How do you design a rockstar logo?
Recently got work order to design for the two rockstars in the industry – Basti Artadi of Wolfgang and Tirso Ripoll of Razorback. Both belong to different bands, but smashed heads to host one podcast. Now the podcast, Tropical Banter, needs a logo.
It’s quite a dilemma if you think about it. The name containes two contrasting words. Tropical which somehow embeds the thought of vacation and relaxation, and Banter which connotes a playful and loud exchange of remarks.
A grumpy ent/treant approach.
An ent is that tree in common folklore with, more often than not, a bad attitude. Think Lord of the Rings. The ent denotes a natural feel, but at the same time, attitude.
The first idea was to do a wooden mug that carried some juice, maybe a coconut texture, and a mini umbrella.
Next, I thought ‘rockstar’ and immediately had the concept of having an ent guitar. The guitar to signify a rockstar might be a cliche thought but that’s where the initiative of the designer comes in to put in that aspect which defines it above the rest. This won’t be the usual logo I come up with. Coming from a point of view that it should be simple enough to be memorable, I may have to break some boundaries.
As seen, the detail is broken down mainly by taking out the outlines. More of contrast between the base color and the highlights, which then define the details of the guitar.
This proposal seemed fine but it’s not that recognizable to be an ent guitar, unless you take out the name.
Remedy? Add the whole neck. It should look more of a guitar. Then again, it’s more horizontally oriented than how usual logos are, not to mention the empty space on the neck part. That’s where the name comes in to balance things out.
Lastly, I took a step further and added color. Mainly deals with 4 colors if you include black and white. Other than that, it’s crimson and cream that go side by side to add detail to the surface of the logo when rendered in full color.
It may not be a usual style. I can honestly say I went out of my comfort zone and broke the norms in terms of my train of thought towards how I do logos. Nevertheless, what’s important here is the client and how they should be able to relate well with something that would represent them and their business.
Be flexible.
Tropical Banter plays every Tuesday at 6:00PM (18:00) +8GMT under the BattleAxe Network