you've strategically hit upon the logo & icon portfolio and blog of UK logo designer Graham Smith — the original Logo Smith since '86.
The ’What if Project’
The ‘What if Project’ is a great idea by Designed By Good People, and this particular feature ‘Billings‘, improving shop logo design, highlights something that I feel really quite strongly about as a designer.
Living in a small seaside town we have our fair share of shops with just the most despairing of shop signs, logos and hoardings. This is typical pretty much everywhere; the apparent uninterest in anything remotely visual for their outward identity contradicts the passion at which some invest considerable amounts with interior furnishings and decoration. The cost of the latter usually far exceeding the cost of what a reasonable logo design could cost leaves me a little frustrated.
I shouldn’t be surprised at all, yet every time I walk into town and see those same shops using Comic Sans and Papyrus—and that’s not me trying to exaggerate or be sarcastic—I just wish I could do something to help the overall visual aesthetics of these shops in my town.
Oftentimes I just think I will drop leaflets in the door offering free make-overs for one shop every month until all shops have, at least, semi respectable shop logos and shop signs.
What can you do for your town?
The ‘What if Project’ is something that I am thinking about alot right now as I have a new identity project for a client who is setting up a new bike shop in the UK. This will be a physical store as well as online, so I am keen to design something that is appropriate, but that also shows that not all small town shop owners don’t care about their identity. Having a client who is also keen to step and and have something that is visually unique and inspiring helps of course.
A few years back I designed a nice little logo for a little village hairdressers, ID Barbers. Seeing this come to life and used felt good.
I may still approach some shops in Seaford and do exactly what I would like to do: help improve just one tiny aspect of how a town can be perceived, and enjoyed.
Let’s bring some shine to peoples’ day-to-day shopping grind.
Tagged: Designed By Good People, logo design, shop logo design, shops, the what if project
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Totally with you! I found a funding thingy to improve (London?) high streets and immediately thought of doing this. Would make *such* a difference. |But am not a designer – trying to create own logo…
Thanks for blogging about us Graham. It’s much appreciated (is it possible to change our name to Designed By Good People, the designed by bit is often missed!).
In response to Eskacy, the funding thing for London is probably the Outer London Fund which we designed the branding and prospectus for and will (hopefully) be involved with off the back of our What If Sydenham and Ilfracombe projects. Hopefully this will enable us to ramp up the project and help it spread.
Graham, please link to us and the original blog and our website as we will with yours. I know David Airey was talking about doing one. We look forward to seeing what you come up with.
We will ovehaul our website and blogs soon.
This sounds like a great idea, but one issue here is the cost to the business to transform their branding. It’s all fine if it’s purely online, but if they have to go out of their way and pay for printing, signmaking, etc, then the business might not consider it worth it – Not all people are as design conscious as us design folk.
HI Conor,
yes, this has been a problem. But if shops are thinking of changing their signage we have actually saved them money. Installing inappropriate signage or ripping out original shop fronts is very expensive and often to the detriment to the whole street. Canopies aren’t that expensive, less than roller shutters which can be easily opened as seen in the riots. The Billings sign we had made, was enameled like the London Underground signs was £450 (it was actually by the same company who make the Underground signs). Compare that to the back lit illuminated boxes you get on take aways which cost up to £2000 to install and you have to pay to keep them illuminated. There are other ways.