BzZz, Create a Fly Logo Design Part 1

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Initial Discussion with the Client: WebFly Solutions

Communication with the client is critical to a successful logo design. Ultimately a logo design is being created for a company and those responsible for that company often have a lot of ideas about the design they are looking for. Continual contact with the client throughout the process helps to ensure that they receive a logo they will be happy with.

I gather information on what the client does and depending on the project budget I may do some competitive research. Initially I ask clients if they have any preconceived ideas on their logo design. Sometimes they want something specific and sometimes they need a lot of help with the conceptualization process. I ask if they have color preferences and to provide samples of logos they like stylistically so I understand the type of logo they are looking for. I ask a lot of follow up questions and try to learn as much as possible before starting the design.

In this case all the contact with WebFly Solutions occurred via email, which is often the case with my clients. The client gave some suggestions and color specification, mentioned one of the logos in my portfolio he really liked, and provided some samples of other designs as reference. He gave me some background information and informed me of the type of web design his company does, which is developing dynamic web sites for businesses using .NET.

The specifics were that he wanted to have a fly in his design. He provided the template the logo would go on, which gave a good direction with color choices. He mentioned wanting a glossy design or something with some level of depth. Also, he requested the design be "easy to memorize yet sophisticated and advanced". I provided some possible solutions in written form in some of my responses, but ultimately it was time to start designing.

Visual Research

When a logo requires any level of realism its often necessary to do some visual research. In this case if I want to design a fly I need to know what a fly looks like. I searched Google for a handful of reference images. I found some I was happy with.

Sketching

I often do some sketching with pencil and paper in front of the computer when I'm designing a logo. I see no reason to print out the visual research. I just go right off the screen to do some sketches. After I've done some initial sketches I might walk away from the computer and then start working on the image as a design. Do thumbnail layout sketches for example.

Each project is unique though and may require more or less sketching. In this project I kept the sketching minimal. I did one drawing that formed the basis of this fly design. You can see a small image of the sketch to the right. Its also in the next section shown embedded in the Illustrator document being used as a reference to create the fly shape.

Using Shapes to Design the Fly

I drew basic shapes over the drawing of the fly in Illustrator (Step 1 below). Then I turned off the Visibility of the drawing layer (Step 2). Then I selected all the shapes and went to Object > Transform > Reflect then chose Vertical and hit Copy. I also lined up the copies (Step 3). For all the shapes I set the Stroke to None and gave the Fill a black color (Step 4). Then I selected each shape half one group at a time and went to the Pathfinder Palette and Hit Merge (Step 5). Then I gave each shape its own coloring (Step 6). The eyes are a gradient blue. The body has a blue green and dark brown gradient. The wings go from light green to light gray to light brown. The head and arms are a dark brown.

Adding Depth to the Fly Design

I decided to create some beveled edges to give the fly more depth. I also used different transparency effects as well. The eyes were given a beveled edge on the outer side (Step 1). Then I gave the body a similar treatment (Step 2). Finally I gave the tail some beveling with the shapes shown below (Step 3). I also copied the tail, placed it behind the fly, and enlarged it a little bit. This was necessary because I gave the wings some transparency.

Fly Design Details

The fly design is now complete. Though we still need to turn it into a logo. Below you can see how the fly looks at different sizes. At large sizes its abstract shapes stand out. The smaller the fly gets the more lifelike it looks.

Fly Text

Shown on the right is the fly design placed next to the company's name. I gave the "Web Fly" letters a complementary gradient color and kept the "Solutions" a plain black.

You can see that the fly isn't interacting much with the text. It just sits there. The client was interested in more action on the part of the fly. He liked a style of arrow in a prior logo design that I had done. Its shown in the next section.

Add a Stylized Arrow to the Design

On the left is the image portion of a previous logo design I did that is in my portfolio. The client liked the depth of the arrow and thought it might work well for his logo. So I incorporated a similar arrow.

I began by drawing an arrow (Step 1). I created the tail of the arrow and combined the arrow and tail shapes by going to the Pathfinder Palette and Hitting Merge. I gave it a white to blue gradient with a blue stroke. I also made sure the arrow matched up with the fly and the text. Then I created a separate shape for the highlight at the top of the arrow to give it depth (Step 2). The gradient is reversed and the blue in the gradient is a little darker. Then I created another white to blue gradient, placed it on top of the other parts, and and set it to Lighten in the Transparency Palette (Step 3).

Present the Final Solution to the Client

Usually, I start with designing the fun stylized logo version first. Then I go in and prep the logo for flat color and one color printing needs at the end. After that I lay out the solution in an organized fashion to form a good presentation. After following these steps I sent the design below to the client for review.

Next Week We'll Look at the Final Fly Logo Design

After the client reviewed the first solution I received some feedback. The client felt the fly was to realistic and lifelike. After seeing this design he had some really clear ideas of what wasn't working and what he wanted. He wanted a fly a little more happy with more action with more of a professional cartoon feeling. We decided to go back to one of the early ideas we discussed of having the fly zooming across an orange orb.

With this really clear feedback I was in a great position to jump in and redesign the logo. With all the prep work in place it made it really easy to move quickly. In the second part of this series we'll look at designing the final fly logo design solution. Let me know if there are any questions so far.