Working on behalf of Yorkshire’s Techserv Cutting Systems, Exeter based Design Credo have created a brand for a range of newly developed machines.

More Than a Logo

The scope of the project extended beyond simple graphic design and logo design. Design Credo initially advised on product names creating a ‘brand-family’. Part of this advice extended to researching suitable domain names.

The rationale behind the logo design was to create a simple clear design that would communicate the accuracy and quality of the Techserv products. The logos were designed using simple geometric shapes with reference to the letters a&j, p&j, r&j.

Techserv have already commissioned Design Credo to photograph the first of these machines.

Exeter graphic design company Design Credo have created a simple clean and minimal design for Sarah Treble the bespoke and couture wedding dress company now located in Devon.

Sarah was looking for a development of her existing look and wanted to avoid the overly ornate ‘Nuptial Script’ look. The brand needs to be applied in a number of ways ranging from small dress labels to websites, and Design Credo are already involved in the creation of the latter due to ‘go live’ in the coming weeks.

The new brand uses different weights of Helvetica Extended. However the simplicity of a look like this can hide the depth of the process. Many other typefaces were considered before Helvetica was selected. Once the typeface was chosen considered thought was given to he weights, spacing of letters, words and objects within the group as well as the colour.

Ultimately though this look can be considered as ‘less is more’, the brand should in no way interfere with the beautiful design of Sarah Treble’s wedding dresses.

Design Credo have recently developed a new logo for PDM Design, the Topsham (Exeter) based architects. Phil Domville-Musters asked us to develop his brand identity further as part of the preparation for his new blog website also currently being developed by us.

Often when asked to ‘breathe on’ an existing idea we find that there are frequently good elements in the customers’ ideas. Phil was keen to keep the existing colours, being a fan of things Italian such as his Ducati and his Colnago. The first task is to unite the existing elements of the idea, the parts all need to be ‘friends’ with each other.

Phil’s original idea used Baskerville and Verdana. We felt that Baskerville designed in 1757 would be better complimented by Helvetica, introduced a further two centuries later and, having just watched Helvetica (the film) at the DID event in Exeter I am more than happy that we are in good company. As with architecture there is a case for mixing the old and the new. In this case we have used the extended form of Helvetica to achieve a suitable balance. The word architecture serves to unite the two dominant forms without detracting from the overall shape or ‘bounding box’ of the device.

As with all logo-forms it is essential that they will can be used in a variety of applications. On paper, where white is the dominant colour PDM will use the version with the grey ‘design’ whereas for the website the word ‘design’ appears as white.

Keeping it simple with respect for typographical heritage makes all the difference.

Original PDM Logo

It’s important to ‘put your best foot forward’ whether you are a small local organisation in Devon or Arts Council England.

It’s great to see an organisation such as the Arts Award embracing Twitter. Although Twitter typically appeals to an older demographic than the target audience of the Young People’s Arts Award it is still an excellent avenue to extend marketing range.

However Exeter’s Design Credo noticed that the Arts Award logo wasn’t looking too good on their Twitter page, the logo looked dull and flat, worse still when it had been uploaded part of it had been clipped. This was a concern because DesignCredo had designed it and had a professional investment in ensuring the logo appeared as it had been designed to look.

It didn’t take too much time to re-draw it and submit a Twitter friendly version and now things are looking as they should. If you are trying to upload images that have been designed it is a good idea to check with your graphic designer for advice. It isn’t rocket science but it is easy to get wrong.

You will probably find that the designer will be more than willing to help, after all, we have an investment in seeing our work presented as it was intended.