2. Analysing logos
Logos are the first thing a customer will see when they look at your business, which is why it is important for you logo to be memorable, pleasing to look at and
professional. You will find that the most well known and successful companies can be instantly recognised by their logo, which shows that the trick to brand
recognition is a good logo. In the film industry, what you will find is that a lot of the main studios have kept their logos consistent through their life time. A reason for
this may be that once a brand is established and bult up, the logo becomes a staple of the brand’s identity that changing it would ruin consumers ability to recognise
the brand.
There is a rule of thumb in logo design; if you can squint your eyes and still make out the company of the logo, then changing it will not ruin your brand recognition. In
recent years, a lot of very large companies, including google, pringles, Facebook, Volkswagen have changed their logos to an oversimplified, minimalist versions of the
previous logo. A reason for this may be the emerging trend in the mid 2010s to have a flat designed logo. Apple may have started this trend when they changed their
iconic logo to make it a flat, single colour logo, when throughout their history, Apple has had shading and other elements of lighting in their logo. Other brands may
have started following this due to the popularity of Apple
Despite a lot of brands following this trend, there is a significant amount of evidence to suggest that consumers do not want this type of logo. There are many
articles, posts and research which shows what consumers want is a descriptive logo which illustrates what the company does. For example, the Burger King logo is
shaped like a burger, which reflects what the company offers, however, the Mastercard logo is two overlapping circles, which symbolises ‘union and connection’.
While the logo isn’t meaningless, its not instantly obvious and is quite vague. Despite the evidence suggesting that people do not want to see non descriptive and
over simplified logos, 60% of major companies have a non descriptive logo and only 40% have a descriptive logo, according to a study where 597 logos were
examined.
Because of this evidence I want to avoid using non descriptive logo design and create a descriptive logo for my company as I know it will be better perceived by
consumers
Non descriptive: Descriptive:
3. Mylogo
Initial ideas and First draft:
The logo I have created is an old reel projector with the same of the logo coming out of the projector. The idea behind this logo is that the image being projected
by the projector is the name of the company. This logo is a descriptive logo, which I found in my research is better receive by consumers than non descriptive logos.
The logo was created in Adobe Photoshop as it has features I can use to tweak and perfect my logo with very minute details. My Initial instinct was to use the pen
tool is Photoshop to draw the logo but instead decided to use the shape tool as I found it created significantly smother lines and was a lot easier to get precise
sizes for all the lines. To make sure I got the measurements equal on all sides I took a note of the first rectangle I inserted and manually entered the same size of
the height and width on all of the other rectangles. I also used circles to create the spools on the top of the projector and white circles to create the illusion of the
spools having a hole in the middle.
The name I chose for my first draft was ‘Bright Light Entertainment’. I thought this was the perfect name as it reflects the name of my course and also has
connotations to the projector image in my logo as the original reel projectors would use bright bulbs to reflect the images on the film roll. The font I used for this
first draft as inspired by the fonts used in some of the first movies that were captured on film cameras. I felt this was fitting as the image of the old reel projector is
connected this era of film.
4. Second draft:
For the updated version of my logo I decided that the square edges on the projector made it look unprofessional
and disorganised. I used a feature on Photoshop that lets you add an angle to the edge of shapes you create. This
makes it look significantly more professional and pleasing to look at. The value is set at 20.50px on all edges so
there are no awkward and off putting gaps.
I changed the font and name of the company slightly. I realised that the font I chose was not easy on the eye and
was not the easiest to read. I still wanted to follow the theme of vintage and retro cinematography so I chose a
different font that was commonly used in old movies called ‘DeVine’. This font was commonly used in the silent
movie era and I think it fits very well with the theme I am aiming to go for. I altered the company name because I
felt ‘entertainment’ sounded too vague and ambiguous, so I decided to make it more specific
Mylogo
Final product
This is what I decided on for my final product. I made various changes to the small details in the logo to make it
look more refined and professional. I changed the name to ‘Bright Light Studios’ as a I felt like ‘Bright Light Video
Production’ sounded too drawn out and boring, although I still wanted to make the name something specific to
video productions.
I made the text larger and bolder to make it stand out from the rest of the image as I felt the text was
overshadowed by the graphic. I also made the circles inside more central in order to make them look more
polished.
5. Final product feedback
Upon receiving feedback on my logo, I am glad that the font I used in my logo was liked as I wanted the font to compliment the rest of the logo. I am also
glad that my logo was described as unique as it shows I can create something different to what the other companies are creating.
When I asked if there was anything you would change about the logo I was told by 2 different responses that I should add a bit of colour. I have created a
concept draft of what this would look like:
