I am safely storing away doodles and sketches for logo designs, and other projects, that I've come across while cleaning out files and boxes. One pieces of paper, a laser printout of a letterhead for an engineering firm, displays the original doodle for my Jeff Maul logo, a couple others for clients of the advertising agency owned by my sister, and three sketches for what would become the identity for WordWright.
In 1994, Kimberly Webster came to me to create an identity for her technical, business and grant writing efforts. Her company name was to be WordWright. She wanted an image that projected a hand-wrought quality, conveying the sense of her work being done by a traditional craftsperson.
In my twisted little mind I immediately saw an image of pens and a pencil forming a rustic "W" icon. The doodles above, done with a fine-point black pen, show the progression of my thoughts to a final logo concept.
The font ITC Willow seemed like an appropriate "fit" with the graphic imagery. The combination resulted in a strong one-color identifying symbol for Webster's Portland-based business.
Webster moved to Seattle in 1997 and felt it was necessary to update the logo in introducing herself to a new market of potential independent project clients. With her last name beginning with a "W," the solution was simple. Her name was given the Willow type treatment and she was ready to take on her new business market.
A couple years later Webster called me to announce she was getting married and her logo once again needed to be altered. I've always accused her of seeking out someone whose surname began with a "W." With the married name of "Waters," a type change was all the change required.
This past year there was yet another name change. As this alteration required changing the established icon for the first time, I will write about it in a future Re-Design bLog-oMotives entry.
The original WordWright image made an appearance in the Japanese book New Logo & Trademark Design - republished in paperbook as Logo and Trademark Collection. In its "Kimberly Webster" form the identity was featured in the 1998 Print Regional Design Annual and the Japanese book Logo World. The "Kimberly Waters" logo is included in Letterhead and Logo Design 7, Logo Design for Small Business 2, The Big Book of Logos 3 and the Spanish book Logos: From North to South America (which will soon be released in paperback).
(This post originally appeared on bLog-oMotives.)
© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
