Creating an identity.

This blog is intended to map the progress and process of the SolMar Technologies identity development. All stages of the design process will be shown and this forum will stand in place of face to face presentations. Enjoy!

Brainstorming, sketching

I usually start identity projects with a brainstorming meeting to gauge a clients needs and wants and to get a picture of competitors, audience, target markets, etc. Here, my brief was through a second party and I was requested to do something, clean, Swiss and BP Solaresque. The new company name will be Solmar (sun and sea) Technologies.

Currently the company is named Insultech and has a clean website in orange and black with a bold, italic, squared typeface. It also presents technical product photos on the homepage. The products are thermal and acoustical insulation. I gather surfing is central to the culture of the company from the surf report link on the homepage.

So keywords for sketching are:
Sun Sea Energy Insulation Conservation

New colors could be blue and yellow to represent sun and sea and replace the orange and black.

Solmar has 6 letters and could be set in a number of ways:
SOLMAR solmar SolMar SoLMAR SoLMaR


Now I pull my lovely wife into the project and we start sketching:
Click on the images for larger versions

Idea development

After sketching I like to get a feel for typography that expresses the personality or characteristics of the brand and then start building out the stronger sketch ideas.