In an effort to “practice, practice, practice” I joined the Daily Logo Challenge. After finishing my coding and graphic design courses for the day, I like to sit on the couch watching true crime series and designing these logos.
Logos usually occupy small spaces so I aim to simplify their design as much as I can. I also don’t want to design anything too literal as that could limit their application. Hope you enjoy them. Feedback is always welcome via my contact form or my Instagram.
Day 50 | Amusement Arcade - “Pinball Paradise”
I. CANNOT. BELIEVE. I finished this... And it was so much fun! What shall I do with my afternoons now??
For the last prompt, I got inspired by the shapes of pinball machines. Initially I thought of creating a maze with pinballs that would spell out the name but it got a bit too tricky and looked messy. I retained the “walls” and “balls” 🤔😂 and turned them into a font. I really like the result! It has a dynamic and playful feel achieved by slanting some of the plainer characters.
Day 49 | Toy Shop - “Toy Town”
This one was fun! Especially choosing the font for the shop name, I couldn’t decide... In terms of colour palette, I went for vibrant primary and secondary colours creating various different building shapes with a little house with cheeky grin peeking out from behind the shop name.
Day 48 | Cell phone - “VivaPhone”
This was intriguing... out of the name choices, I decided to go with “VivaPhone” as I thought of life = growth = sustainability and it reminded me of the kind of modular phones that you can replace parts of instead of buying a whole new phone. That kind of approach seemed very of-the-times/modern to me so I designed a logo that would probably be considered a bit unusual but the target audience are eco-conscious millennials which I think would be intrigued by it. I couldn’t decide which version I preferred (less or more dynamic background) so I’d leave that up to the client 😉
Day 47 | Smoothies - “Just Juice”
I spent all day on a “little” branding project for my graphic design course and to say that I was a bit “over it” is an understatement. So I probably went for a less experimental design here for that reason.
Day 46 | Baby Apparel - “Bloom & Baby”
Today’s prompt was self-described as whimsical so I set out to find the right font(s) to bring across a modern, sophisticated but...well, whimsical feel. For “baby” I wanted to retain an element of playfulness as well but not so much as to drop the level of sophistication by much. I then wanted to draw a minimalistic logo mark but any attempts at a ”bloom” weren’t really acceptable so I went for an ampersand which is one of my favourite characters out there. I recently learned that it is the combination of the letters E&T to form the Latin word “et” which means “and”. Isn’t that cool??
Day 45 | Construction - “Better Builders”
I wasn’t sure if I was going to come up with anything nice for this one but as I went through the different ideas, this one turned out to be most stable and reliable-looking. I also experimented with an upside-down “B” for the second initial but it looked like that construction company would screw something up. I ended up going with a less traditional font with uneven bowls(?)/bellies 🤔 on the “B” because I wanted to bring across creativity and thinking outside of the Box still. I also played around with a heavier font but felt it ended up looking too serious. I tried to convey reliability and stability via the contrast between the heavier initials and lighter company name (and flawless brickwork).
Day 44 | Food Truck - “Grills Just Wanna Have Fun”
Oh dear, this one gave me a headache and I’m still not entirely happy. I loved the name/slogan and thought I’d set”grills” on grills which was the easy part... I then added the rest of the type and eventually was happy with a font combination. I then felt like it was a bit boring so went to add a food stamp to the logo. I played a round for ages with the placement but landed on the center alignment at the bottom. I wanted to change the opacity of the stamp-cum-plate so that it didn’t pop out so much but that didn’t look right either. I spent a good 2 hours on this logo just to figure that out. I like the concept and that the food stamp looks a bit like a plate as well but would love to know how I can distinguish the type from the stamp/plate better. Drop shadow??
Day 43 | Architects Studio - “Pinnacle”
This prompt was interesting and I knew I wanted to incorporate a little flair of what the firm would do for their clients. I started off with a fairly straight forward logo design but it felt boring so I played around a little and arrived at a more interesting concept, I believe. I couldn’t settle on whether I should include the little window or not but I wasn’t sure if the rest signified extraordinary architecture enough.
Day 42 | Postal service - “Speedy”
I liked this one (except the suggested name thought that inspired my design)! I turned an envelope by 90 degrees, then used the closing bit of the envelope (what are these called??) to create an arrow to signify fast forward movement. I played a bit with the strokes themselves this time and then took a while to find the right font for the company name. I chose an italic typeface to reinforce the idea of speed and movement.
Day 41 | Dating app - “Connect”
This one was a bit tricky to be honest. How do you visualise a romantic connection? I toyed with ideas around puzzle pieces but it felt a bit naff. I didn’t have as much time today so I settled on a couple of hearts almost out of frame that are being connected by the typography.
Day 40 | Camera App - “Quick Shot” (only 10 days left 😲)
I have to say I struggled with today’s prompt a bit. Another camera-related logo... So I thought again about important elements of a camera and because I had used the lens before I went with the old-school flash this time. They have these ridges on the plastic that I emulated with lines. I then added a blocky futuristic font to mirror the shape of the flash window. However, the proportions were all ”wrong” for an app icon so I then reduced the logo to the horizontal lines and type.
Day 39 | Messaging App - “Ping Pong”
Today’s prompt was cool, I enjoyed the word play and immediately had the overlapping speech bubble shapes in my mind’s eye. This has kept the logo compact and square which would work well for an app icon also.
Day 38 | University/College
For this prompt, I tried to incorporate a book (for knowledge) and an owl (for wisdom).
Day 37 | News Station - “TVW”
Today’s prompt felt easy because for TV stations you usually just see a lettered logo mark so I concentrated on finding the right font. It took me a little while as I was looking for a font that was quite geometric, quite substantial/stable and individual letters a bit like elements in themselves. I love the one I’ve used as parts of it could also be used in branding such as the strokes of the V and W. However, the £100 question is - rounded corners or not?? Maybe not rounded for a more serious network, and rounded corners for a less serious one...
Day 36 | Record Label - “Spiiin”
I loved this prompt, it didn’t take me long to come up with something for it! My husband is a professional musician so I got excited about this. Had to incorporate vinyls somehow and the name lent itself to that quite well.
Day 35 | Dinosaur Amusement Park - “Big Fern”
Well... that was interesting! I don’t think I hit the brief with this one, I seem to have created some fancy plant shop logo but today is one of those days where I haven’t got time to redo. This will be one to go on my “rework” list... I like what I’ve designed, I just know it doesn’t fit the brief.
Day 34 | Social Media Platform - “Bounce”
Today’s prompt was interesting because social media is so intangible as a service... The prompt also suggested we make an app icon instead of just a logo which I enjoyed! I wanted it to feel fun and well... bouncy but also modern so I used rounded shapes and sans serif typography.
Day 33 | Burger Shop - “Big Buns”
I love food! And burgers are some of my fave things to eat, there’s so many good burger places here in Brighton so I got excited about today’s prompt! The triple B (Big Buns Burgers) inspired a stacked design of a burger shaped as a “B”. Add some cheese and lettuce et voila! I also played with some shading for the first time...
Day 32 | Sports Team - “Eagles”
This prompt worried me a little bit but I spent a bit of time researching other sports team logos and then got an idea to use an eagle wing as a letter. I then picked traditional American sport lettering to complete the logo.
Day 31 | Lighthouse - “Beacon”
Today’s prompt got me excited and I went through a few approaches from creating a small lighthouse to stand in place of the ”A” to making an “A” look like more of a lighthouse, to this final version which is minimal and simple yet brings the message across.
Day 30 | Sneakers - “Height”
For today I researched other sneaker companies like adidas, Skechers, New Balance and Nike to see how they use their logos on their sneakers. I found that they’re used as a pattern in themselves so tried to recreate this. The “company name” provided a good opportunity to play with the form and turn “height” into “H8”. I came up with 2 logos, one more targeted towards skaters, and one towards runners. For the skaters, I used decorative, more alternative typography. I can really see this being used as a sticker on skateboards. For runners, I used a slanted typeface and excluded the overlap of the “H” and “8” to achieve a moving effect, this also created a right-facing arrow signifying moving forward.
Day 29 | Ride Sharing Service - “ShareCity”
I found this one quite tricky as the product/service that is being sold is intangible. So I created a logo based on a map where “City” is spelled out as a route on the map. The route is connecting different locations which represents the sharing of a ride with other people. I think this service would be about sustainability so I used the colour green to represent nature and growth. This could definitely use some refinement but I love the concept.
Day 28 | Hip Clothing Brand - “Cloth”
I thought this was one was gonna be hard but when I started thinking about what “hip” clothing brands value these days I thought of organic materials and sustainability so I immediately thought of the weave of a cloth...well how apt!
Day 27 | Ice Cream - “Scooop(s)”
This one was interesting as I tried out Procreate for the splatter effect. I wanted to do something different than a happy, pin stripe, pastel kind of logo and be a bit tongue in cheek.
Day 26 | Paper Airplane - “Airio”
Today I was a bit lazy because I spent all day doing a new house portrait to be revealed soon. The prompt was for a paper airplane which I’d already done for day 12 so I repurposed it. Of course, I’d never do that for a client but I’ve had a long day staring at a screen...
Day 25 | Photography - “Capture”/“Dark Room Studio” (HALF WAY POINT 😲)
I’m half-way through this challenge, how crazy is that! I don’t think I’ve ever done anything so consistently, not even the annual January Yoga Challenge... Anyway, I loved this one as I love a bit of photography myself! For the DRS logo I wanted to play with negative space because of film negatives and the way photography works because of light and dark. For the “Capture” logo, I wanted to simplify the form of a camera with a focus on the lens. In both of the logos I have used my brand font Mostra Nuova because it’s classy but a bit different..and tbh, I just love it and the rounded “C” fit perfectly into my “lens” on the second logo.
Day 24 | Push bike - “Peddle Power”
I liked this one as the various round letters presented an opportunity to be turned into bike wheels. I created one version with a bit more movement and another more static but sophisticated one.
Day 23 | Boat - “Open Waters Yachts”/“Foata”
I enjoyed today’s prompt and I tried to come up with a couple different logos. The round one for a company with a more casual, relaxing, explorative and adventurous vibe, and the rectangular one for a fancier company. I was also thinking that I wanted the typography to be able to stand on its own, for example on the boats.
For the first logo, I combined a wave and sun in a circular logo. I then chose typography that balances (sans serif) and reflects (waves look) the logo mark. The “Y” also reminded me of a whale/dolphin fin which I thought was nice.
For the second logo, I used a simple, angular style to evoke minimalist sophistication. I mirrored this in the typography And balanced the logo with a frame enclosing a big amount of white space to let the boat breathe.
Day 22 | City Logo
Today’s prompt was interesting, a really cool idea that I hadn’t really considered though I know cities have logos... I have to say I’m still finding it hard to come up with ideas for logos though. For this one, again, I went quite literal and included the Brighton Dome which is a famous landmark in Brighton and already used in the council’s logo. I thought I’d modernise and flatten it a little?
Day 21 | Granola Company - “Crunch”
For today’s prompt we were supposed to really think of our target audience and seeing as I hadn’t really done anything specifically for children before, I wanted to try that! Granola is underrated and kids don’t often like them because they can seem “too healthy” (urgh!) but maybe if the branding was more playful and less focussed on health we could win them around... I went for a playful font and a bite effect hoping to achieve just that.
Day 20 | National Park - “Pikake”
Today’s prompt was enjoyable. Despite the fact that I was trying out Affinity Designer and... you know that frustration when you just don’t know what you’re doing with a new tool? 🤔 Anyway I tried to emulate the traditional badge look and what I love most about it is that it looks like a hazelnut shell. 🐿
Day 19 | Kangaroo - “Heaps”
Today’s prompt was a bit difficult. Kangaroo? Australia? Again I tried to think about what the essence of a kangaroo is which for me is the jumping (I also thought of the pouch but couldn’t think of a cool way to “logo-lose” this). I started sketching and tried to include a sun to evoke the playfulness of hopping...
Day 18 | Cupcake
I have had a tough day today with lots of things going wrong so I was thinking tat this was going to follow suit, as happens on such days. When I read the prompt I immediately thought of the cupcake shape and wondered “How do I make this NOT look like a turd?” I asked myself what’s the most cupcakey about a cupcake and I decided it was the frosting swirl. I then wanted to inject the inherent joyful ness of a cupcake and I returned to my trusty gradient. I have to say, I am pleased with this one!
Day 17 | Geometric - “Berry & Vine”
If I’d known that there’d be a geometric day, I might not have done it yesterday 😁 but I do like the geometric, minimalistic aesthetic so was pleased about this prompt. I traced a raspberry as to me that is the most berry-ish berry 🤔 I then added a traditional wine-y font to balance the modern geometric style with a more traditional aesthetic.
Day 16 | Fox - “Read Fox”
I loved today’s prompt but it gave me a headache and initially looked so terrible! I started tracing half of a fox’s face but it didn’t look like a fox at all and I couldn’t work out how to make it better, I couldn’t achieve the pointyness of it somehow. Then I had an idea of doing a geometric version as this would be much easier, especially for a simple logo. I traced this design for the right side, and adapted it very slightly. I then added the books for the left side mirroring the lines of the fox face on the right. I also added a bit of the ear and nose so the fox would be more distinguishable. I then added some lines to signify books and the company name into the bottom two books to break up the design a bit. I am quite pleased with this, it looks like the standard I want to produce going forward... I’ve been feeling like I’ve been rushing these challenges a bit.
Day 15 | Hand Lettering Logo
This was the only prompt so I took it quite literal 🙂 I started on illustrating a quote when I realised the prompt was for a logo. I really enjoyed this but it was more difficult than I thought. I used some circles on a lower layer to know where to write. Today I also started trying out my checkerboard/puzzle IG layout.
Day 14 | Cloud Computing - ”Cumulous”
I took a day off from screens today so I have to confess I didn’t spend much time on this logo. I wanted to of course include a cloud of some sort and choose rounded typography for the name, then more techs typography for the tag line.
Day 13 | Barbershop - “Ross & Circle”
Doing two logs a day is not recommended, especially if you’re also trying to revamp and code your own website (more on that another time). So by the time I got round to this one, I wasn’t really feeling it anymore. It drove me a little mad with its inconsistent name lengths and the ampersand but I think it came out alright in the end. I used the watermark initials to balance the white space a little. I note you can’t read the third one very well anymore but I was tired.
Day 12 | Airline - “Air Track”
This prompt was for an airline and I’m sorry but who wouldn’t think of paper airplanes for that... On the last version I tried to create a crease effect with gradients, it was fiddly and it’s not as refined as I’d hoped but the idea was cool!
Day 11 | Revamp “Daily Logo Challenge”
Today’s prompt was to design a logo for the Daily Logo Challenge with a chance to be featured on their website for a month. A logo for DLC - how meta! I’ve had a long day coding my website (eeek, project is ongoing!) and designing a movie poster for the #5DayDesignChallenge so I didn’t feel massively creative anymore...but here is what I came up with. I used the initials “DLC” because I thought I could create quite a symmetrical logo from them. I arranged them but it didn’t have much going for it. I ended up filling the empty space with mirror parts of the initials. I used their website’s colours
Day 10 | Fire 🔥 “Flint & Flame”
I did so much logo design today...so I felt a little knackered when I started this but I experimented with some new techniques today, namely drawing my own typography and clipping photos. Really like how it turned out - what do YOU think?
Day 9 | Music App - “Beat”
This one was fun! The prompt was to design a logo for a music app and to not use the colours of another music app... I went online to check out other music app logos and noted that strangely none had used the soundwave before as inspiration 🤔 So I began by choosing a font, I wanted it to be easily legible on top of my soundwave graphic. I then created the soundwave underneath by adding lines to mimick the curves of the word. If I did this for a paying client I would try to refine it a bit more and make it look less samey. In terms of colour, I wanted it to pop and stand out amongst other apps so I decided to use ALL the colours. Music is so diverse and can make you feel so many different ways that I couldn’t possibly decide on a colour. Hope you like it!
Day 8 | Ski Resort - “Mount Blanco”
I liked today’s prompt - a logo for a ski resort. I had to use the initials: “M” for mountains and the “B” as a ski slope. I added some snowy mountain tops, a ski stick and a pair of skis to make sure people would recognise these. I wanted the skis to indicate movement as if they just came down the slope of the “B”. I added a heavy, capital letter font to balance the playfulness of the initials. I then added a cool background In line with the icy feel of the resort.
Day 7 | Fashion Brand Logotype - “OAKAO”
Today’s prompt was a logotype for a new fashion brand which meant only modified typography. If I could’ve worked out how to add a gradient to the letters, I would’ve done 😉 might research that tomorrow... I liked this prompt because “OAKAO” is a palindrome which is symmetric so I felt it would look quite nice either way... I wanted to make the “K” the centerpiece that it is so I made the other letters smaller and played around with having the arms of the “K” “hug” the rest of the letters.
The left “arm” didn’t flow as nicely as the right arm so I experimented with mirroring the bottom arm to enclose the ”AO”. I made the “O”s smaller again to increase the focus on the “K” and improve white space within the enclosure around the “AO”.
I feel this design was balanced already but I wanted to see what happens when I added a rectangle around the “OA”. I then felt the ”K” disappeared a bit so I added a splash of colour for it.
Day 6 | Coffee Shop - “Tazza”/“The Roasted Bean”
Hm... I did not enjoy this one and I don’t really like how it’s come out. It looks quite old-school, flat and generic. Using a coffee bean for the logo of a coffee shop lacks creativity but I didn’t feel very inspired today. I enjoyed creating the font for “Tazza” though. I was going for a kind of geometric, hipstery look... The vines framing the coffee bean are supposed to evoke a sense of nature and sustainability which the coffee shop would carry through into its values.
Day 5 | Driverless Car - “Vroom”
Yerrr, I struggled with this one...but eventually I woke up with an idea. It’s not ground-breaking but it’s something...
Also, my husband asked me if I could make him a logo. I’d started on one when I very first started learning Illustrator and I couldn’t get it to work so I thought it’d be good to try again...and I got all the shapes to merge together properly this time. My husband is a professional bass player and his initials are MJP so I turned the “J” into a bass clef and added his favourite colours as a gradient.
Day 4 | A Single Letter
When I was playing around creating my own logo I had started designed the letters of my first name on a grid. So I already had some designs! I added the “N” so I could spell out my name. I really enjoyed playing with layers and radial repetition on this one.
Day 3 | Panda
THIS was a fun one. With pandas being black and white I really wanted to play with white space...and black space if that’s a thing? I also felt the form of a panda might lend itself well to creating it just out of circles so I tried that as well. I quite like how the versions turned out.
Day 2 | Hot Air Balloon - “Whoosh”
For the hot air balloon I wanted to try out writing text on a path which I’d seen in a video before. After I drew the basic shapes I wanted to make the hot air balloon seem like it’s “whooshing” into the air so added 3 lines to the bottom of the design to signify motion. They mirror the 3 lines connecting the basket with the balloon for consistency. I added a white to blue-purple gradient to the background to signify the hot air balloon rising into the sky. Not sure I like it very much...feels a little OTT?
I seem to have a favourite colour combination so far... I’ll mix that up next time!
Day 1 | Rocketship - “Axis”
I wanted to achieve a twisted look based on the company name. I also wanted to make sure I convey the “take off” explosions. I started with a sketch which I then drew digitally in a plain black and white. I then added a circle to give the logo a background, I chose a circle to stay in line with the curves of the logo. I also wanted to add some colour and chose a yellow orange for the lower section of the background to signify the ”take off” explosions. I used a gradient to transition this into a purple blue to signify the night sky.