WEBSITE LOGO
The base logo that I have been using for several years now, this is usually made out of pencil, pen, or whatever medium is best suited to make it stand out against whatever background it comes upon. The layout of the symbol is relatively simplistic, with my initials, N, R, and T, being layered on top of each other in order to make one cohesive figure. While the R and the long arm of the T can be switched out to be on either side, these examples have it situated to the left upstroke of the N.
The initial idea of a way to update this old logo was to make it more streamlined. This would be done by taking the very blocky and deliberate strokes of the past and mixing it into something that might more adequetly resemble a signature of sorts. Most notably, taking the R, which previously was very regimented and neat, and making it into more of a swooshing shape that may not even touch back with the right upstroke of the N, but is still stylistically able to be recognized as the letter that it represents.
The first tries to realize this concept into Adobe Illustrator were using the shape tools available within the program. Building the N was easy enough with the pen tool, and being able to change the curve of straightaways in order to create the very long and bowed lines that the T and R required seemed like it would be child's play.
It did not work out like I had hoped.
Instead, faced with this failure, I turned to using a drawing tablet in order to more accurately portray what I had jotted down in the notebook prior.
Due to (in no small part) my love of seeing what people are able to make themselves within the creative space that they so choose, as well as my appreciation of Reddit as a platform, I am subscribed to various artistically inclined subreddits wherein I can see what people have done. One such is r/logodesign. Upon realizing that I did indeed want to create a logo using my initials, I was having a hard time trying to figure out a way to update the format that I had been using for close to ten years. Thus, I started pouring through the works of others, looking for inspiration, until I stumbled upon this picture. While the initial post was for a logo for a printing business, I was immediately enraptured by the way the "S" was formed from very simple shapes that created a singular flowing ribbon of color. It is such a simple design, yet very recognizable as to what it is right off the bat, and I knew that I wanted that accessibility with mine.
The original thread this was posted on can be found at
The inspiration fresh in mind, I took to Illustrator to map out the basic shapes that would be used to build my logo. The "S" shape, created from two right triangles and a rectangle, was inverted and turned 90 degrees on it's side in order to create the shape of an N.
After that came the design of both the T and the R. The T was an incredibly easy shape to put down. I simply took the rectangle that made up the middle shaft to the N and turned it on it's side, resting upon the top of the left triangle.
The R was a shape that was going to be clearly made out of a line bouncing off of the right side of the N and connect with the stripe that ran up top. Several different combinations of shapes were stacked upon one another to try to make the right shape, with other parts of them being cut off. The final shape was made out of three pieces: a triangle that balances upon its points, a rectangle that bridges the gap, and an equilateral triangle that covered the end of the T.
From there, various tweaks were done to the model.
The colors were altered until arriving at the wonderfully complementary orange and blue, with various shadings of each to show a sense of depth to the architecture in order to capture that sense of flow from the simpleprint logo.
The pieces of the T and R were rearranged and recolored in order to bring the number of shapes down to three, so that it would not end up unbalancing the colors used.
The middle orange of the R felt too thick, so I cut it in half into a much more triangular shape in order to give the rebound more dynamic action.
I altered the layering of the R so that it would match that of the N, with the middle piece sitting in the behind the other two, as if the shape was curling in around itself, and moved the edge in so that it slips behind the right triangle of the N.
The triangular pieces of the "N" were brought in closer together, and the rectangle making up the middle was shrunk to allow for the lessened space.
The final change was to change the top of the T from a straight rectangle into a triangle, for similar reasons to the middle shape of the R. This change not only shrinks the entire creation down, it takes the large and distracting nature of the rectangle and makes it into something that draws the eye and gives a nice unity between the shapes that make up the rest of the logo.
Thus, the final look is born. All of the triangles give it a sharp and snappy vibe, with them all helping move a person's view from one place to another, across the entire logo.
The colors, while somewhat predictable in terms of usage, act complimentary towards each other and balance perfectly, with the variation of tones offering a sense of three dimension-ality that helps it stand out from the background.