Recently, one of my good friends Grant came to me for a logo design for a start-up company he was working on with a friend of his, Adam. The company was going to be called Adant Technology Solutions, with a goal of helping people with their technology issues. After talking to Grant and finding out more about what they were looking for, what Adant meant (Adam + Grant = Adant), and exactly what technology solutions they were going to provide, I sat down with pencil and paper and started sketching ideas.
I tried to come up with different concepts based on symbols I felt represented solutions and/or technology. The first things that came to mind were a solved Rubik’s cube, project web, finished maze, completed puzzle, check mark, checked box, light bulb, and also a power cord. After coming up with a page full of concepts, I decided it was time to open Illustrator and put some of these concepts into motion.
After working on five of the concepts (light bulb, cord, Rubik’s cube, check mark, and project web), I sent them off to Grant to see if we were really on the same page. 
Grant and Adam both loved the light bulb and power cord concepts and wanted to see them developed further. This is probably my favorite part of designing a logo because I really start to expand on concepts that I came up with earlier. Usually I do a lot more of this when brainstorming and sketching, and provide the client these ideas in more of a rough for, but for this particular job, it just happened this way and I have no complaints as it worked out great in the end! Below are the expanded light bulb and power cord concepts. I also started to add color as it was noted at the beginning of the project that the clients had no colors in mind and were open to anything. I love designing logos in black and white as it really keeps the elements of the logo simple, but when a client wants a color but doesn’t know what, I try to add it in around this stage to start getting a feel for what they really are looking for.
After sending this new set of logos to Grant, he met with others and decided a light bulb really wasn’t what they were looking for and they loved the power cord. He also really wanted to use orange, which I think is partially based on his obsession with BGSU (nothing wrong with that as I have the same problem). I really liked how Helvetica was looking with the roughs, and decided to keep it for the final logo. I used Helvetica Black for the word Adant and Helvetica Condensed Medium for the Technology Solutions as they compliment each other very well. The next step was to incorporate something else he wanted…a gradient in the power cord. This was fun for me as I haven’t had the chance to use a gradient mesh in a logo design yet. While being very new to using them, it was also quite a learning experience to get it exactly how I wanted as I had only used meshes to make pretty basic contour shapes in the past.
In the end though, I was very happy with how the entire process went. Grant was great to work with and gave great feedback on everything I sent his way. Here is the final logo design and also a link to their website if you’re in the NW Ohio area and curious about what they can do for you!
What I also like to do after logos designs is analyze what I could do better for my next job. With this current logo design, I really was excited about the Rubik’s cube and puzzle ideas to the point where I wanted one of those concepts to be the final one I was working with. Then Grant sent back an email saying him and Adam loved the light bulb and power cord concepts and wanted those developed further. One thing I’ve learned with past projects, a designer must always be open to change. In the end, a designer is providing a service and while they can give guidance based on what the client wants, they should never tell the client what to want. I live by this ideal when working with clients, and actually think it works out for the best. While many times my first idea is usually something I’m passionate about, I like having to be more creative with things I’m less passionate about as it teaches me how to face design projects in the future.
However, the other side of this is that a designer shouldn’t show the client ideas they aren’t passionate about. Is it better to show a client many good ideas, or a few great ideas? I believe that’s up to the designer and the feel they get from the client.
5 Responses to “Adant Technology Solutions Logo Design”
Mike- just happened upon your blog from Twitter. Thanks for the whole ‘logo process’ post. I had to create a logo last year at my co-op and I realized that I didn’t really know how to approach it the right way. It took me the whole summer because I was getting differing feedback from 3 different people on it. Now, from this post, I have a better understanding of how I can try things out the next time a logo project gets sent my way.
-Amber Creed
January 28th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Hi Mike, really like the fact you have talked through the process of developing this logo, I’m starting to do the same.
How did you find the logo worked on other promotional items such as stationery, brochure etc. Sometimes I find that you need to design slightly different versions in order to work on these materials. Nice to see you sketching initially also, thanks for the insight, I’ll add you to my google reader.
January 30th, 2010 at 3:30 am
Thanks for the comments Amber! If it seems a bit familiar, it’s basically what you were doing in VCT 208 when you made thumbnails, roughs, and then comps before starting your project. Obviously, in the real world you can get to a computer quicker, but Laney definitely knew what she was hoping to get across to all of you!!
January 30th, 2010 at 10:42 am
Great question Gareth! When I do logo designs, I turn over all sorts of artwork versions to the client. I set up a folder for print and web, and then save files broken down in there. They get low res jpegs and png files, high res tiffs, psds, eps’, and the original ai files.
In this case, ATS’s logo has a gradient which can’t be embroidered on some things, so I also did one with solid colors and gave them those files as well. With keeping the gradient, the gray power cord is actually all percentages of black and the orange is all percentages of a Pantone color, so it makes for a 2-color print job in any standard production facility. The Pantone can be recreated with CMYK values and be close to a metameric match, so if they wanted to print brochures in full color with other images, they would be able to do so with the high-res tiff files as well.
January 30th, 2010 at 10:52 am
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March 20th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
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