Marketing Logo | Logo Design Case Study by NB Media Solutions

Client: Terry & David

Company: Second Story Marketing Group

Location: Eugene, Oregon

Project Details: Custom Logo

Design Approach: Second Story Marketing Group is a Marketing Agency that services clients in construction and the skilled trades. They wanted an industrial look and feel to their logo, but they did not want to include manufacturing tools or equipment in the logo. Their brand colors played a big part in making the logo look both industrial and design focused. This look was reinforced by the simple geometric shapes in the logo and the shadows that seem to ground it in physical space.

The logo plays with the double meaning of the word 'story', which can mean both a floor or level of a building and also a narrative, in this case a brand story. The first meaning, a story as a level of a building, is also reflected in the text next to the icon in the orange line that separates the two lines or levels of text.

Brand Story: Marketing Agency - Building unified branding strategies for companies involved in the construction and manufacturing industries

Terry and David contacted NB Media Solutions for innovative ideas on a new logo for their marketing agency, Second Story Marketing Group. Second Story Marketing Group develops marketing strategies to successfully brand and promote companies involved in the construction and manufacturing industries. Our lead graphic designer, Twila, went ahead with various steps and processes to provide Terry and David with our inventive logo recommendations and ideas. Through extensive research, brainstorming and conceptualizing, our graphic designer was able to create logo variations for the clients, and transform them to their exact likings and preferences. After communicating our design concepts to the clients, the logo imagery that conquered the graphic design process was a creative marketing logo.

Take a look at the successful logo design process that we had with our clients:

Logo Design Research

Before the logo design process began, Twila needed to acquire some information from our clients in order to proceed with her brainstorming ideas for their business' new and improved marketing logo.

The initial conversation that our graphic designer has with our clients involves asking them simple questions such as what texts, fonts, colors and images should/should not be included in the logo. Logo examples are also highly encouraged for inspirational purposes. Logo examples and visuals will better explain the client's expectations and visions for the logo that NB Media Solutions will ultimately design for them. As a marketing company, we always encourage our clients to give us as much information as possible throughout the initial conversation so that we have something to work and build from.

Terry and David decided that they wanted a clean and conservative marketing logo design that entailed their company name as well as a symbol or icon related to their company name, Second Story Marketing Group. The clients were fairly open about which colors to include, so it was up to Twila to decide which colors paired well in order to successfully create a marketing logo design.

Logo Designs for Inspiration

Brainstorming & Conceptualizing

The logo design examples given to us by Terry and David were taken into high consideration before Twila began conceptualizing potential marketing logo designs for Second Story.

In addition to the logo design examples given to us by the clients, Twila did further research on her own to gain contemporary insight on how she could potentially combine the clients' initial logo requirements with the logo design examples. Researching further will ultimately decide how to transform the design into a successful marketing logo for Second Story.

Twila discovered that many of the logo design examples given to us by the clients were logos of construction companies. She began brainstorming on which images to incorporate into the marketing logo that would ultimately explain Second Story's brand and what they do.

How do we design the marketing logo for Second Story in a sophisticated way that entices clients to seek them for professional, marketing services?

Do we want to have the prominent image in the marketing logo related to marketing, or related to the construction/manufacturing industries?

If any, what aesthetics pair well with a marketing logo design?

When conceptualizing, it’s easy for some graphic designers to get too concerned with the style and imagery of a piece, instead of conveying a deeper meaning into the logo that promptly explains who the company is, what they do, what they stand for, and so on.

At this stage in the logo design process, our graphic designer is simply laying the foundation and potential for the final logo.

Twila took bits and pieces from the logo recommendations given to us by the clients in order to conceptualize these logo examples:

Logo Variations

Logo design sounds simple, but what many do not understand is that various experimentations happen behind the scenes before a graphic designer can confidently say that the logo design process is finally over.

Logo design isn't solely about making a pretty aesthetic that represents a brand. Logo design is a tedious process that utilizes research and facts to make the best decisions on which aesthetics best represent a brand.

As a graphic designer, Twila is constantly going back to the drawing board to tweak the logo until the client is fully satisfied with the final design.

Terry and David enjoyed the overall design of the marketing logo concept #3, and they also preferred the font from marketing logo concept #4. The clients mentioned that they would like to see the orange platform in marketing logo design #3 entail a subliminal story or writing on it, in order to pique further interest from potential clients. Terry and David also insisted on including a trademark subscript on the marketing logo.

The detailed recommendation for the orange platform icon that was given to us by the client helped Twila enhance Second Story's marketing logo to their exact liking:

Final Logo Design

After communicating the two final marketing logo variations with Terry and David, they decided that the second marketing logo design was the winner for Second Story Marketing Group's new marketing logo. They enjoyed the way the logo transformed into a book/story, which also takes on the double meaning of the word "story". It could mean the floor of a building and foreshadow that they are a marketing agency who assists construction/manufacturing companies, or it could simply mean a brand story. The addition of the orange lines in the company name also better combines the logo imagery with the company name.

Our graphic designer innovatively incorporated the marketing agency's name into a simple, yet creative manner while using the clients' desired preferences and recommendations:

Client Testimonial

Each design recommendation and preference that was given to us by Terry and David were utilized by our graphic designer to research, conceptualize, and ultimately design the perfect marketing logo that ultimately represents Second Story Marketing Group and everything that they do.