Designing a logo - That Eureka Moment

We were so delighted with the logo that Richard Wolfstrome designed for our Living Wage campaign, that we asked colourist Frances Tobin to quiz him about its creation – here’s the story.

FT – Richard I’ve had some experience of working with you, so I know that if someone suggests something to you, and you get it, you just want to run with it; was that the case with this logo?

RW – Yes, the Chamber contacted me and talked me through the Living Wage campaign and asked me would I like to design the logo? Politically I liked the idea, I was intrigued by the project and flattered to be asked. There is a generic national Living Wage logo but the Chamber wanted to develop one specifically for Brighton & Hove.

FT – The Chamber always has very distinctive graphic marketing, so a logo of this importance was going to have to be good!

RW – And of course they have a really good pool of graphic designers that they can work with. It stroked my ego a little, so it didn’t take me long to agree to do it! But I asked for time to work on it.
I don’t always sketch or do research immediately; the process of how I worked with this one was  to let it sit with me, to notice related (and unrelated) material and to see what came up, on a subconscious level.

I realised quite early on that it needed to be colourful; I wanted it to be really bright and positive. So I sat with it and then I got that eureka moment - I just thought of campaign ribbons; for Aids or cancer for example. It was about how we use ribbons in our campaigns – so that was it: it needed to be a colourful ribbon.

I spent some time playing with ribbon designs and layouts which resulted in what the design is now; the full colour version is the main one and there are also some other colour options. I wanted anyone who is going to use it, to be able to adapt it to work with what they are doing.

FT – Hopefully all sorts of businesses are going to back the campaign.

RW – Yes, and for that reason there are two versions of how Brighton & Hove is written – one where the B&H text is bigger for legibility for small format use – possibly for websites, email signatures etc. and a version where the B&H text is smaller and more integrated with the ribbon for display and large purpose use such as posters for example. The font I’ve used is Intro, its strength and energy reinforces the campaign message.

FT – I’m interested in the colours you’ve used

RW - You’re the colour specialist so it’s a bit nerve wracking talking to you about colour, I came at it from a very graphic point of view, with the idea of layering colour transparencies to create a kind of movement – a sense of ‘do-ing’. And the colours had to work together.

FT – When I look at it I see so much colour; I feel it relates to the many different people, businesses and industries affected by low wages, needing this campaign.

RW – I can’t say that was my rationale, but that works perfectly and often design comes about intuitively. Thank you.

FT- Well your colourful campaign ribbon manages to be both engaging and forceful.

RW - This is an important issue so it needs the gravitas. It says - we’re not going away, it’s an important issue and we mean what we say.

Written by Frances Tobin www.francestobin.com

Richard is an award-winning creative who interested in furthering information graphic design and typography by continually challenging the technical and creative disciplines. Primary strength lies in determining how to communicate information optimally across different media – from print to screen to installation. He's a board director of the International Society of Typographic Designers, Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) and a member of the Society of Environmental Graphic Designers. Visit his website here: www.richardwolfstrome.com

Frances works in all areas of design advising on trends in colour, the effects and benefits of colour and the coordination of colours, materials and finishes. She is a member of the Colour Group of Great Britain.