Once we say the design, we knew we had the logo.
Version #3 Our Logo
After a ton of concepts we finally had all the inspiration we needed to finish our logo. We had the font figured out, we just needed to round of the edges a bit. The one part of that font we didn't like were the number of sharp edges. That's how Francisco designed the logo
Notice the curves in our version compared to the original font, shown previously, that had no curves. A subtle change but very distinct and it makes our logo one of a kind. You'll notice that Francisco used part of a "B" to create the "P" and part of a "C" for the bottom half of the "B". According to Francisco, "I started with just a P but the curve at the top was so large, it just wouldn't fit with the C".
We used the curves in the icon to warp the font in the rest of the logo. We ended up with the finally logo you see below. When compared to where we started, this logo truly is streets ahead. And it wouldn't have been possible without everyone's participation. I think that's why all of us like it so much. It really feels like our baby.
About Maria
I didn't go to art school or any kind of training for that matter. I've been designer since grade 8. In high school I would earn extra money by designing flyers and merch for people on Craig's List. Luckily, Jerome didn't care about any of that. He knew I was talented as we grew up together in the Bronx. He showed my work to Francisco and now I'm a professional Graphic Designer! I never thought any of this would be possible. I owe everything to Big Picture Creatives for taking a chance on an amateur designer like me.