British Petroleum Logo

Another simple yet fantastic logo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BP#mediaviewer/File:BP_Logo.svg), in three simple colours (http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/about-bp/our-history/history-of-bp/special-subject-histories/bp-brand-and-logo.html) “a sunburst of green, yellow and white symbolizing dynamic energy in all its forms. It was called the Helios after the sun god of ancient Greece.”, and goes on talk about its aspirations as “better people, better products, big picture, beyond petroleum.”

Regardless of its declining overall profits from $17.1 Billion in 2012 to $13.4 Billion in 2013 (http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/press/press-releases/fourth-quarter-2013-results.html), it is the seventh biggest petroleum supplier in the world, providing “2.056 million barrels of oil and 7.393 billion cubic feet of gas per day in 2012.” – (http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/features/feature-the-10-biggest-oil-and-gas-companies-in-the-world/).

Green symbolises nature, growth, harmony and is considered a safe colour, yellow is associated with happiness, joy and energy while finally white stands for safety, cleanliness, innocence and purity (http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html). These are all things that a energy company would want to symbolise, regardless of the fact they are at heart none of these things, but instead an evil faceless corporation where money comes before life, personal wealth comes before the good of the planet. In understanding that black means power, death and evil, while dark purple evokes sad feelings, frustration and gloom, also red with associations of war, danger, strength and power, the logo should be redesigned to show these colours, just to prove how much colours can improve or degrade a company’s image. A more honest approach to the BP logo:

BP_Logo bplogo

Not only does my mockup prove how much of a role that colours play in logos but also, how much a much it can change the impression the company in general.

The branding needs to be instantly recognisable as a logo , and does this terrifically, helped by sponsoring events and organisations to keep them in the public eye. Onee such example is the £10 Million to art sponsorship (British Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Opera House and Tate Britain) (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16243960).

bp_logo_golden_ratio

Interestingly the fibonacci sequence again is shown in the BP logo, they take advantage of the golden rule that means you divide two sequential numbers to create the number pie (http://www.banskt.com/blog/golden-ratio-in-logo-designs/). In this case imagine the area of the circles being added together to create the next biggest circle.

Featured Image: http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9007490.ece/binary/original/bp-oil.jpg

Advertisement

Fibonacci Sequence

The first part of my research brought my attention to the fibonacci sequence which is all about creating a ‘golden ratio’ I managed to research a lot of companies that all use this sequence when creating their logo. The Fibonacci sequence is the following sequence of numbers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number);

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144…

They are based upon the fact that “each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two”. The sequence created by “Gustav Theodor Fechner” (http://www.banskt.com/blog/golden-ratio-in-logo-designs/). A man by the name of Leonardo Fibonacci then went on to develop this further by introducing the idea that if you divided two sequential numbers you would arrive at the number pie. Using the Fibonacci sequence to create this image of the perfect rectangle.   There are many examples of the fibonacci spiral used in history, nature, our universe and general physics. It is seen as the “universal constant of design”.

Fibonacci

I think it is an extremely important part of design that i happen to have stumbled across, as it appears in so many aspects of life without us realising, and I am going prove this.

Universally (http://mathforum.org/mathimages/imgUpload/Galaxy.jpg)

Galaxy

Earth – Hurricane Sandy (https://akbrodie.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/b36ab-fibonaccispiralhurricanesandy.jpg) Fibonacci spiral hurricane Sandy

Egypt Pyramids (http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/1329/giza9999.jpg)

Pyramids

Spiral Staircase (https://akbrodie.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/a9596-apple-stair-fib-curve-lr.gif) applestaircase

Faces (http://io9.com/5985588/15-uncanny-examples-of-the-golden-ratio-in-nature)

Face

The Human Body (http://1111now.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/fibonacci-sequence-in-the-hand.jpg) hand

A Leaf (https://akbrodie.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/8de58-4707140963_16e4f1d513_z.jpg) 4707140963_16e4f1d513_z

This video very nicely puts into perspective how incredible the sequence really is (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkGeOWYOFoA#t=107). Not only is this all relevant to nature, and certain physics but is also common across many company logos. I will continue my research into logos using this sequence.

Creative Futures ~ Brief

My brief is to create a logo, this logo is going to represent me as a student, the work that I produce, something I will be able to use to brand my work as my own and become instantly recognisable to the people who view it. With little knowledge of branding, I plan to study and revise key concepts that will affect my final design.

Initial thoughts on my logo are that I want it to be based upon the name “BRODIE” so it is instantly recognisable as my own, it should be somewhat relatable to a computer or the web as i am a web designer. I have written these initial thoughts before I start my research so that you can see how my ideas develop after I have researched further into the world of branding.