The making of the SBS shopping and entertainment center logo

Overview• Process

We start the search by piling up all possible associations. Shopping, stars, escalators, architecture.

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Maybe we can show that the shopping center has huge areas for play and entertainment? Testing the ideas next to the tenants’ logos to see how they would work together.

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Choosing interesting designs and trying them on media.

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Developing the idea. The art director asks to search for other solutions, too. For example, a shopping bag as a background for the mall’s name. The letters will be placed on different colored bars.

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The art director objects.

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All right, no need to panic. Refreshing our impressions, taking a walk in the shopping center looking for fresh emotions.

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There, how about that one with the letters?

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Sure, the letters indeed look interesting. We can also make them dynamic, adjusting to various directions.

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Asking the type designer to help with the letters and captions in the same style.

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Assembling a presentation for the client.

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The client vehemently rejects the logo. It exceeds expectations too much, looks odd and the varying letters are plain confusing.

That’s just too bad. Going back to the forge and trying to bring the logo down to earth somewhat. Stars, sun, patterns, sun, patterns, ribbons. Trying to fight the common clichés. The type designer sends over the next batch of letters.

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Finalizing the chosen direction and showing to the client again.

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Client: We don’t like the logo. It doesn’t look fresh and doesn’t have much to offer to justify replacing the old one. We just want to slightly improve the existing symbol, not create a new one.

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OK. Trying to find at least some sense and make a fresh move. We are not confused by the diversity of colors. What confuses us is the burning rainbow fragment, the letters that are stuck together and the child-like aesthetics. We want to see a modern viable logo instead.

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Still, we are being pulled towards a different direction. We strongly want to replace the old symbol.

We involuntarily tend to prefer a different route.

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We get a feeling we have found a nice alternative with the glare. The art director provides encouragement.

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By the way, we need to go back to the original task, which is to improve the existing logo.

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All of this is great, but we seem to develop a certain affection towards the glare idea, we really need to push it to the end. The rainbow logo is boring, the sun looks really cool. Somehow we must convince the client.

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The sun glare wins! Hooray! All that’s left is to bring it to completion.

We want to create a matching pattern for use in interior design and on temporary walls of renovated stores.

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The illustrator sends in a design.

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Creating a bunch of options: rotating the glare, trying various degrees of blur, different color combinations and backgrounds. Showing how to create a grid in ads, trying out different options, finalizing and announcing.

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