Corporate Identity Project

Brody · Post by **Brody** » Wed May 04, 2005 6:16 pm

I recently incorporated my freelance graphic design practice for web and logo services, etc.

My first project involved an engine restoration and manufacturing company. They wanted a new look along with a new website, online catalog, and forum. (which im still working on

)

Old logo:

The main problem with this image, his planes only have 2 props, not 3. The other big problem I found was most customers who would see his logo in trade shows first thought the company made planes, they couldnt read "engine manufacturer" out of the original logo.

New logo:

*kindof a rough pixelated scan*

I constructed some custom (but very basic) letterforms, and formed a set of wings that would house an engine as the focus of the image. The engine is anatomically correct down to the damn nuts and bolts,

but its the level of detail they asked for.

As for the colors, they were also chosen to correctly match the engine and the overall feel of the image was designed to detect a WWII nostalgia.

Plaztik · Post by **Plaztik** » Wed May 11, 2005 8:39 am

I think your explanation suits the new logo perfectly...although i don't like the logo per se, i can say that the pic has all the features you just described, so kudos to you

any pics of the website yet?

Leftover · Post by **Leftover** » Wed May 11, 2005 9:18 pm

Wha'd you use?

I'd mention the logo looking a bit jagged / rasterized but you did mention it being a scan ;p.

Also, I forgot how to do CSS.

Post by **Grey Fox** » Wed May 11, 2005 9:58 pm

looks good to me, nice work. How did you make the wings?

Brody · Post by **Brody** » Wed May 11, 2005 11:10 pm

Thanks guys.

Plaz: I didn't like the logo at first either, but I had to give them what they wanted.

I'll have some shots of the website available friday that I can put up this weekend.

Leftover: The whole thing was built in FH:MX. I transferred it to photoshop this last weekend so I'll swap them out here to rid us of the horrible jaggies.

Do you swear by CSS?

Greyfox: Those wings have seen 4 variations of themselves now, this being the final accepted version. I shaped them out with a pentool.

What do you guys do to finalized fh art to smooth it all out for presentation? Can it be done in Freehand or do you move it to another app?

/needs a wacom

Leftover · Post by **Leftover** » Wed May 11, 2005 11:27 pm

I use Photoshop / Illustrator and wee bits of Quark. I can't work well with FH at all

.

I don't swear by CSS, but I should. Searching months for a job has left me dry and dumb in that department. HTML / CSS is by far my weakest area of knowledge.

You should recreate it in Illustrator, that is unless FH works in the same mathematic vein that Illustrator does.

man of txt · Post by **man of txt** » Wed May 11, 2005 11:32 pm

Leftover wrote:I use Photoshop / Illustrator and wee bits of Quark. I can't work well with FH at all .

I don't swear by CSS, but I should. Searching months for a job has left me dry and dumb in that department. HTML / CSS is by far my weakest area of knowledge.

You should recreate it in Illustrator, that is unless FH works in the same mathematic vein that Illustrator does.

APparently it does but I havent had the time to play aroun with it. You should be able to export it out of there and into illustrator since both use vector images!

Leftover · Post by **Leftover** » Wed May 11, 2005 11:34 pm

Well then fixing the rough around the edges shouldn't be a problem then, along with resizing it for other uses (business cards and the like).

Brody · Post by **Brody** » Wed May 11, 2005 11:45 pm

I will try this tonight and thirst your curiosities by letting you know.

Plaztik · Post by **Plaztik** » Thu May 12, 2005 9:08 am

I also hate it when the people you work for don't have taste

...and can't be bothered to see your interpretation...often it's best to give them just what they want...if that means it'll be crappy, so be it...
but i found out that motivation for these kind of projects drops insanely

o...and trace it with illustrator

always works for me

Last One · Post by **Last One** » Thu May 12, 2005 9:12 am

Aghh, identity projects

I just came out of a big one D:

Have a nice day

Aridhol · Post by **Aridhol** » Fri May 13, 2005 3:50 am

If I understand you correctly and the original is vector work, then the pixelation is of no moment.

I think the design is fairly strong and gets the job done while still maintaining some degree of aestheticism.

I might wonder what the primary use of the logo will be, for the gradients might make things more difficult for print media, depending on the sophistication of the output (for electronic output it is a moot point). It could also have been interesting if you worked something out in which a single color was not so dominant (ie: using something to contrast with the yellow for more visual interest). Lastly, it can be too easily read as Radial limited Engines because of the layout, a problem which might be remedied by a smaller font size for limited.

But all in all, solid work.

Brody · Post by **Brody** » Sat May 21, 2005 3:25 am

Nice suggestion about the smaller font, I'll have to try that too. As far as the dominant color goes, that was mostly the client barking.

Not sure what you mean by "no moment" but yes the illustration is vectored and manipulated with anchor points on each line.

The design is used on employee uniforms, print ads, catalogs, etc.

I also found out this weekend the Travel Channel is coming out to shoot an episode about REL and its custom innovation of modern fuel injection. Pretty good deal for me, them being my 1st client. (In terms of exposure)

Brody · Post by **Brody** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 6:21 pm

The site is on its first few legs and can be veiwed at

www.radialengines.com/test

I wasnt able to move all the content myself (freelance 2nd job) so teh subcontractor hired a content developer to do this for me , allowing me to focus more on the design of the navigation, aesthetics, etc.

Overall, I am okay with their work however they have marred numerous small hints of detail on the site that I am currently petitioning to get changed back to my original submission.