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  While it's not necessarily outdated, script font suggests classic and old-world, and in today's world people want fresh and modern and the latest and greatest.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.