Professional Logo Redesign – How a unique message makes a brand successful
By Martina Bourque, Creative Director at Web Design Phoenix / September 23, 2020
Elevate Practice Consulting approached us in the summer of 2020 to create a brand and perform a logo redesign that matches their company vision better than their old logo.
They weren’t crazy about the design, colors of font associated with their existing logo. As it turns out, the design wasn’t exactly one-of-a-kind either.
Although our relationship with Elevate was just beginning, they were very good at communicating their company mission and core beliefs. They are a premium brand, and their corporate images needed to reflect that.
One unique aspect of Elevate is the leadership team. They are a group of highly sophisticated women with a mission of helping Dental Practices elevate to the next level. We love working with them and it was a great honor to be able to create a brand identity that shows how their personality is both strong and elegant.
Before
After
How we got there…
- Logo review & research
- Developing a “story” around the logo
- Competitor research
- Elegant brands with wings
- Our first design ideas
- Back to the drawing board
- Font research for logo redsign
- Fibonacci’s golden ratio
- Stationary and t-shirt mockup
- Aspirational imagery and a voice for the brand
- Complete Company Branding Guide
A logo not as unique as we thought…
Our client liked their old logo but thought it could use a little bit more elegance and a feminine touch. During my research on tineye.com I found that the original bird in the logo was a stock image and not a custom created logo.
A logo redesign always needs a story
I created this slogan for me to picture what I wanted the logo redesign to say. The client is unique because they give highly sophisticated dental practices the tools, knowledge, and training so they can elevate to the highest level of dentistry. When they described to me what they do I had the image in my head that they were giving them wings so the staff and dentists will be able to fly on their own wherever they want to go.
So I wanted to go away from a full bird image to only wings. The wings had to be soaring being wide and gliding. I liked this list of soaring birds, which are birds that can maintain flight without wing flapping, using rising air currents.
Even though this might not be the final slogan. This was the story I had in my mind when I was researching the look and feel this brand needed.
Researching what’s out there
When I create a logo I always make sure that it’s unique. So research is essential. These are other elevate logos I found on the internet. Just to keep in mind that I am not creating something that’s already out there.
Other premium brands
These were the level of quality brands that inspired me:
I noticed that many luxury brands that clients like have wings. Here are some of my favorite ones.
Our starting concepts
My very first versions of the logo redesign had a small e in the center but after seeing these the client decided that capital letters would match their personality better. There were also a few other things that did not work. For example, it looked a too Native American and also slightly masculine, but it was a good starting point to find out more about the client’s taste.
So I went back at the drawing board I tried different curved wing shapes for the logo redesign.
Fonts matter…a lot
For the font I was looking for an elegant sophisticated font that is feminine and strong at the same time. I looked at luxury brands but still could not picture how serifs and wings could work together. It took me several days to realize that I could make this work by using the V of the font Cinzel as the body for the wings.
Fibonacci’s Golden Ratio
The golden ratio describes predictable patterns in nature, science and even the financial markets. It is named after its Italian founder, Leonardo Fibonacci. Nature uses this ratio to maintain balance.
In the Elevate logo, the balance of the font versus the wings are in perfect harmony from the small elements to the entire ratio.
Collateral materials and mockups
Best suited aspirational imagery
