Hey guys. So I have tried multiple logos for different boards seeing as I think it is important to brand your boards that you make or at least sign them anyway I have tried three (I don’t have a photo of one of them) but I have two I have photos of. Let me know opininions on these.
Thanks!!
The blue board is the latest I have made!
nice!
Hi Coobro, it’s a very important aspect of boardmaking that the logo represent who, what and how you represent yourself and influence people to respect and/ or buy your product. Or not.
It used to be enough to just write the dims and your signature and leave it at that, but logos are branding and every brand started with a first board and a first logo.
I like the 60’s logos, they were straight forward names in bold fonts of the shapers name, boldly saying, " this is mine " or " I made this" ! And it was a strong personal statement of putting their own name on a product. Like Dale / McCoy / Noll.
Later, things got funky in the 70’s when brands lost the personal connection and started to latch onto ideas, beliefs and popular cultural perspective. Names and logos moved with the times and went into a more Organic, magical and herbal realm and there was a lot of Connection with the environmental or spiritual world. Like Wilderness / Liquid Ocean / Chrystal Curl / Natural Art. And it wasn’t only the name but the logos reflected the attitude of the times with flowing waves, flowers and any number of birds and dolphins.
Then in the 80’s logos moved into bold block shapes, names were back but with an edge to reflect the aggressive alternate culture like Wave Tools, Star Bus. Big bold patterns and colours, squares, circles, stripes and checks.
Moving into the 90’s it got seriously corporate, there was money to be had on a global scale and logos became corporatised, attractive fonts and images set in a 6:4 or 11:8.5 format that could fit on letterheads, A4 sheets, backpack or t-shirt and now logos were throttled back to single emotive words like Quiksilver or Billabong or even a symbol like the Nike swoosh, M for maccas and Channel Island Surfboards shrunk down to just 3 hexagons. Keeping it neat and sharp, Impart your memorable message in the least characters. It lost its surfing soul, but it kept the shareholders happy.
After that, it became a global marketplace where the internet allowed people to advertise, market and sell their products to anyone and big corporate logos moved backwards, now not seen as a power but a liability, the globals continued to mass produce looking to create their own unique perspective away from their main name but return the customised feel to their brand bu buying fringe companies that represented a more current angle to young buyers. Logos became stylised, muted, accents rather than statements. Small shapers always had that individual connection but the big brands had to tap into sub culture and sub companies to create the intimacy they started with.
People became the new logos, with specialised surfers who were big wave, tow in, aerialists or various stylemasters becoming the new company logos that could be bought and sold as fashion dictated, the logo behind them stayed the same, but the message that used to be conveyed through creative branding and advertising was taken up by 'company ambassadors '.
A very informative post. Thanks.
i like the one with diamond patterns better than the one in a circle
More info about logos and what name to choose.
http://fortune.com/2014/12/22/startup-names-human/
Reading thru this you can see the words are just as important as the logo design itself, choosing to use your own name personalises the brand, which is what every brand wants now we’ve gone through globalisation in the 80’s and 90’s.
If I want to buy a board from you, I’ll want to talk about the design with ‘Clark’ and that’s a great connection for a customer to hold on to. You’ve put your name on it and that’s a great bonus. There’s no Mr RipQuikBong to build a connection with.
Personally I like the round logo design, it has a ‘water drop’ connection and its clear and bold.