Final Logo

http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d1203012k4184394o1/leo

I've decides to stick with the last version of the lion and started to think about where it would be used. LEO do motivational talks to businesses so I created a small slideshow that I think could be shown in the the background while the speaker is giving their talk. Click the link above to see the slideshow. It incorporates 11 different versions of the lion logo I've created, it slowly and subtly fades from one to the other so as not to distract too much from what the speaker is talking about but also has a strong visual impact for the LEO group.




The image below is my favourite I just really like the colour combination, the use of different greys and the subtlety of the yellow in the background I think work really well together.

However I think for the client the image below would best suit their aesthetic, I think there is a richer feel to this image compared to the one above. I think the colours are more professional and serious which I think suits LEO better. 

Ta da!

From my image of smudged make-up I created the top iamge. I'm quite happy with this image now. I've experimented with different colour variations and different layer masks to create subtle differences in each image. The last three are my favourites, I think the top one is too balck and white and I like the different colours and shades in the last three.

(if you double click the images you can see the detail better)

Experimenting and happy accidents!

So I wanted to give my design a bit of depth and some texture so I started out by messing with cardboard and the idea of the image being a cut out of maybe some kind of expensive looking wallpaper? That idea was short lived... absolutely hated it!

I then tried making up different textures to use within the circles of the previous designs but while I was messing with that I created the last image above. Didn't really know what I was doing, the image is actually made from face powder and hair balm, very random I know but it was what was close to hand! I quite like this image so I'm going to explore what else can come from this image. I'm still going to work on the other design also, don't think I'll abandon it just yet!

So I tried to use a textured circle to recreate the previous images. This didn't really work for two reasons, one the building up of the circles made the file absolutely huge and illustrator kept shutting down on me. You can see how far I got below... not very! The second reason is even with as little as I could do of this image, I really didn't like it. I think it's a little too fussy and the image is getting over worked.

(The blue in the background is not meant to be there that's just to show you what parts of the head I've done)

So from working form my last idea this is what I came up with I think the top one works the best and I like the colours i've used. I tried expermenting with different colour combinations and different shades and tints to see if that would improve the design at all, I myself prefer the use of a single colour with different tints of that colour. I then tried messing about with the overall image, croping it, mirroring it I don't think these worked at all. You loose the completly what the image is, it no longer looks like a lion.

My next taught is that I think the whole thing looks a bit flat so I'd like to try and experiment with the image more by trying to incorporate maybe some texture into the little cricles or try to make the image look less 2D I'd like to add a little depth some how.

Sketches

Here is a selection of my sketches that I started off with, I think the first couple of sketchs are too loose and rough for a logo for LEO. I think they would need a logo that was clean cut, if that makes sense so I decided to concentrate on the face of the lion. I tried to experiment with different shapes to try and make up the face of the lion, I quite liked these and hadn't really seen ones like it before so decided to keep going with this idea and see what comes from it.

Logo Research

Some logo research, I like the one above because of it's use of mark making would like to use this technique for the Lions but would definately have to rework it, to make it more associated with LEO, something interesting could come from this type of experimentation.

Love these images, like the use of different patterns combined to make up the bird. Would like to use different shapes to create different types of images of lions, something quite abstract but still conveying the LEO astethic.

Looking mainly at the bird logos on this page again I like the use of random shapes to make up the final image of the birds.

Famous Lions

Here are some animals you may recognise! What makes these work? The puma and the peugeot logos work well because they're simple, uncomplicated, easy to recognise with or without text, only one or two colours.

The colours on the LEO web site are very dark and rich, they give it a sense of expense and excellence, I think. I think these colours work well and I will experiment with these in my logo design.

LEO Logo design

Professional
Dynamic
Effective

My initial research has consisted of reading about LEO, they seem like a very driven and competent organisation and they mean business. I feel the logo needs to be strong, different not like other logos, not blend in with other typical logos of lions. ie below