Recent Work: Logo for Limelight Media
This is one of my best works to date.
The challenge of this brief is to think of a concept that will best represent the meaning of 聚星 (Chinese name of the company), the new entertainment/media company founded by the founder of Form Records and Innoform Media.
The same founder had successfully created and sold off the prior two companies and with this third company, he hopes that I can think of a concept big enough (from logo) to extend to their opening motion graphics.
This is because Limelight Media is going to invest in movies in the future and they would need an opening animation, similar to the likes of Universal Studios, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, etc.
The concept began with circle. I knew I wanted to use circles to represent stars in the Universe as 聚星 meant the gathering of stars, in constellations, stars are always in circles. I played a pun on 聚星 as it also sounds like 巨星 (superstar) in Mandarin.
The circles in the logo would have to gather to form a gigantic star. Moreover, circle meant being in the spotlight. At the same time, it represents superstars gathering to entertain the world.
Light is brightest when it is ‘white’. I knew I wanted to use all 7 colours of the rainbow as when these 7 colours come together, they form ‘white’, meaning stars shining at their brightest under Limelight Media. These 7 colours also stand for being entertained ‘7 days per week’. There are exactly 365 circles in the logo to represent all-year-entertainment. The 365th circle is right at the middle.
The typeface is also chosen as it looks like the structure of neon lights, pretty much like attraction in the entertainment circle. I knew that the typeface has to be very carefully chosen. It must not be too thin, nor too firm/thick as it is not supposed to feel ‘rigid’. It has to be the right amount of weight yet look unconventional while maintaining a professional image.
The end logo also coincidentally looks like the shutter of a camera (of paparazzi), thus adding even more meaning to the gathering of ‘superstars’.
Enjoy my entire design/thought process below:
Without proper understanding of the customer’s vision behind his company, most designers would end up using lime green as the corporate colour of the logo. I did a Google research to show the vast amount of cliche images/visual representations out there. I, however, came up with a concept uniquely relevant to my customer’s business.
Various logos from Google while researching:
I started the logo drafts with many circles (meaning stars/planets) gathering (聚星) to form a gigantic star.
I knew from the beginning that no matter how I develop the look and feel later on, that the entire logo must resemble one big circle to symbolise the meaning of 巨星.
Later on, I I knew that light is brightest when it is white and I want to bring across the concept of stars shining their brightest under Limelight Media. What colours can form/gather to form white?
You're right - the 7 colours of the rainbow spectrum. These 7 colours can also mean being entertained 7-days-per week. I started with a random colour organisation first but felt the entire notion of gathering can be better represented if I arrange the colours orderly and in a swirling fashion instead.
I started to arrange colours in an orderly, swirling fashion to better bring across the concept of gathering of stars (聚星) into one big gigantic star (巨星).
I also tried to play around with typefaces and realised that they cannot be too thin (I want a company to look/feel reliable and professional) nor too thick/rigid (it is an entertainment/media company after all).
I settled on a typeface that resembles the structure of neon lights - as they are often used as signage fonts for attraction. I am also comfortable with its weight.
From here, I began to wonder what if the logo resembles more like a gigantic star instead? With star edges and all?
I felt the above logo may look/feel a bit overcrowded. What about something more sparse?
You will also noticed that I have played around with starburst effect right in the middle of the logo instead of an original (white) circle. After all, when stars in the Universe gather, I would imagine them to come in a dramatic 'Big Bang Theory' fashion right?
Also, I thought it would be great if I can give meaning to the number of planets in the logo. There are exactly 365 circles to represent all-year-entertainment. The 365th star is right in the middle.
I went on to experiment if the logo will look better with more dynamic gaps in between each colour, ie, thick to thin gap between each colour segment to enforce the look of motion. But I know I do not want to lose the overall shape of a circle so this is a bit too sparse for me.
Opted for a combination of the two for the final logo! I feel it is a good balance and the overall logo coincidentally looks like the shape of a camera shutter, thus giving more meaning to the 'gathering of superstars' because it is only during such events that you will see plenty of photographers taking photos of the superstars!
Concept for 10-15sec opening motion graphics for Limelight Media
Opening scene of what seems like random constellation of stars in the Universe
What seem like a random arrangement actually meant the formation of “巨“ from a certain camera angle
Camera view of “巨“ from a selected angle.
All stars (planets/celestial bodies in 巨) gathering together in milky way fashion in the galaxy.
End frame of the animation: Stars forming Limelight Media's logo
Storyboard for opening motion graphics
Reblog if you enjoy the entire logo development and overall concept!
