Craftsman Logos

British fashion brand Firetrap was founded in 1991, best known for their denim for both male and female Firetrap has developed over the years with their fashion ethos of ‘Future Classics’ and created a collection of contemporary campaigns and partnerships with the likes of i-D, Stag and Dagger Bestival and Ziad Ghanem at London fashion week. They also celebrate their British roots with collections designed in London and taking inspiration from the sights, sounds and flavours of London life, especially nightlife with a sinister attitude that reflects London’s urban, edgy, sexy and submissive youth culture.

Firetrap logo

Looking at branding on Firetraps designs you can see that their logo and name takes centre stage on many items from polo shirts to shirts and t-shirts, as well as keeping the branding prominent on their accessories like beanie hats, scarves and belts as well as their range of trainers. Like their brand ethos their branding fits with prominent in your face edgy designs for both men and women.

Firetrap logo on men's clothing

Firetrap are constantly evolving, opening shops in major towns has increased their brand and customer profile as well as celebrity endorsement in photo shoots and magazine spreads such as JLS keep them in people’s minds.

Firetrap logo on various accessories

I just wanted to draw attention to a very well design site I found the other day.  Floor Heating Online are basically a company that sells underfloor heating, so you would kind of expect it to be a bit boring, right? RIGHT?

Well that just isn’t the case, check out this wicked logo:

Not only that, but the site design is wicked, the homepage is great – it has an excellent balance of colours and white space, as well as text and images – which works really well. It actually looks inviting and fun, instead of the dull, boring, product it really is! If we search deeper we can see that the electric underfloor heating page is just as good, they’ve obviously spent time creating unique product pages.

Anyways, great design, great logo, great website! Well done someone!

Splash logo are a well know company in the promotional clothing market. They supply varying services from Digital Transfer Printing & Embroidery to t shirt printing.

Small orders are more than welcome over at splash logo and they also offer a free design service. There are many types of garments that can be printed on from Jackets & Hats to High Viz Garments.

Splash logo even offer a online chat option that will allow you to talk with one of their sales representatives, If you have any questions that you wish to ask .

They can even do t shirt for your stag and hen parties, which is great if you want to be recognised as a party group

Back in 2001 the much sought after brand for hair was created, ghd. The brand is now synonymous with the best of the best and lives up to its name and delivers a “good hair day”.

The ghd hair straighteners originates from a Yorkshire based, British owned company, managing director Martin Penny bought the rights, to some styling irons by a South Korean inventor. These first of a kind styling irons were the saviour for anyone with curly or kinky hair, the revolutionary ceramic straightners began the trend for straightened hair with a glass-like shine.

After the brands launch ghd began to have a cult celebrity follow as anyone knows this is the best form of advertising with celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Renee Zellweger, Jennifer Aniston, Victoria Beckham and Kimberley Stewart becoming fans and endorsing the product. In 2003 ghd launched their first advert sponsoring the hit show ‘The Salon’, as well as launching their ghd Directive which saw them work with the best designers like, Stella McCartney, Narcisco Rodriguez and Emanuel Ungaro at the Paris, London and New York Fashion Weeks.

They also started to launch a range of limited edition straightners like The Pink Iron which was released in conjunction with the breast cancer charity Breakthrough and other styles in purple and hot pink which sold out very quickly. Their new marketing campaign in 2007 for their ghd IV “Thou shalt never be the same girl twice” was a huge hit however wasn’t short of controversy with religious groups who weren’t happy at some of the biblical references in their TV adverts, however this did not hold the company back and their turnover for 2007 was £115 million.

By the end of 2009 ghd had racked up numerous awards such as Super Brand status 2008/2009, Cosmopolitan 2009 Readers Kiss of Approval – Ultimate hairstyling gadget, Cosmopolitan 2009 – Best Hair styler, Hair Magazine Awards 2009 and Sunday Times Style Beauty Awards 2009. They also launched their new advertising and branding ‘you can do anything with your hair’ which features fairytale story advertisements, setting up the company for even more success in 2010.

Rizla isthe main sponsor of the Suzuki Moto GP team and they always use the Rizla racing livery on their bikes which makes them stand out from all the other bikes.

You might think that one Rizla suits all but you’d be surprised to know that there are 9 types of papers. From Rizla Yellow which is flavoured with a hint of Liquorice to silver which are thin and lightweight.

Rizla started out in 1865 when they started making paper from rice hence the name.

From rolling papers to rolling machines, you name it Rizla with have their name on it.

Typical cost for a packet of blue Rizla rolling papers is 20p or you can buy a box of 100 packets for £15.99.

Suzuki Rizla Moto GP

Soul Cal is a true to its California roots, they brand mixes relaxed easy west coast clothing with a vibrant and bright style. Much of their clothing features their typical American style retro logo in various forms, from college style sweats to retro tourist style images on t-shirts all featuring the brand name. Graphics on the t-shirts make their brand style instantly recognisable which is inspired by the laid back Californian surfer lifestyle.

Soul Cal offers a huge range of men’s and women’s clothing from t-shirts and vest tops to sweats and hoodies, a great range of comfortable lounge wear, but its not all casual wear Soul Cal also offers a range in men’s clothing with jeans and shirts, belts and hats. For women there are also lots of pretty tops ideal for summer nights out.

There are many ways in which we recognise company logos, when we see them on TV, billboard signs and advertisements in newspapers and magazines but for smaller companies these large advertisement campaigns cost just too much but there are other ways to advertise your company and get your logo recognised.

You can use t-shirt printing to create a walking advertisement for your staff, with a uniform featuring your company logo, using t-shirts, polo shirts, hoodies and fleeces for your staff to wear both in and out of work. Choosing a comfortable style of clothing means your staff will be much more at ease and find the clothing very practical, plus it takes out the daily task of choosing what to wear everyday and your staff will be much more appreciated if the clothing was supplied without cost to them.

It’s a good way to get your company recognised in the local area with staff walking out and about going to and from work and at break times advertising you.

Hot on the heels of its recent independence form Time Warner AOL or as it will now be know Aol., has been busy rebranding itself and has now launched it new logo which will be fully unveiled on the 10th December, a simple idea of a basic typeface which sees Aol. instead of AOL and then placing that on various interchangeable backgrounds like a goldfish, a skateboarder, a leaf, a head banging rocker and many, many more, this is the idea of consultancy firm Wolff Olins who have brought us such logos as the London 2010 Olympic Games and Product (RED).

The idea is to represent their new identity of been uniquely dynamic which they feel has been achieved by having the ever changing backgrounds but still keeping the Aol. logo itself consistent. The new logo and all the various versions of it will start to be shown from the evening of the 9th December to make sure they take full advantage of the spinoff from Time Warner. Aol. are hoping this logo revamp will revive the brand as of recent the company have suffered with a decline in its subscription service, advertising revenue, its work force and image.

Here are some examples of the new Aol. logos:

Ever wondered how the brands you know and love today, came up with the company logos? Most are aimed to encapsulate the target audience and for the majority of the well known companies, this has taken the best part of the 20^th Century to achieve.

It can be the things you see and use every day, from a make of car to the branding of your favorite drink. A lot of the logos have been developed to change with consumer markets over the years, like Volkswagen, who after World War Two decided to get rid of the design around the VW that likened to the Nazi flag. Recently companies have changed their logo to fit into the 21^st century, where more and more we are seeing things simplified but still recognisable like Nike and Pepsi  who have dropped their names from their logos and just opted to be know by their well known trademark symbols.

Some companies also alter their logos depending on what markets they are appealing to, for example if a company wants to aim at a more exclusive set of customers designs tend to be tailored to a style that is associated with them. A lot tend to use black as a main background colour with sharp writing and clear lines to set it apart from other service offered by the company.

No doubt as we get further into the 21^st Century styles will keep on evolving and no doubt so will the brands we know and love.

888 Ladies is an online bingo operator and it’s clear from their logo that they know their demographic. The original 888 logo is pretty familiar now from their sponsorship of sporting events, and the designers have resisted the urge to mess too dramatically with it – electing to use the same basic font and proportions to retain the family resemblance.

The most drastic change is obviously in the colour scheme – which uses a pretty, vivid pink and purple theme to good effect. The logo is given a prototypically ‘web 2.0′ effect with the addition of a gloss effect. Whilst this has been largely overdone in recent years it sits well on the site itself, which is chock full of chunky, shiny graphical buttons.

Another tradition carried on from the usual 888 logo is the strapline “enjoy the game”. Whilst logical, the use of a different colour set and the clearly very different target audience might, arguably, have been used to let the copywriters off the leash a bit and describe the bingo game more directly.

Overall, this is a pretty successful adaptation of an existing logo form.

888 Ladies Online Bingo