The Tidewater School, Part 2

Let me just say that the album idea was a big hit. It was definitely extra work to present the logo concepts that way, but it really made for a memorable presentation. More importantly, helped the client to see my thought process and gave them a memento of the occasion. Something that logos on boards or PDFs just can't do. Effective communication requires knowing your audience.

So, which one did they choose? To my surprise, Concept 2 (the sun and sky) was their favorite. But, they were concerned that the shapes in the symbol were too uniform and really liked the way my sketch (which was screened back like a watermark on a page in the album) had a more organic feel. For my part, the roughness of the sketch was a little too unpolished so I set out to find a happy middle ground. Below is the original sketch and a few of the variations I tried (click on the image and you can see them larger):



Finally, after about a week of back and forth, we all felt comfortable with a rougher, but still somewhat polished, version of the "pinwheel." I was particularly pleased that they liked the somewhat unusual layout of the name and typeface — Fontin — that I chose. After considerable exploration, I found Fontin at a smaller type "foundry" and I really liked the way the characters reflected the organic nature of the symbol. The fact that typeface came in a variety weights, small caps, and sans serif made it particularly versatile for their future needs.



A seal using the symbol was created for their Circle of Friends giving program. I just love a good seal, don't you?



Next post: the identity evolves...