June 20, 2009 at 5:30 am · Filed under Article, Aspire & Inspire, Design Industry, India, LinkedIn, Logo & Corporate Identity, Personal, Photography, Projects, Redhu
Adventures… I started out as an average student, Bachelors of Commerce, then exams for getting into a good B-School for an MBA. I was an average student at the B-School as well where I was supposed to be mastering IT and Systems. Campus placements led me to a small company run by four principals, where I learnt about things like business process re-engineering, value chain re-architecture, innovation and creativity and within twelve months of asking my boss every month “Why the heck are you paying me?” – because I don’t think I did much work anyway – I quit.
I moved into my folks home in a remote part of the country – my father used to serve with the Indian army. While I was there I decided to use online networking to help me find what it is I should be doing next. I got numerous job offers from other management consulting firms, which I turned down. Then I started working with Joyce in the US – I met her through LinkedIn and I worked on her websites and other design requirements that she had – she paid me an hourly rate and I was thrilled that something I’d loved doing all my life was turning out to be commercially successful as well.
Hence the idea of www.aside.in which I have now been running for about 5 years – I am a freelancer, all the work you see on it has been done by me – no team. I’ve also tried a couple of other ideas while I’ve been using the internet to drive business for me : www.protoface.com which hasn’t really taken off because I have not done anything to promote it or strategize it further. Then there’s www.bootstraplogo.com which is doing better than I expected.
I also do some photography : www.studioaside.com/blog
I have a handful of friends who are always throwing around ideas for new ventures and businesses and it makes for interesting, adrenalin-induced conversations on lazy weekends. There are a couple of ideas we’re trying to convert into businesses – nothing concrete.
So I get to do what I love, I get to make money off it, I got to take long vacations whenever I want, I get to meet some awesome people who are entrepreneurs themselves or business owners, I get to sleep as much as I want and dress the way I want and work 24/7 when I am in the zone.
The only company on the planet where I’d still want a full-time / part-time job is IDEO – in any other scenario, I’m not prepared to give up what I have. Even with IDEO, I don’t believe I will be giving up any of it – I’d just be adding some more!
So there – that’s my adventure rant 
Thank you for indulging me! What about you?
Popularity: 1% [?]
June 9, 2009 at 10:50 am · Filed under AMERICAS, Case Study, India, Logo & Corporate Identity, Projects, Redhu
Commonly known as Forward Food. I am also documenting the process of designing this logo on my Twitter Feed – with permission from the client.
Keywords and key phrases extracted from the brief : Tech-conscious farming, ethics, agriculture, provide food at low/no-cost, Forward Food of America commonly called Forward Food, no abbreviations, Barack Obama brand persona, hope, idealism, movement, modernists avenger, clean / sketchier / vector / text-based.
Competitors : Larger corporations like : Darigold, Dole, Chiquita. Check their logos.
Unlike competitors logos which are classic, trustworthy but outdated, @ForwardFood would like to be the “modernist’s avenger“.
Logos liked by the client alongwith keywords of why they like them :
Because it is clean, good typography & they like the colors as well.
Because of the drawing style – sketchy, colors, @ForwardFood would like a more definite form.
Because it is clever, subtle and clean.
Because this logo is fun, active, colorful, modern but a little busy.
Because of the compelling motion. But it’s more complex than @ForwardFood would aim for.
Text is the main form of the design but the client does not want too much grunge.
Balance between separation & unity with the feeling of movement, typography not so good.
Flow, color, shape.
Simple, clean, movement. Does not capture anything agrarian though.
Movement, colors, clean – vector look.
Logos not liked by the client alongwith keywords of why they did not like them :
Definitely not a look @ForwardFood wants.
Indecipherable, no immediate impact, confusing.
The client does not want cartoons in the logo.
Overdone, lacks subtlety.
Not abstract enough.
Proceeded to reference and browse through some websites for logo inspiration : Logofi.com, Logopond.com, Logofaves.com, IdentityArchives.com, IdentityWorks.com & Creattica.com. The keywords I concentrated on were food and agriculture. I abandoned the browsing after about ten minutes – information overload. Took a break, grabbed some coffee, shot some fashion-related photographs and got down to the drawing board. Thought of a ‘rake’.
First round of sketches
Will be updating with further sketches and ideas before communicating with the client, will also publish client feedback and iterations as and when they happen.
First draft of logo designs emailed to the client :
Client Feedback
Pros: We like the swirl of the wheat. It has a nice sense of movement. The color scheme is nice too.
Cons: The font type is a little too rounded. We prefer right-justified type as opposed to centered.
Client Feedback
Pros: We absolutely love the font type and color. We love the brown and green idea for the font color. “Forward Food” seems like a very “brown” phrase. We also like the right-justified type.
Cons: The “F” in the logo at first is a little hard to see at first. It seems a little busy.
Client Feedback
Pros: We love the font again. The green in “Forward Food” reminds us of fields and the wheat color in “OF AMERICA” reminds us of fall or harvesting.
Cons: The logo here is kind of the same as the second one. It’s very hard to follow and busy.
Client Feedback
Pros: We love the logo. Like the colors. Again, we’re on board with the right-justified type. Maybe we could try some other color schemes?
Cons: The placement of the text is iffy. The type-face may need to be tweaked just slightly.
Client Feedback
The feedback for this logo is basically the same as the last. The logo is something you don’t see everyday, but in a good way. We think if the text placement, typeface, and color-scheme of the overall logo are experimented with, it will be perfect.
The last two are based on the idea of the Golden Mean.
Awaiting feedback. [ Feedback received, inserted above under each image. The above is an excellent way to give feedback - talking about specifics in each logo design draft - typeface, colors, layout, placement. Better than saying, "We don't like any of this." which doesn't mean much and doesn't help in any way. ]
Second draft of logo designs emailed to the client : edits based on feedback.
Popularity: 2% [?]
