Mar 01
Logo design for the Deep House Cat show
2010 at 03.33 pm posted by Veerle Pieters
It doesn’t always happen that you get the chance to work on something that you personally use a lot. This time we had the opportunity to create a new logo for The Deep House Cat show.
What is The Deep House Cat show?
The Deep House Cat is an internationally streamed radio show created by "philE" from Chicago. You can listen to the Deep House Cat show on such radio stations as SSRadio, DI.fm, Housebox, Gabz FM and many more FM/AM and online outlets. Another way is by subscribing in iTunes like we do. This way you are sure you don't miss an episode.
Thinking process
The previous Deep House Cat logo was in use for almost 3 years and the client felt it had become a bit bland. When talking about this in more detail we discovered a bit of a roadblock. The client explained:
When we started the radio show we only played Deep House. This has changed over the years and we now play other sub-genres as well. The brand "Deep House Cat" however is widely being recognized and I would hate to see it go, because I do not want to start building a brand from scratch again. A new logo should incorporate the idea of toning down the "Deep" in "Deep House Cat", BUT not losing it completely.
The client did give us a few suggestions of what he thought the logo should look like. He suggested a stylized big cat (e.g. tiger, lion, jaguar, or panther). This was a good sign because we were already thinking along those lines as well. Other remarks were that it should also be recognizable in a smaller version such as an avatar or a social network user image.
Proposal 1
In the first version I tried to create a stylized cat using mostly straight lines. I ended up with a very male look which was my intention. The shape of the head and pointy ears made me also think a bit of a bat, which I also liked in a way. As for the typeface, I tried to reflect the same straight lines but added some personality to it by altering the 'H', 'E' and' A'. The word 'Deep' is treated as a separate element. This way 'House Cat' can stand on its own and 'Deep' can be removed when the time is right.
PROPOSAL 1:
Using mostly straight lines, which gives a very stylized male look
Proposal 2
For the second proposal I've drawn a classic cat, using round shapes which is also reflected in the typeface. I ended up with a logo that is way more female than I wanted it to be, but I liked its pose and elegant gracious look. So I decided to add this proposal, even though I expected the logo to be too feminine.
PROPOSAL 2:
Working with round shapes, which shows the more an elegant, feminine and gracious look of a cat.
Proposal 3
For the third proposal I wanted to try a tiger, or more preferably a panther so I would end up with a male looking logo. After looking at a lot of photos of panthers and tigers, I decided the face of a panther would fit best. When experimenting on how I would incorporate the 'Deep' part, I ended up with a circle surrounding the cat's face, which also makes it a perfect fit for an avatar or small icon. It could remind you of a record, or even the seventies Afro wigs disco style :) Somehow I felt this link with music, because I know that a lot of deep house music has disco influences into it.
As for the name, I was thinking of using a heavy sans serif typeface as it feels more male and gives the right balance to the logo. Gotham Ultra felt like the perfect choice in combination with the narrow Neon Extra Condensed for the 'Deep' part which adds this nice typographical contrast. Playing around with the letters 'C' and 'A' in combination with a different color, resulted in a different separation of the 2 words instead of using a space in between.
PROPOSAL 3:
Trying to find a balance between the female elegance, while making sure the cat looks male, which ended up in the face of a panther.
Feedback
The client liked proposal 2 and 3, but requested some changes before he could make a definite choice between one of them. As I kind of expected, I had to try to make proposal 2 a bit more male like. As for for proposal 3, the client suggested to show the panther's teeth as he looked a bit too friendly. For proposal 2, I did tried to make the cat more male looking by changing the eyes and the way he looks, smart and gracious. I've also added some subtle gradient effects. It was hard not to loose the charm of this logo and still make it look male, while changing proposal 3 was way more doable. The friendly looking cat was turned into roaring panther exactly what the client suggested and it did the trick. The last change I did was squinting the eyes a bit so the roaring looks more natural.
FINALIZING the logo:
Turning the friendly cat into a roaring panther by showing its teeth and squinting the eyes.
Final & approved design proposal
The roaring panther makes it more interesting, plus judged by geometrics, also better balanced. The tough edge makes it a more appealing logo.
38served
1
Really like this. Very polished and well considered. Nice work.
2
Looks great!
If you don’t mind my asking, what’s the font you used in proposal 2?
3
Thank you very much for sharing your design process. I love the symmetry of your final logo.
4
Andrew Ingram said:
The font in proposal 2 is based on Capone Light, but I tweaked it a lot.
5
Lovely design - and a good background into the process. Great work.
6
I love the final version, quite dynamic.
Can you publish the old logo that was used for 3 years?
7
Veerle, I love your work and your blog. At first glance the final logo looked like a panther with an afro ... just a humorous observation on my part ;)
8
Afro cat - Groovy!
To be honest it kind of looks sporty to me. Like it’s the logo for the Boston Afro Cats chess team or something :P
9
Hm… I always loved your work, but I don’t like that logotype… especially the colors and also the typeface aren’t very well.
10
Nicolas Chevallier said:
I’m afraid I don’t have that logo.
11
Your final version is just excellent. The evolution of the artwork is a great example of why designers need to be given (and paid for) the extra time to polish a design. I also like that the text and illustration work well together, yet will stand on their own.
12
I really like how you approached solving this design. Very talented and unique!
13
It is interesting to see the steps, rather than just the final result. As the image keeps on improving, this is probably a reflection of the research/creative process.
14
Thanks for sharing.
Your final design is excellent work. But if you have a look at the The Deep House Cat website, then one recognizes the importance of having Corporate Identity standards. One needs to establish guidelines on how to use the logo, otherwise the logo will get hacked and butchered.
15
Great result, the design pleases me very well.
16
Love the final design Veerle, definitely my favourite, very well balanced and the geometrics are perfect.
17
Very nice solve Veerle, thanks for sharing. Was there anything in the contract about NOT doing this to the logo - Yikes!
18
Michael Clayton said:
No there wasn’t anything in the contract and a style guide wasn’t part of the project. After I noticed it, I advised the client to use it properly.
19
very interesting article about the thought process behind a logo creation, btw I would have picked proposal #1..;)
cheers
20
I really like the choice of the panther as the “cat.” I think the other cats were much too “nice” looking but probably didn’t convey the image they needed. The panther is befitting of the kind of image that a cool radio station might use -and the kind of music it probably plays, as well as maybe even the city where it is located. It kind of works well with the words too, like “deep” - you can almost hear the panther roar. I like the way you combined the c and the a, too in the font! It is always fun to see how your logos evolve!
21
Great looking logo! I also like the open mouth more and the symmetry compared to the earlier versions. Nice tweaking of “cat” too.
22
The name is Deep House Cat, not Deep Mountain Cat or Deep Jungle Cat. Therefore, I am sorry to say this is a FAIL. The final logo is a nice design, it just doesn’t fit the name.
Kind of like if you were designing a logo for a bird toy company and decided to use a bald eagle in the logo.
23
To be honest I am not a big fan of the final approved design. It looks to much like a sports team mascot logo. I would have thought the 1st attempt had a sharper look.
24
Tim, are you really that dense? “House” in this case, refers to the type of music the radio station plays. You might have noticed that had you bothered to read the client brief at the beginning of the article. Reading comprehension FAIL and posting FAIL, you rude idiot.
Veerle, my personal favorite is Proposal 3 (without the teeth), but after tuning into the station and listening for awhile, I had to admit, the final logo is perfect for the type of music they play. Their music has “bite” to it and the roar depicts that biting edge perfectly. The afro/negative space is also a well-crafted juxtaposition and gives a wonderful playfulness to the logo.
Nice going, Veerle!
25
Oh man, they are great, very very professional. I liked the approved design.
26
Thank you for taking the time to explain your creative process. I envy your talent - I honestly would not be able to give someone 3 different designs to choose from and be open minded about their choice. Nice job.
27
Dr. Girlfriend, this statement still applies:
Kind of like if you were designing a logo for a bird toy company and decided to use a bald eagle in the logo.
28
Awesome! I listen to this podcast on iTunes and I like the final logo!
29
I hate saying this, because I think the logo is great… but I keep seeing a panther with an afro, which just screams “black panther” to me.
30
Tim, first of all, let me apologize for biting your head off earlier; I think I was unnecessarily sharp in tone. It just annoys me when anonymous people are so quick to criticize someone like Veerle, who is generously trying to share techniques on a personal blog. (This isn’t art school, after all; she is doing this in her spare time to help others.) It’s especially irritating when the critique is quite flippant and without merit, as I felt yours was earlier; however, I don’t think you’re aware of why you are so off base here, so let me break it down for you:
“House” is a type of dance music that evolved from soul, funk, jazz, and disco. Wikipedia does a pretty good job describing it as such:
“House is strongly influenced by elements of soul- and funk-infused varieties of disco. House generally mimics disco’s percussion, especially the use of a prominent bass drum on every beat, but may feature a prominent synthesizer bassline, electronic drums, electronic effects, funk and pop samples, and reverb- or delay-enhanced vocals.”
And “Deep House” is a subgenre of House; it usually features more vocals than other types of House music. So you see, “Deep House Cat” is simply a play on words relating to “House” music and not meant to be taken literally as a “housecat”, per se. (Now truthfully, after learning what Deep House music is and listening to the actual station, do you honestly think of a cuddly, little house kitten or a strong, sexy, and powerful big cat like a panther?)
Most importantly though, “cat” is the client’s symbol of choice, and since the client is the one who specified what type of cat they wanted to represent their business—and they liked and chose the panther—this job was not a “FAIL”, as you so charmingly put it.
It was a success on all fronts.
The client said what they wanted, the designer delivered, and the client paid for the end result. Everyone is happy. You can’t ask for a better outcome than that! :)
31
Dr. Girlfriend, thank you for the understanding/explanation. I do realize that this was the partially the client’s direction and Veerle also stated it was her line of thinking as well. The problem is that it still reads as housecat. As an illustrator, I can safely say that it is fairly easy to depict a housecat in a ferocious pose/tone/expression. There is no need to turn this into a panther or any other jungle cat.
I neither think of a cuddly little kitten, nor a big powerful panther.
However, by the way you have described the music here, I would not necessarily want a snarling cat so much as one that looks like it’s groovin’ or somewhat of a funky/beatnik illustration style.
I love Veerle’s blog and visit often and did not intend to come off as insulting, which I fear I did. I apologize. I am also fully aware that a client’s direction will more often than not drive the design.
I still stand by this: “Kind of like if you were designing a logo for a bird toy company and decided to use a bald eagle in the logo.”
Unless the company is called Eagle Bird Toys, you are not going to put an eagle in the logo (unless, of course, the client demands it).
32
I really like them all. Thanks for sharing your font choices.
33
Sorry, but it’s ridiculous to suggest this logo doesn’t work unless the company name were “Deep Panther Afro Cat”. We creative types shouldn’t strive to be so pathetically literal.
By the way, a logo idea for a Bird Toy company might be a big hand showing a middle finger with the words “Bird Toys” tattooed on the back of the hand… Get it? Logo design is more about the product and brand personailty than the words in the logo text itself.
Stop being so literal and get creative!
34
I liked veerle’s post. As a silk screen printer, sign writer and illustrator for a logo designer i think your final logo considers the clients other product needs more effectively.
Though i’d want to see a final of your first proposal too, really good style with the H & the A of the font creating a sharp cat in deep blue but also hope the rest of your post inspires how all those obvious options in design won’t always satisfy a client fresh with ideas and responsible for its outcome, it’s each to their own, keep up all your fantastic work.
.. Would now also definatelty think of buying a bird toy branded with an eagle if it wouldn’t just already make my budgie feel more like a budgie.
35
Peace, Tim. :)
This discussion serves to remind us that as designers/illustrators/artists/communicators, our message—no matter what we may intend—will always be open to interpretation, depending on the viewpoint of the audience. Much like the famous faces and vases illusion:
We can read this project as “DEEP HOUSE” CAT or DEEP “HOUSECAT”; the dark circle can be seen as an afro or a night sky or even a full moon; the cat can be seen as laughing or roaring. It’s all open for interpretation.
Keeling, that’s funny! And I would love to see your version of that Bird Toys logo. I think it’s fantastic when a company injects a bit of humor into their logo. That’s probably why I enjoyed this afro-sportin’ “Deep House” Cat so much.
36
So clean, very nice work!
37
It’s a great design Logo. Good job friend.
Thank you
38
Thank you very much for sharing amazing designs. keep up good work