Anyone who has worked in the creative industry knows that designing logos can be a soul crushing experience.  It is a crapshoot.  Sometimes you nail it right away.  Sometimes the client/designer just don’t click and you never get to where you need to be.

Given the great design talent we have on staff, we were originally planning to design our own logo for the Brick Factory.  But then I remembered how much trouble we’ve had in the past doing identity work for ourselves, and decided to get help. We thought we needed to be a client in this situation, and would benefit from a completely impartial, outside perspective.  I also happen to have gone to elementary school with Bret Sano of Caliber Creative, who is one of the most talented brand identity designers around.  So we asked for Bret’s help, and he was gracious enough to say yes.

We had an initial consultation with Bret where we talked through what the name meant and what we want the brand to convey.  We wanted a logo that was modern and clean, and consistent with the design work we do. We also wanted something that was flexible enough to be used in a variety of spaces and venues.

Bret came back with an initial set of options in black and white, with the idea that we would choose a direction and then introduce color.

Brick Factory Logos Round 1

We liked them all, but we thought the cube (Slide 1) and the stencil (Slide 6) were most in line with the look we were going for.  Bret then did another set of logos focusing on introducing some color options and alternative orientations.

Brick Factory Logos Round 2

At this point we were pretty much set on a version of the cube logo on a white background.  I love the stencil, but thought it looked a little too much like a logo for a clothing brand.  And I liked the architectural elements that were built into the cube logo.  Being creative visionaries, we were also pretty set on using red to evoke the brick from our name.  So we asked Bret to play with a  few different reds.

Brick Factory Logos Round 3

As you’ll see from our site, we chose the option on Slide 1, with the idea that we’ll use different orientations depending on the space we’re working in.

I think Bret killed it.