Friday, May 27, 2016

Today's Challenge: Baskett Logo


I am going to take a step outside of toys and nostalgia today to talk about my personal life a bit so please excuse our interruption. I was up late last night with my daughter last night so my wife could get some sleep so I passed out at 11 am CST this morning. I woke up a few hours later from what I should consider a nap but it sufficed for my nightly sleep. (Maybe Kevin Smith was right on that 3 hours of sleep a night thing that Batman taught him.)

When I woke up, my wife was watching some reality Marriage Boot Camp show. Usually I am not into these shows as she watches a bunch of oddities like "My 600 lb Life" and whatever LOGO seems to be showing. The saving grace for this was Hank Baskett and Kendra Wilkinson Baskett who are two of my favorite celebs to be honest. Kendra was the coolest of the three "Girls Next Door" stars and Hank is a down to Earth former NFL player who had a cup of coffee with my Vikings.

It got me to thinking about Hank and what he is up to nowadays so I looked him up. I found out that he's doing some Twitch video game streaming with some really cool people like Football Hall of Famer Ahman Green.


I'll be the first to admit that I don't watch Kendra on Top or follow that celebrity gossip. I've always dug Hank because he's an "every man." He loves sports, he plays video games, and he's always trying to figure out his wife. I feel like he's the neighbor who moves next doors, you help him move something, and the next weekend you are at his BBQ.

So I got love for him.


THE CHALLENGE AND REWARD



Anyways, he started running a contest today for a logo he needs for his Twitch streaming channel:



 I dabble in graphic arts and design so I figured it'd be fun to give an attempt. I do not need an Xbox One as I already own one so I have decided that if I were to be lucky enough to win this, I'd donate the Xbox One to the Ronald McDonald House Charities Upper Midwest house that gave my wife and I a place to stay while Harper was in the hospital. (Harper had a 64 day stay at Children's Hospitals Minneapolis and RMH_UM housed us for 50 some days.)

These guys saved OUR butts while we stayed by our first born's side. Harper had open heart surgery a week into her life to save her life and RMH gave us a roof, food, and a place to shower. While I snuck around the kitchen area late at night, I could hear the rustling of kids playing what sounded like a Playstation 3 in an off living room area. That thing will be outdated soon and it really hit me in the soul as that's how I made friends during tough times; sitting around a TV laughing and playing games.




LOGO DESIGN

Hank wanted a very simple palette of items into this logo:
  • It has to use "HB3" or the Roman Numeral III.
  • Red and Black

Easy stuff! 

I started to formulate an idea of the simple twisting of the design so it could speak to the viewer on it's own terms. All good logos are a few things:
  1. Clean. Use flat colors, flat designs so that it may be printed clearly in a large or small context. A lot of designers will flair up their images with multiple colors and use enhancements like gradients or drop shadows. These things do not transfer well when you scale for print. (Think of a embroidery shirt with a drop shadow logo....yeesssh.)
  2. Multiple messages in a small area. The world's best logo for relaying a message is FedEx. It clearly states the company name so you KNOW who it is while also showing movement by a hidden arrow in the logo. The company moves things. You now know the name of the company and what it does. 
  3. Versatile. I have met designers over the years who do one mock up of a logo and call it a day. This is the wrong way to do things as it gives no flexibility for the client to see it in other applications. When I do logos, I traditionally do as many takes on the logo and it's color design as I can so the client can see what perspective speaks to them.

Here is my take of Hank Baskett's Logo Challenge:



The Approach and Idea:

  • It states his initials; H.B. 
  • It includes BOTH the Roman Numeral III in the H and B pillars as well as hiding a number 3. 
  • It's flat, clean and can be scaled and translated to anything. (Think of taking this into a tattoo shop and telling that artist to give you HIS vision on it. Same idea can be reproduced differently.)
That's the basic logo and now we have to add the color aspect per his request. Here are the samples for the client so that they may find out what speak to him since it will be his logo:

In this one, the 3 pops out with the red colors while also separating the logo's Roman Numerals. This is where the logo becomes a logo from an idea. It starts to speak.






Being a football guy, I wanted to put in a part of his lifestyle into the logo as well to show how it can be used with other things. This could very well be used as a patch logo for any football jersey, hat, or apparel. 

I may not have the fanciest drop shadow, gradient, glow, or effect but I am very proud of this logo. It's classic but more importantly it SPEAKS. It tells you who the person is and a bit about his life. It may not be the most famous logo in their house *cough* but I hope it is one that Hank enjoys. 

Well, thanks for reading a bit about the mindset of a graphic designer and all the thought we put into work. This was a fun challenge and I hope that everyone who participates does well.


If you would like to follow me on Twitter, you can do so @adamnori35 or on Twitch through this link.


I just picked up Tom Clancy's The Division the other day and am still trying to get my feet wet so please excuse me as with a newborn, I don't get all that much time to game anymore!

PS - I am glad that they go this fixed:




UPDATE: 


It's 3 am here and I got David Bowie on. A few more ideas came about with some "Sound and Vision."  I wanted to take the full blown polished look on this simple logo to show what type of range it can have. In my first versions, it's very simple in colors by design. It's that way so it can be performed on to look like the examples below.

I also decided to try an Xbox One controller as a container since it's more about gaming than football. However, I am really happy with how this logo performs. It's symbolic. Something very iconic, classy, and literally goes with everything. It is almost reminiscent of the late Prince and that wasn't by design at all. It was just trying to make that logo tell a story of the person behind it.

Since Hank seems to like a lot of shooters, I dirtied it up. It's grunge. It's crawled. It's ran. It has tasted victory. This logo has seen some shit. If this logo was in Rainbow Six (one of my faves), it's the first one in the door after a breach charge. It's that bad ass.

I am now in the contest for the thrill of victory and helping a good cause. I've had 3 hours of sleep in the last 36 hours and I believe some of my best work came out during it.

It's beautiful.




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