As part of my new website launch I had a contest in which the winner would receive a logo design crafted by FlavorInnovator for free. The heralded winner was San Jose bred DJ + Producer, SmoovGroovs. His style is, well, smooth. Throw in a few generous dashes of Neo Soul, Hiphop, and Future Beats and that’s a fair assessment. We aimed to construct a logo that could speak to his target audience of mature movers and shakers yet match his witty flair. So how did FlavorInnovator approach this task?
Step 1. Meet up during happy hour for buffalo wings, calzones, and pitchers of refreshing beer to discuss his inspirations, target audience, and creative requirments for his logo.
Step 2. After solidifying a good feel for his vision I sketch these ideas onto paper. Sketching is quicker and just feels a lot more natural.
Step 3. The next step is fleshing the concepts out in Adobe Illustrator. What stood out to me during this process was the repeating nature of the “O’s” in his name and his unique piano background. The “O’s” were transformed into infinity symbols which represented SmoovGroov’s undying love for music and an abstract set of vinyl records. To capture the piano essence a loose form of the grand piano and abstract keys was developed. First proof is presented.
Step 4. His choices from the first proof were A1 for the infinity symbols, B1 for the abstract grand piano, and C2 for the vinyl and slip mat feel of the emblem. During this second pass I figured why not combine all these into one? We tried the grand piano and abstract piano keys for the symbols. Ultimately the keys were chosen.
Step 5. The last step usually involves color but we agreed the dark gray had a classic and universal feel to it. I made some final tweaks then handed off the file in various formats. Although we had an informative meeting, I have to admit that I was not certain how to approach this design up until the point of sketching. From there it seemed to all work out … smoothly.
Learn more about SmoovGroovs: SmoovGroovs on Tumblr
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