Icon Design; a logo’s companion
As part of the SaB re-brand there was a requirement to create iconery assets for use on some areas of the business visuals going forward. So we set about determining how the icon design would start to take shape.
Having a logo that the client was happy with, which you can read about here http://showcaseimagery.com/archives/sab-safeguarding-have-new-logo-their-brand/ was helpful. This naturally gave us a good starting point for the icon design as not all icons are cut-back versions (hint) of the logo.
Logo design that the client settled with. The basis for the icon design.
It quickly became apparent that S. A. B. was useful in depicting not only the clients initials, which was the basis of the brand. But it also happened to be useful for an array of sector based acronyms like Safeguarding – Against – Bullying, Safety – Anguish – Bereavement and several more to be filtered out in planned marketing efforts.
In addition to this we wanted to keep the third letter B, which also doubles up as the G in safeguarding. And servers as the birds-eye view of the embracing (hugging) stick-man. So it was pretty safe to say that the icon design would include all three letters of the clients name, S. A. and B.
Basis for the icon design
Close up from the SaB logo concept boards.
From when we designed the company logo and even the initial client fed samples, joining the letters was of interest. All this took in the end was the removal of the word Safeguarding, the coloured underline and the joining of the S and the B through the top horizontal.
Working up the design
This then gave us the basis for a proportionately square icon design, all that was left to do was breathe a little life into the icon design.
The basic shape of the SaB logo that would transform into the icon design
Once we’d worked out a way in which the three letters were recognisable in their own right we just needed a touch of styling to help it mature. This came in the form of highlighting (the white outline) and shading (the drop shadow).
Finally a little colour, aided by use of the remaining brand colours that were used in the original underline and we are complete. It was a conscious decision to leave the A slightly longer (off the bottom) of the S and B which helped bring the letter to the front of the trio allowing the outer letters to join underneath.
Final icon design [standard] featuring the clients name in-situ
Variants of the icon design
embossing lockup of the icon design
In-situ icon design examples
in-situ on image placementloicon lock
Placement of the icon on a high-street billboard as part of a strikingly visual ad campaign.
You can find out more about sabsafeguarding.uk at their new website or by checking out other portfolio posts in our archives.