Viva Creative called again. They needed a quick turnaround for a logo with a small budget. It was for a fundraising auction for a school. It was important for the logo to look good in B&W. It was to be used on the cover of the auction catalog in B&W. They were also going to use the logo on donor forms, a website, and all the publicity for the auction.

The school committee giving alot of direction before the project started. The seemed to think they knew what they wanted. But, they eventually went with what I proposed. The final is shown in B&W below.

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PhoneSpell is a website that calculates what your phone number spells. So, when picking a phone number, a business can think of a clever spelling for their number before requesting a phone number. The site has been around since 1995 but was looking for a new identity to attract more advertisers and traffic. This is their original logo.

The owner thought the original logo was fun and playful. He wanted an upgrade that maintained as much of the site’s brand equity as possible. I showed him several comps without a rotary dial, but he insisted on keeping a rotary dial in the design. So, I made the rotary dial a prominent feature of the design and stylized it in a fun way that matched the super bold, friendly font I used.

I also wasn’t going to be involved in their web design, so it was important for me to show the client that the design could work well without a drop shadow on a white background. It took awhile, but I was able to convince him that there was enough contrast when using the heaviest Gill Sans variation in a web safe yellow/gold.

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The personal growth and development niche is booming. Especially out here in SoCal. A friend referred Inner Confidence to me and I met with them and some of their clients.

Inner Confidence’s clients were referring to the company as “IC” in our discussions, so I thought it might be a good idea to explore an initial cap symbol as part of their identity. Partners Brian Begin and Robbie Kramer were anxious to get started with the identity so they could develop their marketing materials and liked the idea of a symbol, so I started with a symbol exploration.

Brian and Robbie immediately responded well to the top left and quickly had an informal focus group among their colleagues in the personal development area. They were afraid that it came across as feminine and, since Inner Confidence is starting with a focus on the men’s market, asked if I would consider simply taking off the “flower”. I told them I would explore it along with other ideas, but because time was an issue, they asked me to just focus on this design because they liked it quite a bit.

So, I explored shapes, colors and a supportive type at the same time. Inner Confidence had a marketing initiative – IC Circle – that was underway. They also were calling their office the “IC Lounge”. My solution was to create a custom font/typeface that would support the symbol in different contexts. I went with two poles of the color blue in a circular gradient to suggest transformation. A dark blue representing the depth of the subconscious and a light blue suggesting communication. The implication being that you must go deep within yourself until the message of transformation is communicated to you.

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Before Double Down decided on their primary logo, my client John Kozan was torn between two directions. So, when he decided start a swing record label, he asked if I could tweak the comp that I presented to make it the primary logo for the company. Kozan always liked the masculine feel of the logo below.

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Warner Brothers in Burbank hired me to design a logo for Warner Bothers India. Now That’s Hollywood is going to be a WB channel in India that shows classic Hollywood films.

Their primary concern was that it would read at 2 inches square. I presented about 12 tight, digital black & white sketches. They seriously considered these three before picking the middle version to have color added. I wanted the logo to be reminiscent of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but I didn’t want it to be a literal interpretation of it. I also went with warm colors to give it a slight old Hollywood feel.

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After working on a new masthead for months, Salon City magazine finally picked one. I may have done more comps for this project than any project I’ve ever worked on. I may eventually do a Case Study but I wanted to show the final now.

Steve Casciola, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of Salon City magazine, wants to take the magazine from a beauty magazine to an international lifestyle magazine. The projected demographics are wide. Steven wants to attract readers of L.A. Confidential and well as readers of Nylon magazine. The challenge with the masthead was bridging the gap between the age groups. My solution of a classic Art Deco face was the standout for all ages in the focus groups.

The face was created by mixing and tweaking a few deco fonts to create something unique for the client. It was important that the weight was heavy enough so that Salon City could compete on the newstands. As Casciola would say, it has to be seen “from 20 feet away”.

This job was a situation where I worked completely virtually. I have yet to meet Steve or anyone on his staff. We communicated via phone and email. But things worked out well. I even ended up writing their tagline, “Where Passion Lives.”

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I have worked on several movie title projects, making storyboard sketches and art directing an AfterEffects artist. But, I was eager to get more hands on. So I studied up on After Effects through Lynda.com. When filmmaker Chase Gordon asked if I would design the title sequence for his independent film, Moving In, I jumped at the chance.

Moving In is a quirky film is about a young couple who decide to take the big step and move in together. I promised Chase that I wouldn’t be a spoiler and share much more about the film. But I can tell you the title design was created to convey a sense of excitement and fear about the couple’s new commitment.

click PLAY button to start

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Green Galactic is a marketing and production media company specializing in youth culture. They create public relations and events for musicians, indie artists and filmmakers. They asked me to create a new logo on spec and I agreed. All that they asked was that the logo remain green and that it include the reflected Gs of their current logo. Here’s their original logo.

I presented one logo that was intended to look youthful and active. I wanted it to be dynamic and convey a sense of driving towards a hub.

I used more than one color of green and included a flourescent color that would work well with their guerrilla marketing efforts. Here is what was presented.

Time will tell whether they choose this logo to represent their new identity.

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I like to work on small projects with low budgets sometimes as much as the bigger budget, high-profile jobs. Agents For The Audience is a site in development that didn’t have much money to spend, but I took it on because I thought I could turn it around quickly.

Garth Meyer, one of the founders, described it as a site that will review movies, music and TV “from the point of view of the audience – as opposed to the more highbrow critics.”

They wanted to use a short acronym so it may catch on, so I went with AFTA with a supporting descriptor. I sent them just two black & white ideas. They went with this one.

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It seems like, whenever someone reviews my Blue Moon Studio site, they ask about the Tommy White Tie logo. Either, they like the design or they are curious about the client.

Since this is a relatively new blog, I thought reveal a little of the back story. I used to be involved in the swing and lounge scene in New York City. I met Tom Sunshine, the owner and Creative Director of TommyWhiteTie.com during that time. His web site was kind of like an online speakeasy. It wasn’t private, but it was meeting place for people who appreciate cocktail culture. You might meet loungers, swing dancers or retrophiles there.

Tom was also a web designer and he had an idea of how he wanted to brand the site. He liked the retro-inspired work of Micheal Doret as well as Shepard Fairey’s work. And we both were fans of House Industries. Tom asked if I could design the logo in the style of those artists.

I presented several loose comps in black & white, then tightened three of the finalists in color.

TommyWhiteTie.com had a nice long run before ceasing to exist a couple years ago. But the memories will last for those that frequented it. And I’m sure people will continue to ask about it when they see the logo on my site.

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