Tag Archives: Inspiration

Quirky and creative logo inspiration

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Logos are used by every organisation, from the largest multinational corporation to the smallest indie bands. That is because logos are an efficient, effective way to tell your target market who you are and what they can expect from you, all with one small image.

Still, because they are used by so many organisations, logos have to stand out more and more. Many companies and other groups are turning to humour and charm to find a logo that demonstrates their philosophy and their products to the rest of the world. Below is a showcase of some of these creative, quirky logos.

Spacebound Creative

Created for a graphic design company, this logo plays on the space age name of the company but gives it a cute, modern upgrade.

Lightswitch Brand and Motion Design

The designer of this logo wanted to convey a light source without relying on the usual cliches. The deep sea-dwelling angler fish provided the right kind of inspiration.

Remod Media

This online video production company wanted a logo that was forward looking and a bit nostalgic. This logo looks like what Victorians would have pictured when someone described YouTube to them.

Silent Giant

Silent Giant is a tour support company, which helps bands tour. The antlers on the tour van mimic the way roads split across a map, adding a bit of humour to a logo that expresses a complex idea.

Lam-Eurysm

The designer of this logo was friends with the person who commissioned this logo. She wanted to express the cartoonish, quirky side of her friend’s personality.

Bad Company

This logo is a cartoon of a stereotypical biker, complete with horseshoe moustache and the name of the company is his spiky hair. It plays up the fun, rebellious attitude of the company.

Illy Baby

Designed for a company that makes art supplies for young children, this logo reflects the simple lines associated with children’s art.

Fatty Gets a Stylist

This band logo reflects the style of music the band plays, which is described by the designer as “The B52′s meets M.I.A.”

Ice Cream Soldiers

This is also a logo created for a band. The New Zealand group wanted a logo that was fun, memorable and great for t-shirts, so the designer created Jimmie the Ice Creamicorn for them.

Salami Vice

Salami Vice is a comedy troupe, so they commissioned this logo. It plays on their name’s pun whilst also ramping up the humour. After all, what’s funnier than a sausage detective?

Have you found any examples of creative, quirky logos that you think deserve a mention? Please do let us know in the comments.

Minimalist Business Cards Inspiration

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Business cards are still a great way to network, even in the digital age of iPhones and tablets. A well-crafted business card should look beautiful, and for them to work well, they need to help you sell your skills and your personality. Below we have collected 15 minimalist business cards that do this well.

If you’re looking for a printer to get your cards printed, you have loads of choice; including 48 hour print!

Minimalist Business Cards

Minimalist Business Cards

Minimalist Business Cards

Minimalist Business Cards

Minimalist Business Cards

Minimalist Business Cards

Minimalist Business Cards

Minimalist Business Cards

Minimalist Business Cards

Minimalist Business Cards

Minimalist Business Cards

Minimalist Business Cards

Minimalist Business Cards

Minimalist Business Cards

Minimalist Business Cards

Beautifully Designed Gig Posters

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Usually, when designing something, you’re faced with a whole load of constraints and limitations. But it’s not always the case when you’re designing a gig poster – those constraints are often lifted and you’re allowed to be much more creative and expressive with your art.

Gig posters in particular add a new level of challenge, because they often need to sum up the mood of the music, as well as the style of the band – which are usually things that are far too complex to put into words. Gig posters, when done right, can be works of art in themselves, and it’s not unusual to see them selling for a high price on eBay after the event.

We’ve decided to showcase a selection of amazingly designed gig posters that highlight incredible work from some very talented artists. We hope they inspire you for your next poster project.

Wilco

Modest Mouse

Vampire Weekend

LCD Soundsystem

Wavves

The Shins

Cold War Kids

Broken Social Scene

Arctic Monkeys

Wilco

Explosions in the Sky

Andrew Bird

The Elephant Six Orchestra

The Gaslight Anthem

The Flaming Lips

Eye Popping Prints by K17GRAFX

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We’ve recently had the privilege of being able to stock some amazing illustrative prints by K17GRAFX on Picmix Store!

All of the following prints are available at the store at £10 each, although some of which are in the current £6 sale! You can also get 10% off using the code exclusive to this blog – just enter “CIRCLEBOX” at checkout.

Beautiful Staple Zine & Booklet Inspiration

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Recently I’ve had an idea of putting together a small staple-bind magazine (or “zine” as they’re commonly referred as). I want to give print design a bit of a bash.

I want to be able to hold something beautiful that I created in my own hands, and send them out to my followers as something to help inspire them with their work, so in this post I’ve collected a few examples of things I really like, with some really awesome booklet printing. I thought I’d share them with you, and hopefully get your advice, too.

My biggest problem as of yet is not having a topic. I have several ideas floating around in my head, but I’m not totally sure what I want to focus on yet. This is where you might be able to help! What would you like to see? A few ideas of mine have been: a booklet full of good quality interview with popular designers, a booklet full of interesting and fresh vintage/retro style illustrations, or a some sort of guide teaching you how to do certain things, possibly UI based. I’d love to know what you’d be interested in buying (these will be cheap!), so please do comment on this post and let me know what you’d like to see.

Below are a collection of things related to this format that I really like. I’m actively seeking more inspiration for the project I have in mind, so expect a larger post like this!

Colouring Book by James Jarvis

I remember having colouring books as a kid and sometimes thinking “these are a little rubbish!”. Some of them were brilliant, good paper stock (not that I knew what this was at the time), and good drawings. Others were thin like tissue paper, and the drawings were terrible. Maybe a colouring book could be something that could go down reasonably well with the mothers and children?

James Jarvis Colouring Book

James Jarvis Colouring Book

James Jarvis Colouring Book

James Jarvis Colouring Book

Matrix for Regular Events 2010/11 by Atelier Martino&Jaña

These editorial zines are absolutely stunning. I love the typography and the general layout, and think a format like this would work tremendously well for an inspiration or interview based booklet.

Matrix for Regular Events 2010/11

Matrix for Regular Events 2010/11

Matrix for Regular Events 2010/11

Matrix for Regular Events 2010/11

Coco Book by Ruth Pearson

I especially love the large typography in this, and the fact that it has been printed on black paper – that’s just hot!

Coco Book

Coco Book

I need your help!

So what would you buy? Is there a space (very small, mind you) that needs filling on your bookshelf? If this first issue goes well, I’d love to do more!