Brainstorm #9 Logo ProcessListThumbs
Brainstorm #9 Logo Process
Last month Carlos Merigo, from Brainstorm #9, one of the biggest and most prestigious Brazilian blogs, contacted me asking if I would be interested in redesigning his blog brand. I was totally amazed by the opportunity to work on a project like that. I knew it would be challenging because of the target audience, mostly advertisers and people who really know about that matter.
Briefing the design process
The first thing when designing a logo, is to understand the context, history and what's the image it has to deliver to the audience. Asking Carlos about the meaning of the logo, he explained to me that the logo was, of course, related to “brainstorming”.
Brainstorming is a group creativity technique designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution of a problem. The method was first popularized in the late 1930s by Alex Faickney Osborn in a book called Applied Imagination. Osborn proposed that groups could double their creative output with brainstorming. - Wikipedia
Now, about the number #9, it was a really nice story: he was looking for something that would make the name stand out, Brainstorm was way too simple. Then he saw on his table the famous White Album by the The Beatles. He decided to take a look at the name of the songs and found the Revolution #9. That gave him an insight, because even John Lenon himself once said that that song was the weirdest, longest and probably most hated Beatles song.
John Lennon wrote this with contributions from Yoko Ono. It's a highly experimental piece, which Lennon once called "The music of the future." It is the most controversial and bizarre track on the album - you have to have a very open mind to appreciate it.
The work is credited to Lennon/McCartney, though it was primarily the effort of John Lennon. (This was Lennon and McCartney's standard practice, to share songwriting credit on all songs written by either or both.) George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Yoko Ono made small contributions, while Paul McCartney did not actively participate in the track's creation. Ono's avant-garde influence on Lennon's compositional style is clear throughout "Revolution 9." - Wikipedia
I had to listen to the song, and it’s definitely a crazy song, full of looping and sort of a collage of different things, pretty much like a brainstorm.
That was the current logo.
So the keywords from my little brainstorm were:
- Loop
- Collage
- Avant-garde
Logo References and Sketches
Before going straight to the computer, I worked on some sketches, exploring a few concepts using the keywords that were selected before. Also I visit logopond.com for some logo references. You can take a look at some logos I used for reference at the Ultimate One Color Logos Inspiration article.
Logos from logopond for design references
The first idea was to keep the # symbol and add another element. In this case the lightning bolt.
I know, I suck at that but it's helpful ;)
First Idea
After having some interesting ideas on paper, it was time to go to Illustrator and work on the symbols. Below you can see one of my ideas, mixing the # and the lightning bolt.
The first symbol mixing the # with the lightning bolt
It was a nice idea and a good symbol in my humble opinion. It had a nice link with the previous logo, but there was a big problem: the number 9 wouldn't work well along with that symbol.
First Idea with the Logotype and versions
Selected Idea
Even though the first version came out quite nicely, I decided to work on another version, trying something different and using the number 9. With that in mind, I decided to mix the number and the lightning bolt symbol.
Second idea mixing the number 9 and the lightning bolt
Logotype
With the Avant-garde influence on the song Revolution #9, I simply had to use that font. I really like it, despite the fact that here in Brazil it was a default font in Corel Draw, the most popular software for vector design here. But what does that have to do with the font? Well, imagine that this is the default font... so when people send business cards to the bureau and forget to send the fonts, which one is used instead?
Yes, maybe it was the most used font ever here in Brazil, but with a few tweaks it would work fine.
Exploring the idea of looping, I played with some characters, mainly in the word Brain because ideas and complex thoughts are born in the brain, so it had to have a clear relation between LOOPING in the Brain. Also I used gradients to add some depth to the connections between the letters.
In the last letter, the "M", I nudged the symbol a bit over the letter, leaving a little gap between the symbol and the letters to avoid problems with the monochromatic version.
Selecting and playting with fonts
Final Result
I really believe that the new logo achieved the goals we had set in the very beginning of the project. A simple and iconic logo, relating to the Beatles song, Revolution #9.
Versions
Braincast
Braincast, the Brainstorm #9 screencast.
Site
Also I worked on the web site, but that's another story for perhaps another post in the future.
About the author
My name is Fabio Sasso, I'm a graphic/web designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil and I'm the founder of Abduzeedo. I hope we can share lots of information, tips, and ideas through Abduzeedo. Also you can follow me on Twitter or my personal site at http://fabiosasso.com.
53 Comments
Really nice finished product. It's a great improvement on the original.
Very nice!
Cara, eu sou fã do merigo e do brain9 , até assustei quando vi o post falando do logo, + ficou bom.. :D
a idéia de luz da lampada em raio gooood ;)
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Man, i'm a fan of Merigo e from Brain9, i've even got scared when i saw the post talking about the logo, + it got nice.. [=
the idea from the light of the bulb in the lightning booooooa ;)
That came out really nice. Congratulations ;)
beautiful!
Nice!
Well done, very impressive and inspirating work!
This is indeed a great post. Thanks for sharing.
Is there any other logo redesign or new logo creation process you've shared on your site?
Great outcome, nice to see the process
Thanks for sharing your process. Your work is always fantastic and inspiring... :-)
It's always great to see a designer's process, since everyone's is different. This is amazing, completely inspiring, and a very efficient process. Oh yeah...and the end result? SWEET!
Ficou do caralho véio, parabéns.
I'm still missing the connection with the BRAIN and the STORM and 9 I was more thinking more in swirls for storm part and the head of the 9 as a abstract brain but then again I don't know wht the whole story behind this is.
Love the work on typography!
It´s real nice to the see the whole process!
Congrats.
Love watching the design process as it unfolds.Fantastic results!
really nice Fabio, your explanations are so clear and simple, with great final result !
we love that
adeux
Very nice!
Cara, acompanho o Brainstorm e vi as modificações, ficaram ótimas, parabéns!
=D
@Rodolfo Bassetto I think it isn't a lightbulb, but a cam, is it?
Nice! It's good to see that people still take the time to put their ideas on paper before going in front of the screen. It really helps the creative process!
I really like the logo!
Parabéns pelo ótimo trabalho!
Tava no aguardo dessa descrição detalhada do projeto... muito bom!
Acompanho o B#9 e o redesign do blog ficou fantástico.
Congratulations!
Just as others have commented, sharing your design process is valuable information. Your redesign is a vast improvement over the original. Thanks!
Fabulous! A great idea for a great publicity blog!
Nice to see how you develop your projects :) I like the final result, you did a good job.
Great logo and great article. Thanks for presenting the different versions, concepts, research. You really encompass the whole process in a nice, succinct article.
awesome, I liked the website design too much
Great work, Fabio.
Thank you for accepting this mission. I am very proud with the final result.
And now, Brainstorm # 9 finally has a really truth logo :)
Very nice indeed.
Congratulations. Great Work!
Muito bacana o resultado.
Serve também pra que não sabe como é o desenvolvimento de uma marca conceitual.
Parabéns !
Muito bacana o resultado.
Serve também pra que não sabe como é o desenvolvimento de uma marca conceitual.
Parabéns !
Velho, meus parabéns gostei do timeline do job e como tu chegou ao resultado - alias o logo está excelente.
Um pequeno detalhe de aplicação: aqui na minha tela apresenta um pouco de serrilha no blog, abraço!
Brilliant concepts and great walk through!! Thanks it was very inspiring~
I'm doing a new logo for a construction company here in Denver and this was almost the xact process i used. Thanks....at least now i feel i'm on the right track... ;)
Cara, muito boa a evolução da marca. Ficou bem acabado. E o que é mais legal, é esse ter sido um bom exemplo de como fazer um memorial descritivo bem bacana, mostrando todo o caminho até chegar ao resultado final.
Parabéns.
Muito bom, parabéns! Uma ótima renovada no visual do Brainstorm! E muito legal ver o processo de desenvolvimento do logo.
very good! congratulations! :D
Wow, that is a really nice logo, and thanks for walking us through the process.
Um trabalho bacana mesmo. A tralha se foi, mas a perda talvez possa ser explicada pelo próprio processo de r-evolução da marca...
Cool process dude.....
I think the only thing that I think would add to it is if you add the flod gradient like you have in the "N" and "M" of brainstorm into the Lightning bolt of the "9"....... Maybe would suggest a consistency thru out the full implementation......
Just a thought.... But super dope thou....
I enjoy the blog....
Aloha,
K
dig it, nice process, I just wonder if the folded lettering look is going to date the logo in a few years time?
Fuderosa a marca!!! Parabéns visse. Uma coisa que notei é o favicon do site que não parece ter mudado. :P
Abraços,
Thanks for sharing the process! Extra-cool!
"I really like it, despite the fact that here in Brazil it was a default font in Corel Draw, the most popular software for vector design here."
Most popular uma ova. Corel é coisa de grafiquinha fundo de quintal que faz buné bordado com o nome da mina do cara por 25 real. Mas de resto meus parabéns, belo desenvolvimento do concept e na verdade programa é só ferramenta de trabalho né? O que vale é a ideia bem desenvolvida.
That's the reason I'm on the blogging end. Way too much mental process in doing what you do
Nice Work!!!!
I love the way you displayed the steps of the logo. Props!
Muito boa logo, agora o brainstorm tem uma logo de verdade. :D
Ae Fábio, muito legal o processo todo! E gostei muito do resultado final!
Te perguntar, você usou essa logomarca como referência?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sadmascot/2884600783/in/set-72157600163797564/
Abraços.
Good to see my Otus logo could inspire you :)
Very nice! I especially like how you showed us your sketches. Is that a moleskine?
My coworker came over while I was reading this and said it reminded him of the old 9 volt battery logo with the cat:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/Variantibis/LightningCat.jpg
Really useful, thanks for sharing :)
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