Typophile

Will Pearson Panoramic Photographer Logotype

IanCrombie

Hello Fellow Typophiles,

I was contacted by a photographer to create a custom logotype for him. He had seen an identity I did for another photographer and said that those letterforms resonated with him, and he would like something similar. Will is a very talented panoramic photographer and after perusing his personal website I decided that this logotype needed to be wide. I also wanted his logotype to work nicely with a complementary typeface so that I could write:
"WILL PEARSON PANORAMIC PHOTOGRAPHER"
all in one line, to create a panorama of sorts. [See WillPearson_LogoType_01.jpg for example ]

The type has a few systems that I feel describe the technical nature of his photography. There is one major angle, that is repeated at the top of all the letterforms, it also runs through some of the letters to create a tight relationship between the letters (i.e: the bottom of the e's eye, moves to the top of the a's bowl to the top of the r's stem) [see attached Sketch01.jpg] There is a play between sharp angles and curves. If one side of the letter is sharp the other is smooth. The ligatures/swashes add a little bit of a human quirk to what is an otherwise rigid logotype.

I'm in the early phases of refining, and I have some things that are troubling me that I would love your thoughts on.
- The bottom of the e, its angle is slightly different than the 'main angle' as it is the same angle as the bottom of the a's bowl
- The s & o have flat bottoms, unlike the e, see attached sketch [Sketch02.jpg] is this a good idea or would flattening the e's bottom be better?
-for the e, s, and o, the outer upper left side is smooth, and inside is straight. Do you think the opposite of this as seen in [Sketch02.jpg] is a good idea?

any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated, I've also attached a larger image for critique.

-Ian

AttachmentSize
Sketch01.jpg23.12 KB
Sketch02.jpg32.28 KB
WillPearson_LogoType_01.jpg73.71 KB
IanCrombie

So I went ahead and humored myself by making some of those above changes. Now it really is a matter of opinion. Take a look.

Riccardo Sartori

Second one.

Penn Glendinning

Middle one also.

Though it's feeling a tad disjointed for me. I think it's because both the tracking and the angle of each character makes everything seem like it's cropped awkwardly. The ligatures are also not helping with the tracking because it locks those two characters together, meanwhile everything else feels so loose.

The bottom of the 's' feels too small especially in relation to the size of the bowls on 'e' and 'a'. It doesn't look like you have any overshoot on the 'e', 'a', 's' or 'o' which I think might help everything from feeling awkwardly locked in a box.

Really like the feeling of this so far, a few edits and you'll have another great photographer logo.

IanCrombie

Thanks for the feedback so far. Penn, your always a great help.

I've made the letterforms slightly wider to a. complement the 'panoramic photographer' type and b. address the characters relationships with each other. I've also made the curve of the s thinner and higher.

I did have overshoot before. But since it looked like I didn't have any before doesn't that mean I did it right? or does it need to be more exaggerated? : )

Also, In the bottom example I took out the ligatures. After looking at them, I feel I could go either way, however, I do like the ligatures, they add a little sense of wabi-sab and are definitely more memorable.

Thoughts?

Also in this image are mocked up lock ups to show the type I plan to pair with his logotype.

Penn Glendinning

New 's' is much better.

I like the ligatures — keep them.

I think the spacing around 'Pears' needs some attention. 'Pea' is loose while 'ar' is tight. 'Pe' might need to be kerned a bit more in relation to 'ea'.

'r' might be too small and next to 's' and 'o' it seems rather thick / heavy. It's shaped nicely, but it's just a tad short — same as last time :)

Penn Glendinning

After looking back at the spacing, I think it's just the 'P' that needs to come in a bit.

These characters are hard to kern! — I see things differently every time I look at them.

Captured from commoncrawl.org on 27 Apr 2015. original URL