1595 - CEL VI

Energized, I felt confident enough to return to box designs for the CEL logo.  I was creating orthographic art - trapezoids and diamonds - that when assembled looked three-dimensional.  It's a powerful op-art effect. I had to use a little mathematical geometry to make certain the pieces all fit properly, something that is a lot of fun for me.  At one point, I considered making an orthographic tesseract: a four-dimensional representation of a cube.  I'd still like to do that project, but I thought my time would be better spent focussing on what the client wanted.

These designs tested well.   They aren't as precise I would have liked, though.  

 

1594 - CEL V

My client could tell that I was not doing well with my logo illustrations.  I certainly in no way mind coming up with drafts, and I value the input the client brings to the design process.  What both of us were concerned about was that I seemed to be running out of creative ideas.  

Normally, I'll simply sleep on the problem.  In my waking hours, I'll train my artist's eye on the world around me to spot some kind of inspiration.  Quiet solitude walking through the forest helps.  The rustling of tree branches in the wind, the chittering of squirrels and the chirping of birds, the high-pitched beeping of the reverse gear alarm of a diesel-powered dump truck, and the deep bass grinding of a hydraulic claw ripping up asphalt: those are the forest sounds I am accustomed to.  The latter are from the construction of a nearby school.

And then it dawned on me: there's a building site a few blocks from my house where I can watch real structural consultants in action!  I walked around the worksite, carefully noting the phases of construction, the types of vehicles, and the way the workers swarmed over the girders and concrete.  All of those things gave me new ideas for the CEL logo.  

This time around, I presented Mr. Charleson with an abstract of a scaffold grid.  The idea tested very well, but Mr. Charleson was eager to see some new ideas, and I had quite a few novel concepts to propose.  

1592 - CEL IV

I'm going to admit that after generating some drafts for the Charleson Engineering Ltd. logo, I was running out of ideas.  My client was hoping for a design based around a three-dimensional cube.  I warned him that there were many, many logo designs built around cubes, and that many of them looked alike.  

Even so, I took a stab at making CEL into a cube.  My first designs are adequate.  My lack of enthusiasm for this approach communicates itself, I think.   

 

1591 - CEL III

For my logo for Charleson Engineering Ltd., my client wanted me to explore rounded letters interacting.  Here are some options for that.  They ended up being a little abstract, but I feel they turned out well.  

I made the effort to make the logo fit within a Golden Rectangle, which I think helps make the composition be a little stronger.  For more on Golden Rectangles go way, way back to JSVB Post #10 by please clicking here.  

 

1587 - CEL II

Trying to make the Charleson Engineering logo match the excellence of Charleson Engineering itself, I switched typefaces from a brush script to a hand-drawn architectural script.  I also threw in some guidelines.  

Mr. Charleson also wanted to see different colours, so these were the colours I chose.  I had some room to play with Structural Consultants so I placed a colourful maple leaf in the middle to make the logo more Canadian.  

At the end of the day we came to the realization that we could veer away from red if we had to, but other than that we did not come to an agreement on how the logo should look yet.  

 

1586 - CEL I

Like a broken fish-hook adrift in the ocean, even the least-capable social media presence has the possibility of making a big catch.  So has JSVB attracted the attention of Charleson Engineering, a prestigious consultation firm operating out of Winnipeg, Manitoba.  I guess it helps that Mr. Charleson was a childhood friend of mine, too. 

I landed the CEL (Charleson Engineering Limited) account, a commission to provide Mr. Charleson's company with a new logo.  Normally, logo work proceeds fairly quickly as I can present most clients with some ideas based on my previous work.  In this case, I was able to do the same thing.  

Mr. Charleson was interested in a red logo that incorporated themes of construction and held the values of a family owned and run business.  With my extensive background in non-construction (well, I do have several hundred hours of my lifetime poured into LEGO), and no first-hand knowledge of family businesses, all I was able to provide at first was one big question mark.   I took some of Mr. Charleson's sketches and hashed them out, but they weren't satisfactory.  

One trick I have is to play with typefaces.  Sometimes the organization of letters will lead to some sort of combination of shapes on which I might be able to work out a good design.

  

Above are two attempts at using a brush script typeface (called "Brush Script").  I felt that the soft lettering would help make the logo look approachable.  I gave the text a double drop-shadow to make it pop a little.  I quickly learned that italicizing the type was not a good idea, as it made the logo seem unstable - not a good look for my client!  

Mr. Charleson was kind, but the logo wasn't good enough.  Especially, it didn't incorporate anything visual to do with construction.  I would try again the next day.