In part two of the Rad Max Vintage case study, we take a look at the creative direction behind the new logo. If you missed the first post, head over to "Rad Max Vintage: Part 1, Naming Convention" to read about Laura, the owner of Rad Max Vintage, and how her word-of mouth business went from a fun hobby to attracting vintage buyers all across California, and now the world.
Once the name of Rad Max Vintage (formally Max's NFL Vintage) was established, work could begin on creating a logo that stood up to the fun, energetic personality of the Rad Max brand.
First concentrating on a "this, not that" exercise, we created a gallery of words that began to inspire the look and feel of the logo:
Bright
Fun
Retro
80's
Jumper pants
Sports
Splashes of color
Nerf guns
Happy
Nostalgic
Matchstick then provided Laura with a vision board of images that reflected the above words, allowing for a more tangible way to give a thumbs up or thumbs down to imagery that felt like it was in the right direction.
Here are a few examples of what was included in the first vision board:
Pretty rad, right?
With a happy client, we were ready to proceed with logo outlines. Colors were still not established at this point, but we at least knew that they were going to be bright and dominant, giving Matchstick enough room for experimentation. Starting with a mix of sketches and design, this is what was provided for Laura's review:
There are three main concepts here: font-based logo with low graphic work, high graphic work with retro sports gear, iconic branding trend from the 80s/90s with bright circle and loud typography.
One of Laura's favorite concepts was the ability to print in neon was the logo was finalized and she took material and swag to the print shops. Once we worked through her favorite logo concept, it was important to keep neon print in mind when establishing the brand's color guide. Here is where we landed (put your brightest neon lenses on):
A. Ice blue
B. Bright magenta
C. Fire Orange
With a narrowed down vision board (not pictured), a favorite logo concept, and a color scheme, we were ready to put it all together. After a few rounds of discussion. Laura at Rad Max Vintage was outfitted with the logo of her dreams:
