One of the pages of original sketches for logo ideas. This page contained two of the three that were narrowed down to be further explored before making a final decision.
Further development of the three original logo ideas. The flag logo was the original one chosen for the campaign.
Solving Problems
Developing the brand identity for Punk the Poachers presented many problems, especially in designing the logo. Many sketches were drawn in the beginning and an original logo was chosen from the many ideas. As the campaign design progressed, the coinciding visuals that were created began to expose the flaws of the logo choice. The elements that were related to elephants, were a direct infringement upon the event's purpose. To fight the poaching of elephants.
With the original campaign design completed, including a promotional video and design comps for a website, the original logo was revisited. New sketches were explored, then quickly discarded. After reaching out for feedback and revisiting the whole of the visual collateral, a solution presented itself from the imagery created for the campaign. During the original ideation phase of the campaign, the "elepunk" composition that was created for the original campaign, which is an elephant that was given a mohawk so that it would fit in with the punk theme. being presented as a mascot for the event, it became clear that it should also be the foundation of the logo. This would benefit the cohesiveness of the campaign as well as serving as a more appropriate logo for the theme.
With the original logo being a flag attached to an elephant tusk, it soon became obvious that using a tusk in this manner was visually representing the opposite of the message that needed to be delivered. Redesigning the logo became the first and top priority for the campaign, and went immediately back into the ideation and iteration process. The ideation process at this juncture revealed that the changes to the logo would be inspired by the mockup of the event's mascot, increasing the cohesiveness of the visual collateral. Sketches and explorational versions were then created and shared with people to receive feedback.
The next instance of the logo was an illustrated version of the image comp created to represent the mascot of the event. The lettering was drawn to simulate torn pieces of paper from magazines or newspapers, as research into the punk rock art genre revealed that a major portion of it is created in a collage style. The logo was unable to hold clarity at smaller display sizes, and in the process of exploring solutions the final icon was drawn up after referring back to the guiding attributes for the campaign. The final icon, with the separations of the sections forming the contour lines of the piece, stood well against the attributes, showing strength by forming visual illusion of the elephant being made of plates, like armor. Along with the hollow eye, these lines also represent the broken state of the issue and a lack of resolution to the crisis while the image as whole possesses visual angst. The typeface and encapsulation of the logo, per feedback, were only working to suffocate the design. Further iterations were still necessary.
The evolution of the began with an illustration that would contain some level of detail. This did not work because it still had a comic feel to it, and the goal was something that was refined, yet rough, with a mature and serious presence.
Created as a mock up for the campaign's event mascot, Elepunk became the main inspiration for the updated logo. Representing the punk genre, the angst, and defiance of the theme.
Now that the main icon of the logo had matured into a viable solution, some changes needed to be made to the word mark to free up the icon and add readability.
Original Solutions
Between the Wrong and Right of the Solution
Final Solution
The decision to leave color out of the final logo was made after many attempts to incorporate color proved to take away from the power statement of the design.
The combining of each word into a singular piece as if the entire words were torn from another source added continuity to the word mark. The placement of the lettering provided the icon with main focus and serves as a foundation for the icon to stand upon without suffocating it in any way.
Replacing the single letter look with complete words that represented torn out collage material added to the cohesiveness of the logo elements. The new placement of the word mark acts as a foundation for the icon to have solid ground upon, and alleviated the suffocation effect of the words encapsulating the icon. Readability was improved as a result of both instances. The logo now represents a more mature and refined visual gateway to the event's brand, fulfilling the goal of the design, and elevating its value to the client. The design being completed to this level, in turn, created the problem of the remaining visual collateral no longer living up to the expectations that logo expressed. This would be the next phase of redesigning the campaign to the fullest of its potential.