The best logo identities and branding work in black and white as well as color. Graphic design trends are now driven more by computer capabilities than by talent and vision. If a designer can’t draw he can always click simple repeated shapes, or plug in some gradations, or stripes, or dots, or lines. All are easy computer task. But, the most successful brand designs start with a compelling concept that functions well in black and white and small. In other words, the best logo designs work small in website or news paper ads as well as full color brochures. It takes hard work though, there are no computer tricks for that.

Old Town logo • Renovated business and entertainment district

Brad Bachman logo design • Home builder specializing in homes by water

Spring Crossing Cattle Company • Free range beef brand identity design

ComSmart corporate logo design • Communication training for executives

Lost Art Development Co.• Developer of artistic gift products for retail

QuickerTek corporate identity logo design, Wichita, Kansas. • Wireless products for Apple computers

Love Match • Assist singles in finding a love match

Exultia brand logo design • Software design company

My Volunteer Center logo identity design • Community volunteer center, Orange County California

Gear-Up brand logo, Wichita, KS. • Educational program preparing middle school children for college

Physique Enhancements brand logo design, Wichita, Kansas. • Spa, body sculpting and hair removal

Cargill event logo identity, Kansas. • Employee talk radio event

#2. The ability to design type in any style.

A great logo design studio should have the ability to employ a variety of typographic solutions and the capability of creating a new type font. Font creation can be the key element that separates your logo from the crowd. Scroll down to see examples.

The QuickerTek logo type has a modified font. The stroke weight was increased to achieve a bolder look than the original font. The letter height was also increased. QuickerTek is a national brand.

The Old Town brand type was altered to create a more energetic feel than the original font. The stroke wieghts were varied, straight lines were skewed and different letter sizes were mixed together to give the design a bold, vibrant and fun look.

Timberline’s brand logo typography was designed and illustrated by hand to achieve a real woodcut look. This brand logo design appears at restaurants in St. Joseph, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri, Salina, Kansas and Wichita, Kansas.

The Foulston Siefkin logo mark or brand image is simple letter forms designed as unique shapes. The clean and simple typography creates a horizontal movement that counters the vertical push of the (FS) branding mark.

The WorkHorse Recruiting logo type is one of those cases where a font straight out-of-the-box worked. The serifs of the WorkHorse type point in different directions. The top serifs point backwards while the bottom serifs point forwards echoing the motion of the circle eight filigree.

The GooGoo Wonderland branding typography is a combination of type creation and a stock font. The GooGoo is created to have the exact same circle shape for the O’s and the G’s. The Wonerland type is a font.

The Cosmetic Cafe logo type is a hand drawn script to communicate a sense of authenticity and intimacy.

The StoneBridge brand type is an old version of Goudy, a classic, old world, font that works well with textural images of stone.

The AgriQuip logo typography is the font Interstate Bold with the “A” and the “Q” altered.

The Douglas Design District logo typography combines two fonts. The “Douglas” and “District” type creates a horizontal visual and the “Design” type creates a vertical movement matching the vertical and horizontal vectors of the brand image.

The Darbuka Brand Perfumes logo type design is a modern American font that has a strong Middle Eastern visual reference. The variation in the stroke widths and serifs relate to the henna scourced brand image illustration and design.

The Tumbledrum logo text is an Insight Design font developed from cirlces and rectangles.

The Arts Council logo design uses Microgramma Bold and Light. “Arts” is reversed out to make a point of emphisis. The alternating black boxes reference the four squares above which elude to diverse artistic expression. The typography is also distressed to integrate with the branding image.

The WaterBug brand type is hand drawn to mimick water shapes and the brand image illustration of the swimming waterbug.

Tanya’s Soup logo type is a combination of fonts that were both altered using Photoshop filters to follow the line qualities of the branding image.

#1. The ability to illustrate and design in any style.

A good graphic design studio or firm should have the capability to design and illustrate in a wide range of styles because every client and every logo design should be unique to the brands marketplace situation. A diverse illustrative and design repertoire enables a good graphic design agency to generate ideas without limitations or boundaries. For example, if a graphic design studio can only execute simple clean design because they lack illustrative abilities then you can count on getting a limited range of ideas that only promote simple clean branding concepts. On the other hand, when a logo design studio has the ability to design simple and clean logos, figural logo design, complex and highly illustrative logo designs, typographic logos, funky hand drawn logo designs and conceptual logos then the ideas you get will explore all possibilities. The end result is that the client will be presented more options and from greater logo design options will come a better logo that will best brand your company, product or service. So don't look for a logo you like in a studio’s portfolio but rather look for a variety of well executed styles. Scroll down to see examples.

For Timberline Steakhouse and Grill we developed a hand drawn woodcut illustration and graphic design style to match the name and casual eating concept of the brand. Illustrating the typography made it possible to use large readable type for signage while giving the logo design an engaging character and style.

For the Hayes 25th anniversary logo design we created a three dimensional illusion of chrome, copper and other surfaces. To create these effects we used hand drawn elements, vector illustrations and layered combinations with a variety of Adobe Photoshop filters.

The Pulse Systems logo design has a conceptual graphic design style. Everything in the entire logo is based on a square even the typography.

The Ballet Wichita logo has a stylized figural illustration of a dancer entering the performance area. This design and illustration style uses flowing curves to create the image of a woman and the feeling of graceful movement.

The Floating Swimwear logo has an expressionistic and abstract illustration style of a wave.

The Freddy's Frozen Custard logo has a retro or old fashioned illustration style with graphic vintage ribbons.

The Spring Crossing Cattle Co. sells natural free range beef. The illustration style is simplified and stylized realism to capture the ideal image of the rancher in the open prairie and allow the brand image to be reproduced on small package labels.

The Waterbug brand logo for Floating Swimwear is illustrated in a cartoon style with bold stylized lines and shapes for excellent shelf projection and visibility at retail.

The Bighorn River Lodge brand image has a distressed realism to impart a sense of the rugged outdoors.

The GooGoo Wonderland branding is illustrated in a style that I can't quite categorize. It's eclectic, vibrant, and whimsical to convey a feeling of magic and fun.

The With A Twist brand logo has a funky hand drawn visual style to compliment the unique and natural product mix of the retail stores.

The brand name Anvil is a metaphor. An anvil is a tool used to create other tools. The business Anvil is a company created to create other businesses. The brand image to the left is one step in an infinite pattern. It's a circle of dots around the center dot. This is repeated at the red dot which could be repeated again and again indefinitely. This purely conceptual design style is ultra simple to emphasize the concept.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73wiBugaNX0

The Tanya's Soup Kitchen logo design is the image of Tanya Tandoc and a bowl of soup in the same image. The Tanya's Soup Kitchen logo design is a visual metaphor to show Tanya is the equal of a true artist. Tanya puts herself into her creations, her art, her soup.
In the logo design Tanya's face is the bowl, her mouth is the spoon, her eyes are splashes/droplets and her hair is the steam. All the graphic design shapes and lines of this logo where drawn and redrawn, then scanned into digital form and re-drawn digitally. All the graphic design edges and curves were smoothed and softened to invite the viewer and remind the consumer of how beautifully delicious Tanya's soups really are.
Tanya and the Tanya's Soup Kitchen logo design and graphic design brand identity have become interchangeable, recognized as one-in-the-same. Her website design and Facebook persona allows Tanya to share her unique attitudes with her many fans and friends. All the graphic design in Tanya's brand identity reflects and has become the symbol for Tanya's amazing personality. Tanya has become more than a proprietor of a sheik restaurant, she has become a food goddess and a beacon for sub-culture lifestyles and attitudes. The early lines anticipating a bowl of Tanya's amazing soup often extend from one side of the restaurant to the other and even out of the door. Tanya has become famous in the Wichita area and well know in the highest perches of the food industry.

This brand identity video includes; logo design, website design, environmental and print.

oin the attitude at
http://www.facebook.com/tanyassoupkitchen
http://www.facebook.com/tanya.tandoc
http://tanyassoupkitchen.com/

Tanya's Soup Kitchen is located at: 1725 East Douglas Avenue Wichita, KS 67211

Tracy Holdeman is founder and creative director of Insight Design Communications, executive creative director of WhisperNewYork. His logo design, brand identity, website design and graphic design work has been recognized with over 100 national and international awards.

Insight Design Communications has been honneres with over 100 international awards for logo design, graphic design and brand identity design.

You can see more of Tracy Holdeman's graphic design work at Logo Design Wichita