The Indie3 Project seeks to encourage people to purchase independent music on a regular basis. Every month a podcast with great independent music is offered on their website with easy information on where to purchase from each artist. They needed a logo to represent the project on their website, itunes and the podcast feed.

The Center Within, LLC needed a new identity. Michele, the founder consults as a spiritual and group communications coach for individuals, groups and companies. Michele needed an identity that was professional enough to show to corporate executives, yet warm enough to be appropriate for use in private counseling.

The imagery of a nautilus has long been an inspiration to Michele and with that in mind, I presented her with the following options. Both in grey scale (see below). Once the final was selected, we applied color to it. The second option was Michele’s favorite because to her it is symbolic of growth and expansion.

As with all logo design jobs, I started on pencil and paper which inspired two strong alternatives.

The Sketches

Once I finish with the sketching phase and I really feel like I have a handle on the feelings that need to be incorporated, I take those ideas into Adobe Illustrator to create 1-3 alternatives depending on what options are strong.

Option One

Option Two

Robert is a software developer that specializes in bouncing from project to project to implement better coding practices and business transparency. He came up with the name Smokejumper for his consulting because that is how he feels going into new projects. A smokejumper is someone who parachutes into forest fires and puts them out.

For this logo, literal imagery was the way to go. Robert is a straightforward guy, and the name is unique. Additionally, I knew I wanted something that had some humor and was reminiscent of a superhero symbol. Combining a parachute with some flames into a single mark that is also in the shape of an “s” ended up being the perfect choice.

I came up with the concept fairly quickly, but I had to draw it out several times to get it just right.

Then I scanned it to trace in Adobe Illustrator before adding just the right type treatment as seen below.

Finally I added the bold colors and color variation to the mark as you see at the top of the page in the final version.