Jan 23
Logo design for Visit France
2010 at 11.25 am posted by Veerle Pieters
Not so long ago we had the pleasure to work together with the mighty Andy Clarke from Stuff and Nonsense. He was working on a site called “Stay in Wales” and his client needed a logo for this project.
Visit France
Andy's client liked the logo very much so we had the pleasure to design another logo in a similar style for a project called "Visit France", a site that is specialized in finding accommodation in France.
Thinking process
As you have noticed, both sites use the same design, and so it was very clear from the start that this logo should use the same design style and typography. We've used Keedy Sans in combination with a slightly modified version of Suburban (both by Emigre).
In this particular situation we didn't have to consider a black & white, or grayscale version for the creation this logo. This gave us more design freedom to work with. So we approached the same thinking path of a rather illustrative logo, just like we did for Stay in Wales.
Proposal 1
Logo design proposal: using the typical French beret in combination with the French flag.
First thing that comes to mind for the creation of this logo is obviously the French flag. Using the flag in the logo was also requested by the client and so that got us thinking of combining the flag with something typical French. One of the symbols we thought of was a beret. Another idea was to use the Eiffel tower. Although the Eiffel tower makes me think of Paris, the city, instead of France as a country. After giving that some thought we decided to pursuit the idea of a beret hat instead.
Proposal 2
Logo design proposal: applying the colors of the French flag on a simple abstract shape
What bothered me a bit in the previous proposal was that the illustration style was a bit too cartoony. We also tried something totally different and experimental: applying the colors of the French flag on a simple abstract shape. We wanted to see if this would work, but it didn't feel strong enough in the end compared to a simple flag.
Proposal 3
The proposal that did work however, was one using a brush stroke with the French flag applied to it.
Logo design proposal: using a brush stroke.
This proposal was getting in the right direction, but wasn't 'there yet'. The client felt we should give it a more typical flag shape, and we agreed. Even though we tried to come up with something different, we couldn't get around the fact that a typical flag shape was the right option. It would give the logo a more interesting shape, and it would definitely make the logo more recognizable. The link with France would be obvious and the brush line would add some uniqueness.
Process of how to use a brush stroke in with the French flag applied to it.
First try on the left and second and final try on the right
Final & approved design proposal
I played around with the brush shape and went back to the initial shape of it. Using the starting of the brush stroke for the blue part of the flag, and the ending of the stroke for the red part of the flag. I tweaked the ending lines and structure of the stroke for the red part a lot, as it seemed to have lost some balance once I applied it to the flag.
Then lastly, the curly shape that is used for the white part of the flag is added using the Pen tool. To finish things off and to give the flag some depth and realistic feel, we applied subtle gradients to each part of the flag. I'll follow this up with a tutorial that reveals more details about the creation of this logo.
What we did
Brand design and consulting
36served
1
Hi Veerle,
I am an avid reader of your blog (even I didn’t comment so far) and I really love your works, but this one just didn’t work for me.
While the brushed look idea is a nice one, the curly thing looks really dated for me. Actually I think that the first proposal with the barret looked way better and might have even worked with a brushed look.
I really thought for a while about this one, because I don’t want to be one of those “I don’t like it persons”, but I just couldn’t come up with more constructive criticism. Maybe it’s even the font. When I saw proposal one, I immediately thought “good direction”, but “not there yet”. Maybe it’s just the “process” of seeing proposals in a certain order - someone should write his diploma thesis on this topic and research it :-)
Maybe the first proposal always steers the way we see the next proposals (if this is the case, logo proposals shouldn’t be presented one below the other, but rather “en block” :-)
Don’t get me wrong! I still like the logo, it was just no “Wow” for me (as your work usually is). :-)
Keep up the good stuff - and especially your tutorials! :-)
xxx
2
Josh said:
The thing about logo design is that all the work you do is a like a balance act to keep everybody involved happy. You balance between your own judgment and what a client suggests. In this case the client asked me to make it look more like a flag and I tried to integrate this as nice as possible. Like I mentioned before, you don’t design for your own, but to make it work for the sites purpose and to have a happy client. Big part of what we do is compromising to get an end result that everybody is happy with :)
3
Veerle,
You offered some interesting solutions and we see only a fraction of what you probably worked on. Josh, I can’t tell you how many times as a designer I’ve had to swallow my frustrations at client requests.
You’ll spend hours developing hip logos, that are poignant and efficient - that really hit the mark - only to have the client say we want the one that you might have spent 5 minutes on or that looks like total crap.
Sadly, we are slaves to our client base and while we most likely don’t always agree with their choices, we have to abide by them. It’s the nature of the beast.
It is our job to educate our clients as best we can, but even then it falls on deaf ears at times.
Thanks Veerle for another look into your design development.
And get that new blog up!! I can’t wait for v3!
4
I’m not too fond of the finished result either. The shape of the brush stroke reminds me of a map of the US, not an association I like with a visit France logo!
5
I actually prefer the final version to the first one which looks more like a hotdog that a béret.
6
Hi Veerle,
I wouldn’t have guessed this was your work in a million years. “Visit” and “France” do not seem to work together. Just as important, neither typeface evokes imagery of rich history, fine wine, gourmet food, classic architecture, or beautiful countryside.
As for the flag, who wants to visit a flag (or even a brush stroke)? So okay, the Eiffel Tower may be too cliched, but what about a small element taken from the Arc de Triomphe? If that’s too common, a Google image search would turn up lots of French symbolism.
7
I agree with both Josh and Veerle. I first saw this logo on the Duoh! site and kind of had the same feelings towards it. While the end result is still very attractive, I’m still much more fond of a lot of your other works.
But I fully understand and agree with your reply to Josh. It’s very difficult to create a piece for a client that you feel is perfect… just to have them ask you to “dumb it down”... I’m working on my portfolio site now and I’m actually going to leave 1 or 2 items out of it because I don’t want to show them off. The client for those projects was very happy with the end product… but only because they made so many changes to the design that it ended up being far different than what I had came up with.
Here is a great comic related to this issue:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell
8
The steps show clearly how your idea kept on improving. The beret is a starting point (I mean I never saw the beret mixed with the tricolor), but you ended up with a modern image in the brush style; and the gradient is nice and subtle. Great job.
9
Really nice Veerle - great final result.
10
David A said:
The truth is that a logo like you describe would have failed miserably because my assignment was to create something that works well together within the web site that Andy created. The way you describe the logo wouldn’t have fit within this concept and would look out of place. As a designer you have to work within the boundaries that are set. You also didn’t clearly read that it had to be in the same style as the Stay in Wales logo that I designed earlier, as it’s for the same client and they wanted to create coherence between both sites. The client is happy, so in the end that means I did a good job.
11
Thanks for the insight into the design process. Final result is nice, however it think it should be more consistent. Edges of the middle part should look like brush strokes as well.
I must say that proposal n.3 works for me the best. But as you pointed out, you have to compromise with client.
BTW. Proposal n.2 look more like Czech flag, because of the shape. One have to be careful with national flags. Sometimes there are legal restrictions of how you can use it (Maybe depends on a country).
12
At the end of the day: veerle’s ideas had a satisfied customer as a result. No matter what some say. I see the point in the argument. But veerle has created something what was in the brief and when it comes to french flag. Every one knows it belongs to france. Not america/poland/uk/ etc etc… Veerle, I think your logo is effective. Because its related to france nation and to me: fading ends of brush strokes represent: good memories you can capture while your visit.
Thank u.
Regards,
karanpreet
13
‘One of the symbols we thought of was a beret. Another idea was to use the Eiffel tower’ - *facepalm*
I think what you ended up with was at least better than either of those
14
Thank you for sharing your logo design process with us. The logo meets the needs of the client and works great on the website.
Visit France reaches a very broad market of consumers, so focusing in on history, architecture or wine like David A. suggested runs the risk of alienating certain consumers and may play favoritism to certain areas of France. The logo needs to be more flexible and the flag, being symbol of the country, makes the most sense as a starting point. The red, white & blue flag automatically triggers a correlation to France, so why fight a good thing, when you can further reinforce it. The brush stroke alludes to the art & culture of France, while still resembling the flag.
There is a time and place for flashy, “wow” factor design, but the ultimate goal of design is to effectively communicate the desired objective to its consumers. I feel the logo effectively meets its intended goal.
Well done.
15
I thought you did a great job with being creative and coming up with an attractive logo based on the requirements of your client. I’m no stranger to working with clients and how it cause lots of headaches when there are creative differences involved.
I kinda thought that perhaps if you could keep the swirled flag shape but somehow make the entire shape seem like a brushstroke instead of the beginning and ending parts then it would have been more interesting.
I really like your designs, though, and it’d be great if you could get some of your designs on some furniture!
16
This result leaves me somewhat curious. What prompted you to choose this particular font?
17
I too did not like the design.
Veerle has designed to client’s specs and the client is a satisfied customer.
BTW I don’t display my work if I don’t like it even though it is approved by my client.
18
Agree with Wayde Christie, the main point what you got at the final and look like you did a greate job!
19
Jeff Deibel said:
Beautifully said!
Stijn Vogels said:
Like I explained above, this logo uses the same typefaces as in the Stay in Wales logo. For the Stay in Wales logo I opted for Suburban because of the special y shape. The combination with Keedy Sans works very well I think personally. For the Stay in France I had to work with the same combo.
Kisan said:
I do that that too, but in this case I still like the outcome enough to show it. Like Jeff said so beautifully here, there is a time and place for flashy, “wow” factor design, but the ultimate goal of design is to effectively communicate the desired objective to its consumers.
20
Am I the only one that would like to see a version of this that Veerle would do if she only had to please herself? You know, no silly customer demands just full throttle. ;-)
21
For me the last version looks best (and it surely doesn’t remind me of a map of the USA). The Stroke of a brush is indeed a good idea as one tends to think of painters and idylic landscapes in relation to France. I think you definitely did a good job!
22
Fascinating insight into how you work - I thought the beret was most amusing - I dont know if the locals would have thought the same way - Though the end design was excellent.
23
I think that you achieved excellent results with the end design. Congratulations!
What’s more, I was surprised how much better your logo actually looks when placed on the Visit France website.
Thanks for sharing.
24
I’m a virgin to your blog, but already like it, there seems to be alot of comment and interaction here.
I’m unsure about the final outcome, typography wise it feels like it shouldn’t work but its does and it feel quite unique.
The problem I have is the size of the actual brush stroke/flag icon I feel its too large and dominating.
That said I do like the concept and think its successful.
What is the font you have used for ‘France’?
25
Gareth Coxon said:
The links are in the article.
26
The logo really does work when seen in context on the Visit france website. I really like the flag concept, particularly when compared to the beret, which I personally find a little cliched.
The mix of fonts are not my favouite but as I say, the logo as a whole does seem to work well on the website. Well done!
27
Yes of course, apologises, maybe I should open my eyes before open my mouth. Great work.
28
Hi Veerle
I won’t say I jumped high in the air but I think the final result is the best result. As you say, a designer needs to find a balance.
If I would have designed this logo there would be 2 things different:
- The bottom white part of the flag leaves a bit to much suggestion I think, although it could be my screen. I think I would have used a bit more gray there.
- The left alignment of “Visit France” is a bit to rigid to me. Have you tried to place “France” a bit more to the right? I think in that way the words could gain the same dynamic feeling that the flag has.
29
Actually ... the longer I look at it, the more I like it ... Funny
30
Absolutely love the end result. It looks very creative and the logo by itself is recognisible and nice.
31
Hello ! Love this logo ! You are so great in designing thanks for making tutorials for people so we can learn from a very appreciated artist !
32
Personally I really liked the beret version…
33
I had to laugh after reading Vincent’s comment about the barret looking for like a hot dog. Had to take a double take. Comparing the brush strokes I love the final result the realistic wave that is featured as opposed to the flat stroke. Great job!
34
The berret does look like a hot dog but it could have been adapted with more of a wave on the top to differentiate. I think that the problem with the end result is the curve in the white section but you are stuck here with the clients wishes and the end product so you are a bit damned if you do and damned if you don’t! When I get something like this I think why - why do most tourists visit France. Great open spaces, unspoilt countryside, fantastic weather - how about a sun in the French colours?
35
I’m not really sure why the design has received so much criticism on these comments. I personally like it very much and think it fits the job it was intended for perfectly. And at the end of the day, it’s the client that counts the most isn’t it?
36
I really love the flag, not a huge fan of the font. Overall very nice