evolving logo designs

 

So after talking to a friend about the project he had some interesting ideas about my previous desings.  He suggested I focus on the "U" in Utrecht and we drew up some sketches.   They are a little more sophisticated than the direction I was previously going, which only goes to show that bouncing ideas off others can be advantageous. 

Sketches

Here are some of the first draft sketches (done in illustrator) for the logo.

Like I said, just first draft ideas to get them out of my head. I'm not exactly happy with any of them, they are a little too basic and seem like clip art to me. I'm still unsure which direction to take the logo as I'm having some trouble marying the ideas of retail branding vs. artist branding.  My thought was to focus in images centering around the production of linen (seeing as though that is where the company strated) and I came up with the design of the spinning wheel.  I tried hand-writing the Utrecht script, though I'm not sure its really working.  Other trains of thought were to incorporate Pantone chips and elemts such as t-squares into the name.  It all seemed too 'corporate', for lack of a better word, and didn't say 'professional artist'.  I then experimented with making brush marks in Illustrator and trying to incorporte Utrecht into the mix.  I like the visual quality of it, however as a logo on producs such as a tube of paint it might not hold up with its characteristics.

A Random Thought

While I was sketching idea's for my logo I started thinking about what images I could use to signify linen, as it was the primary foundation of Utrecht.  It then occurred to me that I have no idea how linen is made, so in the spirit of random research I looked it up. 

apparently, linen is made from flax seeds (as is linseed oil).  The flowers are grown in fields and harvested.  The flax is pulled from the ground from the roots and then must be retted, a process which involves either submerging them in water for a few days (which yields a gold-ish thread color), or done in the field with morning dew, which could take up to six weeks and yields a silver-ish thread color. Retting allows bacterial action to cause the stalk to loosen and decompose. The flax is then laid out to dry and de-seeded by running a 'comb' through the stalks.  In the final stage the fiber is drawn through a series of combs to remove any remaining boom and tow,  called hackling.  Over 85% of the plant has been removed in the process of arriving at the end product called strick. The long thin fibers resembling human hair have to be handled carefully to keep them from tangling. A distaff is used to keep the fibers separate and in line during spinning. The flax wheel is traditionally a small wheel. The flax needs to be continually moistened while spinning.  After the thread is spun the yarn, now called linen, is stretched and boiled to set the twist put in by the spinning.

It's interesting that the seeds from a single plant are the basis of two major artistic resources for artists, linen and linseed oil.  For those not familiar with painting techniques, linseed oils is the binding medium in oil paints and is also used as a medium, either by itself or combined with turpentine or a combination of turpentine and damar varnish.  

More Research on New Utrecht (NY)

I decided to look more into the history of the town of New Utrecht and New Utrecht Avenue for inspiration for my logo. 

History
Previously named Old Utrectht, the town was one of six Dutch towns the British incorporated and was the base of operations for the Battle of Long Island.  In 1652, Cornelius Van Werckhoven of Utrecht, Holland, purchased land in Brooklyn from the Nyack indians native to the land.  The price was 6 shirts, 2 pairs of shoes, 6 stockings, 6 adzes, 6 knives, 2 scissors, and 2 combs.  In 1657, New Utrecht was granted status as a village.  The area is now 84th street between 16th and 18th street in Brooklyn.  in 1661, govenor Peter Stoyvesant granded Utrecht a charter.  Some of the historically notable sites in New Utrecht are the New Utrecht (Dutch) Reformed Churc, the Old Utrecht Cemetary, and the New Utrecht Liberty Pole.  The church is revered as the 'heart' of the town and originally was an octoganal shaped building with a tall spire. 

Below are some pictures

I find the town and it's history much more interesting than that of the store itself.   If there were a way to incorporate the essence of the town and its heritage, possibly even its links to the European Utrecht, in the logo it could give Utrecht (Co.) that sense of establishment and old world quality it stems from. 

Competition in brand products

In addition to Utrecht being a national retail store, they  produce and market their own line of canvas, linnen, oil, acrylic, and watercolor paints, as well as paper pads.  Some of their top non retail competitors are companies such as Old Holland, Winsor and Newton, Gamblin, Liquitex, and Holbein.  After comparing the Utrecht logo to retail competitors, I then compared it to the other product line competitors.

The above company identities represent some of the more trusted name brands in art supplies.  The logos speak the 'language' of the artist more so than those of the retail art supply stores listed in the previous entry.  The most noteable differences between these componay identies and the retail store identities are they are more colorful (where color is used) and have a more sophisticated look.  In comparisson, the Utrecht logo does not hold its weight in this category, thus begging the question should the Utrecht logo focus more on the retail identity or the product identy of the company? Which is the more important message to convey to the consumer?

Compiling a 'Visual Audit'

After researching the company I began gathering up visual materials to compile a 'visual audit' of the company to tell the story of where the company is today.

 I also researched the major competitors by visiting their websites and reading customer reviews.   Cheap. I then gathered up all the competing art retailer logo's and compared them to one another.

Jerry's and Dick Blick use both a pictoral and a wordmark logo, using  image as well as a typographic element as their brand identity, while Pearl and ASW use simply a wordmark as their logo (straight text).  Utrecht uses an abstract image as their logo (the shape of the paint palette) and the typography functions more as part of the design  rather than simple text. 

Obviously, there are some similarities, thus leading into the next part of the assignment:

Think of 10 visual qualities that might solve or force reconsideration of the identity. 

Most of the companies above rely on the color red as their dominant color, and Jerry's, Utrecht, and Dick Blick all contain a painters palette in their logo design in one form or another, thus reinforcing the concept that the palette is a commonly known symbol for art. But who wants to be common?  Utrecht certainly doesn't!   My first instinct was to begin  thinking about other ways to communicate the idea of 'art' without using the palette   Immediate thoughts included paint tubes, or cans of paint, brushes, pantone color chips or color wheels, and French Curves.  Like I said before, the two major competitors, Jerry's and Pearl, use red as a dominant color.  To set Utrecht apart from them and get rid of anything that will link them to the competition changing the red focus color could be a strong move. The typography could stand to be updated as well.  While it's not necessarily outdated, script font suggests classic and old-world, and in today's world people want fresh and modern and the latest and greatest.  Utrecht also currently does not have a slogan, though whether it needs one or not is debatable.  Also, the icon of the palette, if it is to remain, could  be refreshed.  The simplicity of the current design is functional and clean, and does in effect set itself apart from companies such as Jerry's, who seem to have an over-abundance of imagery and visual stimulus that can be overwhelming for the consumer.  Keeping in that interest of thought,  reshaping the  graphic element of the palette could add to the visual appeal while maintaining its original abstract quality and functionality.

Assignment 1: gathering information

This is the first entry for the Print Identity Studio course at RISD.  Who am I?  I am a previous graduate from the Illustration department at RISD who woke up one day and realized illustrating Star Wars Jedi battles and sexy vixens is awesome and insanely fun, but I wanted to try my hand at something different and grow as an artist.  This is my first dabble in marketing and identity branding and, coincidentally, my first 'blogging' experience.  For our first assignment we are to gather information about our selected company, which in my case is Utrecht Art Supply, and re-brand the company: create new logos, marketing materials, the works.  Below is the entry for our first part of the assignment- to collect information about the company and examples of their current logo and marketing materials.

Calling the Corporate Office

I have to say, when I called the corporate office in NJ to try and conduct a mini interview for information regarding the company I hit a dead end.  No one would return my call or emails.  Not only that, when I went in to the store to try to speak to the manager she was 'never there', and when I asked them if they could give me any written background information (such as mission statement, ect) on the company they kind of looked at me like I was crazy.  Seriously?? Come on guys, its art supplies, not national security secrets.    Here is the information I was able to gather from online sources to answer the list of questions we need to answer in order to familiarize ourselves with the company and begin the re-branding process:

Questions

1.)what is the history?

Utrecht was founded in 1949 by two brothers, Norman and Harry Gulamerian, on Utrecht Avenue in Brooklyn NY.  Originally called 'Utrecht Linens" as this was the only product they sold, The brothers started the company because they could not find quality linens locally for their paintings and decided to take matters into their own hands.   in 1957 they expanded their sales to include Gesso and various pants, and today the company produces almost every type of art supply imaginable as well as carrying various other reputable vendors  such as Winsor and Newton, Strathmore, and Gamblin.

2.)Where are they located?

The company headquarters is in Canburry, NJ, and they have 37 retail stores nationwide.  There is still the original store in Brooklyn, as well as a vast online store where you can buy any of their products as well find informative demos and instructions.

3.)Who runs the company?

The new CEO of Utrecht is Michael Ippolito, former president of Ballard Designs (a home furnishings retailer). The majority owner of Utrecht is Topspin LBO, a private equity fund that makes controlled investments in 'established' small business based in Long Island, NY, and currently headed by Stephen Lebowitz.

4.)Who are the competitors? 

The major nation-wide retail competitors are Pearl Arts, also based in NY, Dick Blick Art Materials, and Jerry's Artaramma. There are various other online-based competitors including Art Supply Warehouse, Cheap Joes, and New York Central Art Supply.  Locally for RI, the two major competitors are Jerry's and the RISD store.

5.)What are the sub-brands? 

Utrecht does not currently have sub-brands, just its own  brand of products.  It does sell various other retail brands in store and sells its company products in various retail art stores across the country.

6.)Are they owned by anyone else?

Topspin LBO, as mentioned above.

7.)What do they say they do?

Utrecht's mission statement is essentially "striving to be a resource any artist can trust to provide high quality art supplies and high quality professional advice".

8.)What do they really do?

Utrecht is pretty faithful to their mission statement.  They do offer a wide variety of both beginner and professional products that are decent to expert in quality.  As a customer myself I can attest to this as I have used their products.  After reading various customer reviews on several consumer report sites the general public consensus is though Utrecht is smaller than some of its competitors (mainly Jerry's and Pearl arts, which are giant warehouse-like retail and online stores), it is renowned for its sense of professionalism for the arts.

9.)Who is their primary audience?

The 'serious' artist. They cater to a range of art students, professionals, and beginners.  Unlike some of their competitors *coughcoughjerryscough*, they are not a 'craft' store.  You won't find fake flowers or cheesy paint by numbers here.

10.)Who is their secondary audience?

Officially I could not get a statement from the company to answer this question, but from my experience and knowledge of the company I would say their secondary audience would be hobbyists, such as model painters, ect. It is common knowledge that art supplies at craft stores such as Michaels and A.C. Moore sell art supplies at list price, which is an insanely high 'suggested retail' price that no one EVER actually sells it for.  Often times you will go a store, including Dick Blick, Jerry's, and Utrecht, and see a sign that says "50% off LIST price".  Looks good, eh?  To the wary consumer, I  advise you not to be fooled by this.  It's not a sale at all, but a marketing ploy to try and suck you in to thinking you are getting a deal when you are actually paying regular retail price for the product (which may or may not be a good deal depending on where you are shopping).

11/12.)What is their current identity? Who designed it and when? What are the old identities like? 

Well, I have no idea who designed the current branding for Utrecht.  I was not able to locate that information online nor get a response from the corporate office.  After many google and yahoo image searches I was also not able to find any store photographs or former logo's for the company, only that it was formerly known as 'Utrecht Linens'.  As far as I know, these are the only logos for the company:

13.)What does their website do for people?

Their website is great.  It's clean, it's easy to navigate, you can shop or find helpful tips and information on things like stretching canvas or new paint techniques.  They have a 'ask the professional' section where you can email for advice and each store locations has their own individual store blogs where they post updates, promotions, highlights on local artists, store and local art events, and the ability for consumers to leave comments.  Hell, you can even be a fan on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.   It's like a Club Med for artists.

14.)Do they have a building with a sign? More than one?

37 to be exact.  You can even buy t-shirts, hats, and probably a defibrillator to use with their emblem on it when your older have respiratory problems from inhaling too much turpentine fumes and over the years.

15/16.)What is the primary expression of their Identity? Where else does one find an expression of this identity?

Utrecht's logo is a solid red shape of a paint palette with the word 'utrecht' written in script inside (look above for image).  A paint palette is a common symbol associated with art, and says (to put it simply) 'hey, look at me, I'm like Van Gogh'.  It represents what they sell and who they cater to, which is going to make my job much harder because personally I think its clear, simple, and to the point; everything a successful identity should be.

17.)Who designs their ads, brochures, marketing materials, catalogues, ect. on a day to day basis?

*sigh* I have yet to discover this information.  Apparently, its a giant secret.  Elusive as bigfoot or the Lockness monster.