danielalb's blog

Recently I had the experience of designing a logo for a client who wasn't able to envision it without the branding context. As soon as the client has seen the logo applied on a business card or a letterhead, he was convinced that it was suitable, working and alive. Following on the same idea, a few days ago we had the pleasure to post an interview with the award-winning logo designer Leighton Hubbell, who expressed the idea that a logo can live or die depending on the branding program. I agree with Leighton that some really good logos fail to reach their full potential when the branding is not top notch, while some rather ordinary logos can get a breath of new life with great branding. With these thoughts grinding in my mind I've decided to make a selection of some great visual identities to see how great logo designs work in a branding context. I've followed the way designers manage to continue the design ideas condensed and expressed through logo design and the way they expand the graphic elements and build appealing visual identities.

We have the pleasure to bring you an interview with one of today's most prolific logo designers, an artist who's work has been recognized and featured on over two dozen books on logo design, identity and graphic design. He's been designing logos for more that 20 years, and I'm sure I am not mistaken to say that for many of us, his work has been truly inspirational. Fellow designers, we present you Leighton Hubbell, award-winning logo and graphic designer, who's been kind to take some time out of his busy schedule and share with us a bit about his experience and design work. Enjoy!

It is hard to believe anything anyone says today. You wake up in the morning, you look at the calendar and the first thought is "I should be prepared". I don't know if anyone made a joke on you today, but I've been tried a few… It is a day of fun though, and even if you make a bad joke, today it is excusable.

Jesters and clowns were in charge with the fun making around the royal courts, marketplaces and public plazas in medieval times. Today we found them at the circus and in dictionaries under adjectives. Every group of people has its "clown", and at a certain time everyone tried to crack a joke or prank someone. Today we dedicate this post to all those who make us laugh out loud. Enjoy this cool selection of april fools logo designs with jesters and clowns.

In March at The Logo Mix, we've seen new records in terms of numbers of logo designs posted. As you can imagine it was hard to select the best top ten logo designs. This month we've appreciated mainly great ideas, but also didnt forget to notice outstanding execution, high level of details or simple, and powerful icons. Check out some of the best logos posted on the Logo Mix gallery in the month of March 2011.

With all the war going on in Libya, and the violence and internal turmoil in the arab countries, we dedicate this post to all those who suffer from guns and bullets… with a wish… I wish that all the guns in the world would be as un-harmful as these guns and bullets logo designs. I wish they would shoot flowers and pictures, colors and water, I wish their name was changed and that they become only art objects. Check out our selection of guns and bullets logo designs. These ones can be enjoyed!

Robots stand for progress and innovation, development and openness towards expansion and future. We learned to get accustomed to robots, managed to get our life around them and even love them. Robots were always a challenge for the ones that built them, and a source of inspiration for designers. For a logo designer, inventing a robot logo design is firstly a lot of fun, than a challenge to get creative and innovative. A deep level of detail or a mere scribble could both make a strong and appealing robot logo design, as the imagination has no limits here with free creativity as the main asset of the brief. Have some fun with our cool selection of robot logos.

I've always appreciated logo designs that used letters as symbols and logo designers that transformed initials into iconic images through letter manipulation. Its always interesting to see letters taking shape of objects, living creatures or virtual imaginary icons through smart and creative techniques that logo designers use. The challenge when applying the letter manipulation technique to transform an initial into a strong symbol is to see beyond the primary shape of the letter and to find connections with the object you are trying to represent. I've made a selection of smart and very cool logo designs who's icons are obtained by transforming one or more letters into powerful and appealing icons that are fun and memorable, from cows and birds to ice cream and musical notes.

Due to the recent events in Japan, the LogoMix team has decided to pay respects, so we dedicate this post to the brave Japanese people. I admire the people of Japan and must admit I'm amazed of their peaceful attitude through these hard times for their nation.

The Japanese culture is impregnated with art and full of powerful symbols known worldwide. The Japanese inspired logo designs follow on the same path, having very specific elements that make them very easy to identify and recognize.

We have made a selection of Japanese inspired logo designs and invite you to identify the most used elements and the scale of awareness they have in western cultures. You will notice that we have adopted many of these Japanese symbols and grown familiar with them.

Question: What can you do with a maple leaf? Answer: Brand a country and make everything Canadian. In this chase after a unique and powerful symbol as a branding asset, Canada has nailed it. It has managed to acquire and create awareness for a simple, yet memorable and powerful icon, the maple leaf. They managed to do it so well, that the maple leaf has become a world known symbol and stands for everything Canadian.

March 8th, Starbucks marked the 40th anniversary of the world renowned coffee company with the release of the new identity materials. Brand New published an interesting review and photos of the new branded products. After seeing the new logo a while ago I was actually anxious to see the applications and the way the logo was used accross different media. Most specially I wanted to see how the new Starbucks icon only logo would work for a company which relied mostly on the name for awareness.

Skoda Auto has presented the new corporate identity and unveiled new logo at the Geneva International Motor Show 2011. The new logo claims to reflect the Skoda's new design language and the start of a new era in the company's brand development. In brief, the new logo has kept the same lines, with the indian arrow in the middle, but without the Skoda Auto text. The icon is featured in green to emphasize Skoda's focus on ecology and environment.

February at The Logo Mix, I could call it the wonder month as it has a record number of logos posted and also our top logo selection had to be increased to the best 10 logo designs. We usually select the top 5 logo designs posted on our gallery, but due to the large amount of exceptional logo design posted this month, we had to extend our selection to the best 10 logos. There are so many things that caught our eye from outstanding execution to great ideas, from high level of detail to simple, but powerful illustration. Have a read and check out some of the best logos posted on the Logo Mix gallery in the month of February.

Rebrand 100 has just released the 2011 Global Awards, prizes that celebrate the best rebranding programs world wide. You can peruse the awards on rebrand100 website and I recommend you to take some time and explore the branding programs as they are a great source of inspiration. The rebranding programs are all amazingly good and the best of the best are on display here, but even so I couldn't help not to pick a few favorites which are to be displayed here on this post. The branding programs in my selection are chosen based on personal preference and the way those brands and designs manage to transmit something to myself and communicate something better than the others. Take a look and maybe let me know if you have your own favorites.

Under sports logo tradition here on The Logo Mix, we started last week a series on tennis tournaments logos to select the best tennis logo design. In the previous post we've seen the Grand Slam tennis tournaments logos and today we continue with the tennis Masters Series logo designs. I've added a small description for each tournament, just some interesting facts that caught my eye. Background is always important in logo design as it casts a new light on the design idea displayed.

People are usually afraid of what they don't know, of the things they can't understand and control. I assume this is the case with monsters and ghosts. But, in an age without myths and fairytales, people needed to handle those concepts in some way, so they transformed them into something casual, friendly and fun. They also emptied these concepts of their original meaning and gave them an abstract understanding. Most of us live two types of lives in the same time... one in the real world and another one in the virtual space. Monsters and ghosts find a renewed life in the virtual space. Emptied of the content from the real life, they begin to live again in the world of gaming and internet.