As The Blue Carpet Club came to me for a logo and brand guidelines, they described themselves this way:
The Blue Carpet Club is hipster, handcrafted, and confident. It’s exclusive and personal, but friendly and unpretentious. It’s quirky, with a flair for the absurd. It romanticises the old and vintage, but lives in the present and embraces the future. Its design should raise as many questions as answers, and should intrigue people to want to know more.
initial ideas
I began to look at other production companies with the aim to do something different as well as old ephemera and illustrations for inspiration. These are some initial ideas that I presented.
A
B
C
D
A Simplicity, class, extendability, flexibility. I wanted this to feel recognizable and minimal. The line is an abstract representation of a carpet, rug, even magic carpet if you prefer. This one would allow space for your work to shine and reveal who you are while providing a professional but intriguing introduction.
B Ornate, playful, secretive. This is more of a seal, something that suggests elegance, attention to detail and some amount of secrecy. The idea is to inspire curiosity.
C Whimsical, mysterious, imaginative. Here, not all is as it initially seems. This suggests a unique approach and perspective, something clients would come to you for, whatever the assignment might be. I want this to suggest personality, playfulness, creativity, and humanity.
D Hand crafted, individual, partnership, confidence. The logo should portray a personal touch, a sense of friendship, and a bit of humor. I was inspired by a secret handshake as well as that reflex game. Gutsy, risk-taking, and to a degree, a test in trust and perception which is what beginning a new creative partnership feels like.
They were drawn to options C and D but ultimately decided to have me develop and finalize logo C. Here follows my refinements.
refinements
direction 1
Things to consider: pupil shape, font style, type arrangement. Each one of these choices gives the logo a different feel. The serif font plus the triangle has a secret society vibe to it while the diamond is more subtle and slightly off and the sans serif adds an approachable, modern playfulness that I enjoy.
direction 2
Partway through my revisions I had a thought and decided to run with an alternate idea that we hadn’t discussed at all—direction 2.
While the guys were inspired by my hair-brained, last minute idea they felt that the first direction hit the mark on the “quirky”, “romantic”, “vintage”, and “absurd” characteristics that they wanted to embody in their own work.
