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Urban Works is a Non-Profit based in Santa Cruz. They offer free activities for people with disabilities and focus on helping them build a sense of community. I created a logo and a mini branding guide instead of a full brand guide, as their budget did not allow for a comprehensive guide. I also created multiple business materials, including business card templates and letterhead. Additionally, I assisted in training staff on how to effectively implement these guides and create accessible flyers. This page also serves to show my typical logo creation process. I will be showing this process in depth below under “Logo Process”.
Branding Guide & Business Package
The Urban Works logo is energetic and bright, but I ensured it didn't come across as childish, as the target demographic is primarily adults. The Icon of the logo depicts multiple semi-abstract people holding hands around the letter "UW". This represents the community that Urban Works is trying to build. The people are of different colors to represent diversity, as Urban Works serves people from all walks of life. The "UW" is a grunge-style paintbrush font that makes the logo feel less corporate, and also because the client requested that the logo represent art, which is a significant part of Urban Works. The colors were selected to represent the Santa Cruz Ocean, while also ensuring they remained bright and welcoming. The Icon is designed to feel more fluid, evoking both energy and the ocean. The font for the word mark "Urban Works" is a modern slab-serif typeface. It was chosen because it is modern, bold, and easily legible, but also because it is slightly less corporate and more "hip" than a plain sans-serif typeface.
I provided the board of directors with a multi-question form that I created for branding and logo design purposes. This form is used so people without design experience can communicate what they want in their branding. People often struggle to articulate what they want, so this makes it a lot easier. I then boil down the answers to the main points and concepts. I also request that they send me any additional materials (inspiration, previous logos, logos they like, materials they have created themselves, etc.). Afterwards, I compile the info into one page.
I take all the information from the last step and make multiple refined sketches. These start as multiple messy sketches that I use for ideas, and then get refined into slightly neater sketches to show multiple ideas for the board to choose from. They incorporate both material sent from the client and the answers received from the form. These sketches are intended to convey ideas and are not final, nor are they meant to indicate the final color. I then explained the drafts, what they represent, why I made the choices I did, planned alterations, and which ones I believe are better options during a Zoom call. These sketches are then voted on with a ranked-choice voting system. Two of these are chosen to be made into draft logos, and then everyone provides notes on desired changes or things they would like to see in the draft versions.
I remake the two selected logos into vector drafts. With these drafts, I present multiple color and type options based on the answers to my original questionnaire. I then give my opinion on which of those options are the most viable and the reasons they make the most sense. (I usually explain to them my top two colors and the top two type options.) Then, a vote is held to determine which of the two they want to choose. After this, a second vote is held to determine which typeface and color choices should be used for the logo.
Once the final logo choice is made, I make final additional touch-ups and send the logo over for approval. Once I receive approval, I will work on creating the rest of the branding elements using that logo. This includes typefaces, colors, and brand guidelines, among other elements. I then start creating other business materials, such as business cards and letterheads, and ensure that previous company materials conform to the new guidelines. I also create mono-color (light and dark) versions of the logo and a black and white optimized version.