An example of logo design process for defining a brand

1. D I A N A H O WA R D D E S I G N www.dianahoward.com
every branding project has a similar process to that of finding the best proportions for a great
recipe: it’s a matter of balance: balancing the message between the old and familiar and the
new and unexpected; and especially by exploring the emphasis on one of the company’s
virtues over another to convey a clear brand position.
To show you a specific example of how i can create a variety of different logos where i visually
explore branding balance, i want to share with you some layouts taken from a presentation i
recently did for aligned investments, a group of sustainability-oriented developers, who need-
ed to brand a new kind of food emporium they named “green Market Lane”, the first of which
was to be established in albany, Ca. The creative brief was thus:
Market: Local, neighborhood, foodies
all ages but target 35-55; both sexes; after-work place
2-income families; educated; first-adaptors
Tone: not pretentious, sincere
Conveying: Honesty; integrity; artisanal food; fun; organic; responsible/sustainable; local;
comfortable; place to hang out; quality
application: should be adaptable to signage (for the site) and packaging (for custom food
products), as well as the usual web and print purposes. This logo will also be
used for future green Market Lane sites in other locations.
The first 5 pages show various solutions i presented; the last page shows the logo they chose.
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© 2009 Diana HowarD Design

2. LANE
LANE
i created this, the most formal design, because they had expressed admiration for Dean & Deluca’s image
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© 2009 Diana HowarD Design

3. going in the opposite direction, i hand-lettered this idiosyncratic logo
to convey the casual quality they also sought
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© 2009 Diana HowarD Design

4. green
green
arket
arket
ane
ane
emphasizing the organic aspect of the operation, i utilized the friendly egg shape,
and broke the edge with a hopeful litle sprout
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© 2009 Diana HowarD Design

5. green
lane
green
Because they plan to have a chain of these green Market Lanes, and want to attract investors,
i created this more corporate/conventional layout.
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© 2009 Diana HowarD Design

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G REEN
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MARKET .... ....
LANE
i was inspired by green Market Lane’s goal of creating a neighborhood hang-out which also was a food center.
Using an image of the busy bee hive was irresistible as a symbol.
GREEN ARKET LANE
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© 2009 Diana HowarD Design

7. i adapted #4 to create the final logo.
aligned investments felt that this one best expressed the balance they wanted between conveying
friendliness (for the neighborhood) and dependability (for the investors and future growth).
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© 2009 Diana HowarD Design