Job:12-84823 Title:RP-Graphic Design That Works (LDW)
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Text (DS)
Big Red Sun
Client
Big Red Sun is a landscape architecture firm based in
Austin, Texas.
DESIGNERS
Matt Hovis, Kevin Whitely
FIRM
Action Figure
Process
As landscape architects, Big Red Sun provides two services: what it calls “softscape,”
which entails designing gardens, and what it refers to as “hardscape,” which
involves developing a site so that buildings and plantings work well with each other.
To reflect these two services, designers at Action Figure hoped to create a logo that
would visually reference both the soft aspects of gardens and the hard aspects of
construction. As a starting point, the designers sketched images of suns, daisies,
tulips, gloves, and shovels, hoping one could be turned into a symbol representing
landscape architecture. But the team found that although the daisies and tulips
evoked the gardening side of the client’s business, they were too soft to convey the
company’s construction services. And whereas the shovels suggested construction,
they were too hard for gardening. So designer Matt Hovis experimented with differ-
ent ways of combining the hard and soft elements into a single mark and came up
with a radial shape, which, when viewed as a whole, suggested a sun. Next, the
team added different symbols to the shape’s eight spokes. One design included eight
tulips, which the designers deemed too stark; another, a mixture of shovels, tulips,
and gloves, was deemed too cluttered. In the end, the team opted for a design that
incorporated four gloves and four shovels. Says designer Kevin Whitely, “For us, it
was the best marriage of hard and soft.”
What Works
The logo features a radial shape whose center is a flower and whose eight spokes
are topped with alternating gloves and shovels. Its overall shape evokes a sun,
which reflects the client’s name, while the mark’s individual elements illustrate the
tools used in landscape architecture. The logo’s style, reminiscent of the bold, play-
ful look of comic books, conveys a sense of a young, vibrant company.
Graphic Design That Works
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070-088 84823 10/12/05 2:17 PM Page 76
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