Logo Design Commentary

Three Notch Veterinary Hospital

Carole Thieme provides background details on what was involved with this logo makeover endeavor:

The client wanted a new logo that reflected the bond between pets and their owners.

The current logo depicted a cat and a dog, but no human bond. We stayed with the cat and dog elements because although the hospital handles other animals, the vast majority of the animals they see are cats and dogs.

Most of their owners are women so we chose a more feminine form for the human. To emphasize the bond between pet and owner we depicted the pets and the human to be interacting with each other, and we gave the dog a happy face.

The turquoise color was used because it was used in the existing logo to give continuity to the new logo.

Finally, Hobo was chosen as the font because it has a happy casual appearance, fitting to the relationship between a pet owner and her pet.

Porco Security & Investigative Services

Porco Security & Investigative Services has tapped Thieme Creative Media's marketing and corporate branding expertise for the design of company logo, website domain selection, copywriting and design of company brochure, design and layout of letterhead, business card, presentation folder and more.

TCM and the Porco president didn't want to fall into the trap of having the sunglassed-detective peering through bushes.

TCM utilized its Shutterstock account to find the appropriate electronic eye to support the stylized acronym of PSIS.

Trailways Transportation System, Inc.

Thieme Creative Media was asked by Gale Ellsworth, President & CEO of Trailways to create a unique 75th Anniversary logo design.

The logo design had the challenge of representing the worldwide growth of the Trailways transportation system.

Hitting the 'mark' with the creative graphic illustration of a corporate icon is a very interactive process between the graphic designer and the client.

Carole Thieme — with her years of graphic design experience — met first with the Virginia client in their Fairfax offices. From that fact-finding initial dialogue, Carole worked with Trailways through various design concepts.

Finally, the design [to the left] drew comments from Trailways executives like "It is wonderful, Carole, thanks so much for sticking with me and providing your terrific talent. Love it."

AIWA

The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association asked Thieme Creative Media to create a first-ever Marketing Kit for them, including a logo design.

The logo was to serve the dual purpose of identifying the association and simultaneously celebrating 65 years of service. The client had no preferences as to what they were looking for, other than the name of the association and the 65th anniversary reference. In addition to being used on their website, printed collateral, and media kits, it had to be appropriate for use (without the AIWA tagline) for embroidered items such as hats, bags and shirts. The blue and green colors and rolling wave motif were chosen to represent the association's link to the water. Numerous file formats were created for versatile use.

Boulder Coaching

Thieme Creative Media was retained by a 5-time World Champion Triathlete to create a virtual training website for his new coaching business.

The project also included developing a logo. Like AIWA, in addition to being used on his website, and printed collateral, it had to be appropriate for use on embroidered items such as hats, bags and shirts. He requested red and black be used because those colors are always present in his competition uniforms every year. Other than that, he had no additional preferences. Both a 2-color and 4-color version were created, as well as a rgb version for website use.

Indian Head Rail Trail

The Indian Head Rail Trail logo supports a new rail trail in Charles County Maryland, in conjunction with the national Rails to Trails program.

The logo is used on mile marker posts along the trail as well as signage at each end of the trail, and small crack-and-peel stickers. Since this is a new trail, there may be other uses as well. So the logo design needed to be very versatile for use from very small stickers to very large signs.

The client was very specific as to what was to be included. Because part of the trail encompasses water and wetlands, they wanted that included, as well as a blue heron, a cyclist, and a representation of a railroad which evolves into a trail.

They also wanted a ragged edge border. It was extremely challenging to incorporate all those elements and yet come up with a clean, simplified design.

Sail Solomons

Sail Solomons provides award-winning sailing instruction and luxury yacht charters on the Chesapeake Bay, Caribbean, and Mediterranean with certified Captains available for instruction, charters, deliveries and marine consulting.

The owners specifically wanted to use red, blue, and black as their colors and for the logo to have a distinctive nautical feel. The wanted the logo to be in the shape of a burgee, a flag which is flown from a power or sailing vessel, and they wanted the name of the company to be incorporated into the logo.

Towne Craft Builders

Thieme Creative Media was retained by a new construction business, Towne Craft Builders, to create a corporate identity for the company.

As a high-end luxury home builder and remodeler, the client wanted an extremely elegant look and feel. He had no clue what he wanted that look to be, other than he "sort of liked green." He characterized himself as a "blank sheet of paper" upon which he wanted us to weave our magic. The logo had to be appropriate for use on everything from print collateral to website to signage for trucks and in front of homes being constructed. Both a 2-color and 4-color version were created as well as a rgb version for website use.

UniDev LLC

UniDev LLC provides real estate consulting and development primarily for colleges, universities and other nonprofit entities across the continental United States and Hawaii. Clients of the company are generally college and university presidents. The partners of UniDev are Harvard, Princeton and Yale graduates. VERY conservative.

The challenge was to design a logo that was very striking and distinctive without being outside their comfort zone. They wanted a classic, timeless look. NO preference to shape, color or fonts.