Making a Logo  -  Startup Style

Making a Logo  -  Startup Style

Posted by Jamie Bond on

Our logo is so young the ink is still dripping off the digital pen that drew it. But what better time to share than story right here ‘n now?

Here’s how it went down.

Step 1: Do It Yourself

How hard can it be right? Andre grabbed a dry erase marker, wrote RUX in a fairly connected font (to signify the modular connections we use in RUX product systems), then drew a rectangle around it that looked like a RUX.

Jamie was like “uuuh, ya, ok. I’m gonna call a designer instead.”

Step 2: Choose a Designer

Here are the doors we considered knocking on…

  1. Napkin sketch. Easy right? Just get’er done. Plus it’s so hip later on when you can say “Oh that super iconic logo? No big deal. Drew it on a napkin, bro.” You can brag that you’re a creative and business genius in one.
  2. Fiverr. Hey, Nike’s logo only cost $35 and now it’s super iconic and worth $26 Billion. Could we do that? Fun fact — if we’d invested all our RUX money into Fiverr stocks that day instead of starting RUX, we’d have more than doubled our money! But what would be the fun in that.
  3. Local designer. Find a creative local designer who we click with, put in the hours, and make some magic.
  4. Agency. More street cred, more horsepower, more strategic, mo’ money. More time, more money but more guaranteed results.
  5. French connection .  Screw all logic and pragmatism. Spend a month trying to track down an elusive Parisian designer friend. Proceed to get weird.

You can tell we entertained #5, then almost kicked off option #3, but then we hit a wall… turns out we needed more intel on who we were first! 

We backtracked to Step 0, because backtracking feels like a right of passage at this point in our project. With help from our talented friends at The Vacuum, we herded our Brand ID ducks into a row in our last pre-covid meeting. It was a small, hot room. We even shared cookies. By the way how’s Zoom’s stock price doing now?

We came out alive though, and kicked off option#3 (local designer) working with Whistler’s own Zoë Lomoro for our logo design.

Step 3: Make Some Magic

Zoe’s first weapon in her design arsenal was an open ear for all our quirky thoughts and ideas. But this wasn’t her first rodeo, so after we verbal diarrhea’d everything we could tell her about RUX, she pressed the mute button and got to work.

She’d heard the important parts. Bark bark bark bark strong bark bark bold bark simple bark interconnected pieces bark bark CN Rail meets skateboard brand bark bark woof.

Step 4: Dive Into Pandemic Lockdown. Cross Fingers Designer Is Still Alive

The usual right? These things happen.

Step 5: Go Time

Zoë did her magic and several efficient rounds later we selected the final refined logo. The rest is history, albeit only a week old.

Wait a minute, is that what Andre drew on the whiteboard 2 months ago? Just kidding. It’s come a long way since then with help from talented, creative people, but just like the RUX name, sometimes the simplest solution requires a journey to and from the unknown before being fully appreciated. 

Thanks for the kick-ass logo and branding Zoë

 

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Comments

  • http://00-tv.com/video/1.html
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    AAwcobp on
  • web

    Margie on
  • I like the part about going back to step 0 seeming like a right of passage. Definitely my experience with almost all web design projects I’ve ever done!

    Jess Rhodes on
  • Looks awesome great job. Parisian designer friend FTW!

    Jim on
  • You guys rock! I’m thrilled I had the opportunity to be part of this crazy venture, and it was a real journey coming full circle – the best part is you did the homework and knew your branding, before you even knew your branding haha. Can’t wait to see RUX come to life now!

    Zoe Lomoro on

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