From the start my goal was to create a logo that combined both the text and the icon so that the icon alone can be used on various platforms.
As the essential part of the logo, the creation of the correct icon is crucial to the process. It needs to portray everything the brand is. Gemini’s physical brand and what he is creating is solid and structured. It is modern, classy, sleek, beautiful, and designed well.
The problem:
How to get all this to show through the icon?
The first thing is to design the icon based on the well-established serif fonts. Serif fonts stand for tradition, structure and class. They are used in print for their easier legibility when it comes to reading for long periods of time. What it stands for is suitable for Gemini but not the actual shape as is. I wanted to create a modern and custom hand lettered logo and icon that uses the old-style serif fonts only as a foundation.
The start of the thought process is very basic, intimate and raw; a blank sheet of paper, and a pencil. Soon the thoughts of possible solutions start pouring out until the ideal one stands out.
In this particular case, it is simple and like everything simple, it is powerful. The basic shape of ‘O’ stacked like zen stones is going to bring the solution to the icon. It has the modern look and the old fashioned solution that portrays what Gemini is.
The Solution:
Create the circles that resemble the serif ‘g’ when they have none.
The idea is getting closer to the final solution but needs some extra work. Different looks and various heaviness allow the best one to stand out.
When studied in large format, each size option show everything clearly, but in reduction, the stronger option stands out from the rest, which, in this case is the second one from the left in the bottom row below. The zen stone stacked ones look way too heavy and bulky and they lose that ‘g’ shape in reduction, which eliminates them as a solution.
The Outcome:
The final version of the icon fits well and expresses everything Gemini Wadley brand consists of. It is solid, simple, elegant, modern with the structure of a strong and established foundation. It is classy, sleek, sexy, beautiful, and well-designed for various platforms on any size.
Once the icon is done, it is time to design a custom style lettering for it. The chosen unique style on the right carry the same characteristics with the icon itself.
Now it is time to digitize the hand lettered logo.
Vectorized logo directly from the paper.
Fixed vector. but the tail of the 'y' is distracting. I didn't want anything to take away from the uniquness of the 'g'. Time to fix it, too.
Cleaned up and finalized logo, ready to be used either as a logo or as a logo/icon combination!
Once the logo was ready, I moved forward with branding and the website design. You can check out the live site by clicking on the picture below.
