Inspiration and perspiration

Usually our process when working on a new startup logo design (or indeed any new company identity) is a considered one – we do visual research, we come up with all manner of sketches, try some ideas that seem like a good idea but don’t work, and conversely design something that sounds mad but ends up being brilliant.

Then, there are those times which just don’t follow the rules – the winning idea that is the first thing we came up with, the back of envelope sketch done right on the day of the presentation that ends up wowing the client, or when you’re boxed into a corner and have very little time.

EMERGING BLINKING INTO THE DAYLIGHT

A good example of the latter is this, for Emerging Crowd, a crowd-funding platform for mid-size companies in ‘frontier economies’ such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia and South East Asia.

The original idea came from a floor tile I’d seen by chance on my walk home. The tile had many complex facets, but the central part of the design seemed to depict what we had been working on – the idea of people coming together to create more than the sum of their parts.

Not the easiest brief – that has been done many times before.

THE ETERNAL STRUGGLE FOR ORIGINALITY

Designing logos today is a complex business. How do you know that what you’ve designed hasn’t been created elsewhere? Surely the simplest idea must exist somewhere in the world? Plus, while you’re at it, the logo has to be to the clients’ taste, which hopefully meshes with ours – but not always.

Anyway, this one is a lovely idea. It now bears very little resemblance to the tile I saw that day – for starters, the edges are all soft where the tile had only sharp geometric lines – and the unusual process was worthy of the end result.

We’re really proud of this logo – it gives Emerging Crowd a unique brand marque that they can use to launch their business this summer.

MORE STARTUP LOGO DESIGN WORK

Key examples of our startup logo design work