CIB STUDIOS LOGO

Let’s talk about branding! More specifically; process, and how I came to my final CIBstudios logo. Let’s get it.

So how do you promote yourself? Naturally, I believe it should be an easy process. However I should be my own best and worst client if I want something truly *mint* Staring at yourself in the mirror, disassociating, and reflecting on every little bit that goes into YOU should be top priority. It can get quite existential. But I know me! I know what I like.

I like simple. I like dynamic. Energy. Boldness. With letters like C and B, I didn’t want a “round, curvy” logo. I knew it had to have an edge to it. I had to fight that through the logos overall composition. I looked at logos like Nike and Adidas for instance for some minor inspiration. Nike, much like my site’s title fonts has finesse to it. Whereas Adidas had that bold, structured geometry I craved.

The logo also had to be general. I am not just an illustrator. I am not just an animator. I am many things. To have the logo not be cornered into a specific niche was also a caution I had to be weary of.

As you will see, some of the previous iterations of my logo throughout its inception come as very “comic-ish” the likes you would see on a Jim Lee-esque approach. Of course, we’re working in black and white. You never want to get mixed up in colors when you’re designing.

Color is a secondary concern in the beginning conceptual stages. A logo should be just as powerful in b&w as it should in color.

I love my signature. I’ve always wanted it to be a part of my “promotional package.” But it’s too complex for my liking. I was cursed with the letters C and B from birth. I find them so round and ugly! However I find in taller letterforms, do the letters start coming around to my liking. Italics in my opinion make everything more energetic. As I started more structured and vertical in composition, I found myself getting more slanted in italics. I found that framing my italics into a shape, my favorite the square; would give me the structured geometry I find most appeal in. Confining? It can be. But that’s what the Pathfinder tool in Illustrator is for!

And so as you move from left to right on the mockup sheet, you find that I really started staying true to original influences while also finding something unique. And as we dissect my final logo, let’s take a minute to appreciate the transformation an original idea was, to what it is now!

Developing the website, I had the titles of my projects in a typeface called Bebas Neue, and set to italics. The typeface you are reading body copy in is good ol’ Futura, a personal favorite of mine.

The logo came after the website and had to accent the site (which I was happy with, design wise.) Italicized initials made for the perfect composition. The C and the B are seperated by a line, that line also acts as I, my middle initial. Even if my middle initial was not to be considered, the logo still read C / B. And that would still be true to my name as well.

I decided to drop the “studios” as it felt redundant to say it so often. And since, I, am an individual, it just made sense. The site can be the studios, but CIB is where the moneys at! Looking at application for the logo in the future it could be so much more; CIB productions, CIB films, CIB comics, you get the idea.

And then of course, there’s the color. I love a midtone grey as it’s easy on the eyes and what I call “Hazard Yellow” to serve as a contrast that isn’t so stark like b&w.

And yah! That’s pretty much how I got to my logo. I am stoked with it. I believe it has a charisma to it. There’s a simplicity to it, there’s endless application for it, I see this fitting anywhere and everywhere!

And if you made it this far, thanks for reading and understanding my process, you’re a doll. Until next time!