Tag: Logos

True Stories Behind Car Logos

I just came across an article titled “True Stories Behind Car Company Logos” by Nick Kurczewski. Having designed logos, I find it interesting on stories about their inspiration and symbolism.

In the article Nick writes how certain car companies created their logos. For example, the story behind the Chevy bowtie emblem is that Louis Chevrolet was inspired by a wallpaper pattern in his hotel room when he visited Paris in 1908. The true story by Mr. Chevrolet’s wife is that her husband had seen similar shaped logo and a Sunday supplement.

Another iconic emblem is Roll Royce’s Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament. It was designed by Charles Sykes in 1911 and the model for the emblem was Miss Eleanor Thornton. Miss Thornton was the personal secretary of John Scott Montagu the friend of company cofounder Charles Stuart Rolls.

The article then goes on to discuss stories behind other logos such as Subaru and Hyundai. I didn’t know that Hyundai was the Korean word for “modern” and that the H represents two people, the company and customer, shaking hands.

I thought this was a good article, it told me some things I didn’t know about car company logos. Below is gallery of car logos from Flickr.

The Delta Kings – “4 Chords & The Truth” CD Artwork

The Delta Kings have come out with their new CD titled “4 Chords & the Truth”. I had the opportunity to work with the band to create a logo that is used on the cover, inside cover and back cover.

I usually work with Terry Hopkins who plays drums with the band. Terry gives me insight on what the band is looking for and I draw something up based on that input. Below is the shield and banner artwork.

Another exciting thing about this CD is the photograph used on the cover. Chris Brown did photography for CD and Terry asked me to come up with something using the photograph. So I brought the photograph into Photoshop. There I worked with the color adjustments, ran a filter or two, and came out with the “after” image you see below.

Before

After

Dean Shelton who did the art direction used this image and did some of his own adjustments by adding a mirror image at the bottom and then adding the “4 Chords & the Truth” banner. This artwork was on the CD.

It is always cool to work on projects for The Delta Kings. Find out more about The Delta Kings at their website www.deltakingsband.com and checkout their MySpace page www.myspace.com/deltakings.

To hear songs from this CD and any other CD from The Delta Kings check them out on iTunes.

Thanks Terry and thanks Delta Kings.

Hanging Out With The Big Boys

Steve at All American Dynamics sent me an e-mail to show me how his new logo compared with the big boys.

He sent me a link to Purdue University’s website. On their website is a page showing the corporate partners for the Industrial Advisory Board. Sandwiched in between the Ford logo and Honeywell logo you’ll see the All American Dynamics logo.

Not only is it impressive to see the logo you designed with these big names, but is also impressive to see someone you know on such a board. Very cool, Steve!

All American Dynamics Logo

This is the logo I created for All American Dynamics.

Steve Lyman, the Founder and President of All American Dynamics, asked me to come up with a new logo and business card layout for his business. Steve and I know each other from the work I did on the Performance Truck Of The Year print.

The goal was to tie the wording “All American Dynamics” with what they do which is vehicle dynamics. The “All American” lettering speaks for itself, the challenge was finding an element that gave “Dynamics” an automotive feel.

To get that automotive feel I used thick bold lettering along with an silhouette of car on top. To help complete the look I used motion lines stretching the length of the lettering. In the original concept I used a generic sports-type car but after reviewing Steve had a great suggestion and that was to do the silhouette based on his Lotus formula car. The Lotus silhouette was the perfect finishing touch.

I also put together a new business card layout.

It was great working with Steve on this project. His experience includes vehicle development engineer, test driver, vehicle dynamics department manager, vehicle dynamics specialist, and vehicle dynamics executive consultant.

See the All American Dynamics website for a list of services they offer.