Blue Ash CPA Gets A Brand Refresher

We met Na & Associates through a mutual contact, and soon began talking about the goals and aspirations this Blue Ash, Ohio CPA was aiming for. It became clear that one of the first and most appropriate things to do is give their existing brand identity a refresher.

Not reinvent itself, not start-from-scratch, but simply refresh it – make it look new, fresh, bold, and the face of the new efforts Na & Associates had planned to implement.

The main element of the existing brand identity was the seal. Within the seal of the previous logo held all of the wording, crammed in quite tightly, and repeated several times over in order to fill the space.

D&A Design began by taking “Na & Associates” out of the seal, and creating a visual hierarchy so that the new brand identity had balance and maintained strength.

After several intial options were presented, and a few rounds of changes after, we arrived at the new logo above, and are now applying it piece by piece to print and web. While we did not create Na & Associates’ website, we do have on the radar a few changes coming that will give this new logo a place of belonging to all of the points where clients and prospects see it.

The birds and bees of logo design

I recently set a new record for a “work day.”

I started working around 9am, took a few breaks throughout the day, and then had Moe’s Southwest Grill with friends in the evening (my favorite!). I came back around 10pm, and dove into the project at hand: Logo concepts.

I continued working until 3:15am, most of which was on developing the logo concepts. When I work on a logo, it is an all-consuming process.

Logos are the most challenging project any designer takes on due to the grand importance of what a logo does. In a very small space rests many dimensions of professionalism and essence of the business. But logos are also one of my favorite projects. It’s taken some time to develop a process, but now that I have, I love the challenge

My process starts – after I’ve talked with the client – by simmering. I have to let the idea simmer in my head for a least a full day, preferably more. The idea simmers while I go about doing other things. Sometimes my best ideas for a logo come while at a grocery store, in the shower, or in the middle of the night. While simmering, I also research the competition – make sure the ideas I’m thinking of haven’t been taken already.

I then get inspired – go to stores, go to a few logo web sites, etc. for inspiration. Then I do some pencils while next to my Mac, going back and forth. This evolves into a full-blown Mac design process, and I churn out as many ideas as I can think of.

I try to work fast and loose, and once I have a group of ideas working I decide what is crap and what is worth pursuing. This goes on and on and on for a few hours until I feel I have 3-6 strong contenders.

The first round of ideas are created in black-and-white. I’ve lost too much time and good ideas to introducing color too early. There will always be someone who doesn’t like an idea because the green is too minty, or not grassy enough. I chose not to work in color until we have the structure of the logo done.

This process can be as short as a few hours, or as long as days or weeks. Since logos are so very important, I feel the time is justified, and I am always adjusting my process to account for better ways or budget limitations.

One other thing I do when I feel I have 3-6 good ideas is show my close friends and family. I try to show my ideas cold, and to people who know absolutely nothing about what the idea is. This has proved very helpful for a lot of logos. Sometimes we designers can work too close to our projects, and fresh eyes are always a remedy.

So this is the general structure to how I create a logo. I am constantly tweaking this process, trying to gain the most efficiencies. I will try to post some WIP ideas after a logo is approved as this blog grows to give visuals on how a logo – or other projects – are developed.

- dan