Orig. Akron City Logo Design Notes

Hello, my name is Kross and I am the Art Director and lead Graphic Designer for OHeavy Designs. I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my post and that I hope you enjoy. The purpose of this post is to share with you some of our design processes at OHeavy Designs. As well as some of my concepts and ideas behind the Original Akron City Logo.

Before I get into particulars just a short back story. When I was attending art/design school. We had an assignment to design a city logo. Unfortunately I didn't have the option to choose the city of my choice. I ended up being assigned Portland (Oregon). In the end I did good on the logo and got a good grade. However the design always felt like it was an empty design. It felt like all work and no heart. So I decided to create a logo for the city where I was born Akron, OH.

When I decided to design the Akron logo. I started the design process of drawing different logo concepts. When I start designing a logo or any other design. There is a series of questions that I feel must be answered.

1. Who is the client?

2. What is the purpose?

3. What is the reason?

4. What elements must be presented in the design?

5. Concept?

6. Ideas?

So after answering the necessary questions. I got to work. When it comes to logos I'll sketch anywhere from 25-100 different concepts. Then I select my favorite sketches that interpret the design the best. Sometimes the selection process takes some time. Depending on how many concepts that I feel meet the questionnaire qualifications. But I'll keep going through multiple rounds of selecting until there is less than 5-10 concepts remaining. Then finally selecting the design that I feel meets the requirements of the logo. During the selection process I'll look at a number of thing that matter to the overall logo design. Which includes legibility, readability, size, overall shape, flow and printability. As a rule of thumb while designing logos. If it doesn't look good in black and white it's a bad design. Also it's too risky for a logo or branding. Logos or branding should not rely on color for the overall aesthetics of the design. Color won't always be feasible. For example if you create your logo in color. Then use it for say a letterhead or someone prints it on a black and white printer. Your design could print out as a Rorschach test.

When I started the Akron logo designing. I wanted the design to have some Akron heritage and flair. So a lot of my designs were influenced by the local appeal. So I finally came up with the concept of using the Goodyear badge icon shape. The diamond shape was a good choice for me. Because I did not want to use an oval. I do not prefer the oval city/state designs. They add no personality to the design. It's just an oval with the abbreviated city or state name. How personal can an oval be that says AKR inside of it. It's hardly original and has absolutely no personality.

For the font type I choose a script font. I felt that the script font had the smoothest flow with legibility and readability. I decided to cross the 'A' with the end of the 'N' to create a more grounded and complete feeling design. As well as balancing out the positive and negative space within the design.

The final version of the design actually read Akron, Ohio. However I decided to nix the Ohio from the design. It seemed to slow down the flow of the design. Also once again I did not feel that the design had enough personality for me. I made my design with the people of Akron in mind. And we all know what state we are from.

So in closing I really hope you like the design. I also want to thank you again for taking the time to read about our design processes at OHeavy Designs. Also if anyone would like to have the option to buy the Akron, Ohio logo design. Feel free to email us at oheavydesigns@outlook.com. I would also like to say that I hope any and all purchase from OHeavy Designs meets or exceeds your expectations. If you have any question or comments feel free to email us at oheavydesigns@outlook.com. And we will respond as soon as possible.

As we create more designs and categories I will write more posts about their design processes as well. Again I would like thank you for your time and patience while we update our site with new designs.