I touched up the pic using Photoshop’s dodge and burn tools. Some color enhancing was also done to help the image not look so flat. To give the impression of movement with the plane in the boy’s hand, I added some motion blur.

For the background I chose to mask out the flat color and add a little texture using the square pattern. I used the color blue to represent the color of a sky.

To help the text stand out, a weathered background was placed behind the type. The chosen font seemed to have a nice old time feel and I thought it fit nicely with the design. The client was happy with the result and the prints turned out well.

To create the skull drawing I referenced a fake yet realistic looking skull I had purchased a few years ago. Since the design was created in vector, I can print at any size with no loss of detail. If you are a designer and haven’t experimented in vector illustration, give a try. It requires some patience but the payoff is worth it. You are able to use your vector designs in applications not always possible with raster art (large posters, banners, and more).

Please view the full size preview of this design by clicking on the image above.

• Include the colors black and blue.
• Include the can in the design but the manufacturer logo can not be shown.
• Include lightning effects.
• Have the design target 18-35 year old males.
• Eye catching.

Kyle was pondering the idea of showing a business man or athlete being “energized” via the energy drink can. I liked the idea and translated the concept into the image shown above. Kyle was happy with the design but later mentioned that the flyer size needed to be changed, so some modifications needed to be made to fit the new size.

The most difficult part of this design was trying to display the can without being able to show the logo. Placing something over top the can would probably put too little emphasis on the can itself. I chose to show only the top of it instead. The logo was hidden and the can is still large enough to be a prominent part of the design.

Please click on the image above to view the full size preview.

Since the majority of the salon’s customers are women I didn’t see the harm in using the contour of a woman’s face in the logo design. And besides, what man doesn’t like the look of a woman’s face? I incorporated the letter “W” into the hair. Can you see it? The client loved the design, so I consider it a successful piece.

You can view a full size preview of this design by clicking the image above.

The challenge with this project was coming up with an identity which combined both of Michael and Carla’s services. They wanted something clean, modern, elegant, and reflective of their collaboration. They wished to receive 3 logo concepts.

My approach with this particular concept was to somehow find a way to separate the Retief and Stephanides names without showing a complete division. This required me to come up with a graphic which would represent both of their services.

Since a woman’s body and face are symbolic of both beauty and elegance, this seemed to be an obvious route to take with this design. My only concern was that using female specific imagery in the design may detour male clients from seeking their services. I approached Michael with the concern and he said he didn’t think this would be a problem, especially since the majority of their clientele were women. It turned out the design was not overly feminine after all anyway.

The graphic mark separating the “Stephanides” and “Retief” names is suppose to represent the curve of a woman’s body. It also acts as a good separating mark, similar to a forward slash often used for this purpose (/).

As with all of my clients I approached Michael with a list of selling points with this logo. A way for me to tell him why I think the design works. Here they are:

• Elegant, clean, and simple design.
• The curved separator symbolizes the contour of a woman’s body=beauty.
• Design looks good in a single color.
• The dividing mark can be used by itself as a branding symbol.
• Timeless design (no trendy features).
• Dividing mark shows that there are 2 separate companies, but as a whole; the logo shows the union of the both.

Michael and Carla seemed to be very pleased with their new logo. I created them business cards and letterhead as well. They were a pleasure to work with and I hope to do business with them again.

Like with all my logo projects, before pencil touches paper I research my clients industry/field. This allows me to get a better idea of what they do, who their competitors are, and what overused/cliche logo designs to avoid. I learned there were way too many gavels and scales of justice’s used in law based logos, so I wanted to avoid those if I could.

For the featured concept I chose to draw up a simplified law building. After some sketching and brainstorming I noticed the pillars of the building looked very similar to the vertical sections of a capital letter “H” (for “Hill”). After implementing the idea I submitted the concept to Adam. He liked the design and wanted to see a couple of revisions.

I tweaked the logo and showed him requested color and style options. The design was then finalized. Traditional, solid, modern, and unique is what Adam wanted to portray with his new logo. Based on his feedback on the design I think this was accomplished.

For the logo Jessica wanted something clean, stylish, and modern. While playing with ideas I noticed the words “Be” and “It” hidden in the lettering of the business name. I presented the idea to Jessica of possibly using the words in highlighted fashion. This could act as a slogan and function as the logo as well.  “Be it” could represent what ever the viewer wanted it to; “Be Beautiful”, “Be Happy”, “Be a Rockstar”.  I highlighted the words in a different color as a way to draw attention to them.

I like to create a list of selling points or reasons why I think a design works, and present them to my clients. Here are the strong points I see with this logo:

• Seems to fit the “clean, stylish, modern” look Jessica was wanting.
• Avoids using cliche salon imagery and logo stereotypes.
• Has creative slogan built into the name.
• Logo will be recognizable at small sizes.
• Colors can easily be changed.
• Professional and unique looking design.

For the business card we shot a few photographs with my Canon Xti and 50mm lens. After an image was chosen from the shots taken, I used Photoshop and my touch up skills bring the image to life. This involved some color adjusting, a little dodge and burn, and some digital painting techniques I use from time to time.

Jessica was happy with the final result of her new business card and logo design. This is what she had to say:

“Derek is great to work with. He listened to what I had to say and created something unique and creative. What I like most about the design is that it doesn’t fit the typical salon logo. I love how he pulled a slogan from the name!”

The logo displayed above is one of the concepts they liked the most. The blending of the flame and music note seemed to reflect the company name well. The logo mark is easy to understand, memorable, and can be used alone without text if needed.

For the typeface I chose a font that seemed to fit the feel of the logo and the flames. Because of the company’s long history I didn’t want to chose a font that was too modern looking either. I made a couple slight modifications with the type, including removing the tail from the first letter “r” to help balance the design.

Please click on the image above to view the full size preview.

This image of hands with eyes has no deep seeded meaning. I just like strange and abstract imagery I guess. The original image is not nearly as wide as shown in this preview. You can view the full size preview by clicking the image above.

The next step involved adding in the images that would work with my scene. I took different parts of various images and blended them together to create the cave wall and rocky floor. After a few painting touch ups and color corrections, my first digital painting was complete.