When Ty Adams was getting ready to launch his bioTrekker campaign, he approached me for a logo. He wanted something with a clean look that represented sustainable energy and travel. His plan was to live and work in a diesel motorhome adorned with the bioTrekker logo while traveling the country to expand awareness of sustainable energy. For the last year, his coach has been powered by biodiesel and he has documented his travels on his website www.biotrekker.com.

After pouring through hordes of existing biodiesel logos and researching biodiesel, I sat down with my sketchpad and started the thumbnail process. Here are most of those sketches.

As you can see, I explored the idea of trekking, corn stalks, canola flowers, drops of biodiesel, sunflowers, the sun, nature in general and movement.

The combination of the drop of biodiesel with the compass rose opened the door to quite a bit more exploration.

I ended up presenting comps of 7, 32, 58 and 59 to the client. He asked me to explore the mark on 58 with the font of 7 more. Therefore, I came up with these:

What do you think of the final result? Do you like the concept behind it? Are there other ideas that you like better?

Filed under: Graphic Design || 9 Excellent Comments

I am curious. What is your favorite color? Is there a specific shade you prefer? Why do you like it?
I love color. I love the way it makes me feel. I love reading about color symbolism and color psychology. I love studying the physics of color and how our eyes see it. I love coming […]

Filed under: Graphic Design || 3 Excellent Comments

No, this is not a tutorial. As a designer, I am concerned about what the general masses are learning about “design.” Free clipart. Free fonts. Free “design” software. Ugh, it is no wonder I constantly find myself cringing.
I recently attended a “Photoshop CS3 Power Tour” by Kelby Training. Overall, the seminar was useful — CS3 […]

Filed under: Critiques, Graphic Design || 9 Excellent Comments

A good friend of mine recently bought me a first edition of Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Several times now, I have curled up with it, but cannot seem to make it past page 14. Unfortunately, the font they chose for the body copy keeps distracting me from the story.
I often run into this. Walking down […]

Filed under: Typography || 10 Excellent Comments

Print’s 2007 Regional Design Annual had several gems of its own. I admit that I’m partial to this particular design because I have a black lab myself. He exhibits all of the below behaviors and some unique ones of his own — like licking bare feet and snacking on bobby pins.

My love of labs aside, […]

Filed under: Critiques || Leave Your Thoughts

I recently received the latest Communication Arts Design Annual. I am sure I am not the only designer that feels like a kid in a candy store when I get these annuals. This year several designs caught my eye, but this particular one made me laugh too.

Now if only I didn’t have to gain 50 […]

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Most people seem to believe logos are quick and easy to design. I often hear, “I don’t want to pay that much for my logo, I just need something simple that looks good small.” If you ask me, I think the best logos out there are simple and look good small. However it’s highly likely, […]

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barrettcreates.com reached its five-year anniversary about a month ago. I cannot believe it has been that long since I first launched my online graphic design portfolio. What is even more unbelievable is that I have kept the same design that entire time.
The Old Website

My original plan was to create a portal page that gave the […]

Filed under: Web Design || 2 Excellent Comments