FACEPOCALYPSE

There were some minor trials with the ‘t’ for this logo so I ended up redoing it with an unmistakable ‘t’.

Here’s the final version:

And the heavily debated version (across 3 posts):

Now… Read on for an insight into development. Beware: lengthy post.

I was tasked with branding an established personal training business in light of future expansion. This was the old business card (with censored details):

Nothing sacred – as you can see the logo’s just a typeface.

First of all, the brief. To summarise: it’s a mobile personal training service targetting middle-upper class people, both male and female. A point was made about it being great for housewives/stay-at-home Dads. They also referenced Under Armour, Skins and ebb as logos they liked.

After meeting with the clients I went off and did some research on local gyms and sporty brands.

I expected to be making a logo with the emphasis on “Elite Body” following the discussion, but after doing some research and ideation I tried another approach which would brand them as “Elite”, in the same kind of way that Zest is abbreviated from Zest Health Clubs.

I thought this type of branding would translate well to an equally long name like “Elite Body Concepts”.

This was a cut down set of options about 4hrs into development (including research). Here is an excerpt from my email to the client:

“I worked mostly on 6-10. I think it suits your target market the most. For branding I suggest making “elite” the focus, and that’s the part that’ll become iconic. The whole logo will say elite body concepts, but people will likely just refer to you guys as ‘elite’.

I think 6 and 9 are the best shapes. The ‘e’ is still quite elegant being circular and the shapes are reminiscent of a designer label brand – which should appeal to mid-upper class women. Number 9 is kind of sporty and adidas-esque with the downsloping ‘lit’ kind of like their 3 stripes, whereas in #6 everything slopes up so conceptually it’s kind of an ascent. Possibly a good thing – you guys are ‘taking people higher’, reaching their goals, etc. The downslope is kinda nice for readability though since the ‘t’ is slightly shorter. Possibly reminiscent of a training routine with the logo sloping up, then down, then up.”

I also noted the logo would say “Elite Body Concepts” regardless, I was just honing the iconic part at this point. The client feedback was they like 5 and 7. But wanted to see 5 without the bits and the ‘t’ in elite needed to be more obvious.

Here is the next iteration:

At this point they liked 1 and 4. I suggested they run with 4 because it’s a more unique design and I think the typography’s pretty smart and well-targeted. It’s also a better branding avenue in my opinion, becoming known as “Elite” rather than “EBC”.

Now for colour! The client said they had green in mind…

This was mostly the same 6 logo colour combinations on different backgrounds, including some inverse fill logos for the white backgrounds where appropriate.

The client liked the yellow logo on teal background (in the bottom right section) and I sent it to the web design company, who queried the readability of the ‘t’.

I’d ‘tested’ the logo on some people without issues, all reading ‘elite’, but I took this onboard and tried a few more subtle variations:

The client liked the second last one, but noted the web design company still thought people might mistake that for ‘elile’.

That seemed a little unnecessarily pedantic, so I hit rewind and consulted some freelance graphic designer buddies for feedback in the appropriate realm of expertise. The consensus was it looked better without the full crossbar and would logically read as “elite” if there was any doubt so I sent through this version with some accompanying reassurance/confidence.

“After considering the situation and working with another freelance graphic designer over the issue we’ve settled on pretty much the original version of the logo, but with less angled e’s, and I’ve spaced the letters out a little more for readability.

In any case, people will know it says elite because they will either come in contact with it via you or your employees saying “I work for Elite Body Concepts”, or maybe they’ll visit www.elitebodyconcepts.com.au

In the situation of people seeing your logo completely out of context; myself, my designer colleague and various people I’ve asked to read the logo all agree this will be read as ‘elite’, since ‘elile’ is not a word. Surely anyone who thinks this says ‘elile’ would follow it up with “Or maybe it’s elite?” then reach the conclusion that “Elite Body Concepts” would make more sense than “Elile Body Concepts”.”

At this point I thought the deal was sealed, however, after showing a few more people it was apparent some were reading ‘elile’. Ohnoes!

Thus began a day of live on-blog iteration via feedback. The shenanigans start here, continuing with this post and that other one over there.

Resulting in the ’safe’ option: