Logo Development: Coach by Emma Caroline Thompson

LOGO DEVELOPMENT COACH

Book 2

Index Part 1

Inspiration Images

Part 3 Part 2

First Round of Designs

Part 4

Final Logo

Second Round of Designs

Part 1 After researching and learning about Coachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s positioning in the marketplace I needed to dive deep into looking at visual inspiration. I started my inspriation process by looking at current luxury logos. I needed to get a sense of what was out in the world already. I then started looking into old west images. Coach in their most recent campaigns and runway shows have been showing lots of western images mixed with the grunge of the 60s. This lead me to look into images of elvis and old rock patches, as well as images of western prairies and americana. It was also important to look at images of classic New York since Coachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history is rooted in New York. I also needed to look at old coaches because of how there current logo is grounded in a stagecoach image.

5 I started looking at current logos for retail brands to get a flavor of what is out there

Part 2

With my initial drawings I was stuck with the idea that the type would be separate from the mark. This lead me to create many different sketches where Coach’s name was placed into vibrant landscapes and scenes. I soon learned that what I designing was way to complicated and that I needed to take a step back and make the logo as simple as it could be. I needed to scrap all the fluff and get back to the basics. This lead me to latch onto the idea of a circle as a reference to a stagecoach’s wheel. A circle could give off the idea of a wheel but I also needed slight marks to give the appearance of spokes. I also liked the idea of a star in reference to its American roots but i knew that i needed to be careful with the star aspect because it could get too patriotic. I also didn’t really initially look that much into typefaces instead I kept a serif font that was prevalent in Coach’s current logo, rather than change the typeface completely. As I moved on I started to experiment with more modern looking typefaces. I also worked to integrate the type of Coach into a type of shape or mark rather then them being separate.

COACH

COACH Classic.Stylish.COOL

COACH

COACH Classic.Stylish.COOL

Classic.Stylish.COOL

COACH

Classic.Stylish.COOL

COACH

Classic.Stylish.COOL

COACH

Classic.Stylish.COOL

COACH Classic.Stylish.COOL

Classic.Stylish.COOL

These are examples of my initial digital explorations. I attempted to make the circle look as though it was a deconstructed wheel but instead I made it look like a bear trap. Also I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t spending as much time considering where the type was placed.

COACH

Classic.Stylish.COOL

COACH

COACH Classic.Stylish.COOL

Classic.Stylish.COOL

COACH

Classic.Stylish.COOL

COACH

Classic.Stylish.COOL

COACH

COACH Deﬁne Yourself

COACH Deﬁne

Yourself

COACH COACH Classic

Classic

Stylish

COOL

COACH Classic

Stylish

COOL

COACH COACH COACH COACH COACH COACH Deﬁne Yourself

Classic

Stylish

COOL

Classic

Stylish

COOL

Classic

Stylish

COOL

Classic

Stylish

COOL

Classic

Stylish

COOL

COACH COACH COACH COACH COACH COACH COACH COACH COACH COACH COACH COACH COACH with more space between the ends

c straigten ends

COACH

COACH COACH

COACH

OACH

OACH Deﬁne

Deﬁne

Yourself

COACH

Yourself

COACH Deﬁne

Yourself

OACH OACH OACH Deﬁne Yourself

COACH

Deﬁne

Yourself

OA H Deﬁne

Yourself

COACH

COACH COACH COACH COACH Classic.Stylish.COOL

Deﬁne Yourself

COACH COACH

COACH COACH Classic

Stylish

COOL

COACH Classic.Stylish.COOL

C COACH COACH Classic

Stylish

COOL

Classic

Stylish

COOL

COACH COACH

As I kept moving along I got caught up in the desire to create a Classic Stylish COOL separate mark that could be placed with and without the main typeface. I was placing lots of elements together rather then letting them work together to create a cohesive logo. I started to move away from just using a serif but instead using a sans serif in order to modernize the logo in the same sense as the brand’s positioning.

COACH COACH COACH C

COACH

Classic

Stylish

Classic

Stylish

COOL

COACH

COOL

COACH COACH DeямБne Yourself

COACH Classic

Stylish

COOL

Classic

Stylish

COOL

COACH

C AC H COACH After our intial presentation displaying our logos, I decided to scrap all of them and go back to the idea of deconstructing a wheel. Inside a wheel the parts include spokes, the inner circle, and the outer circle. I needed to find a way for the wheel to incorporate type and for type to be incorporated in the wheel. Above are some initial drawings I made of what a wheel could look like.

Part 3

I continued with working on how to create a deconstructed wheel. I had to be careful of how I placed the spokes because at times the logo started to have a clock like appearance. I also started working on line weights. Should ‘COACH’ be in the circle or out of the circle. I decided from then on that the ‘O’ found in Coach needed to be the inner wheel. This was how the type would be incorporated with the shape. I also started to think about color. I knew I wanted some type of color that was classic. Most luxury brands only seem to use blck, white, gold and silver. I wanted to stray away from those colors. This brought me to the idea of using red. To me red is a classic color. I didn’t want too bright of a red but instead one that had aspects of brown in it, to reference back to Coach’s famous use of leather from a baseball glove. I also thought using white with my brownish red was too bright so instead I wanted to use a tan which displayed a nostaligia like tone. The colors dated the logo but with my use of a sans serif typeface I felt as though the logo was still modern.

COACH

H AC

COACH

AC H

COACH

H AC

COACH

H C AC

Classic. Stylish. Current

COACH

Classic. Stylish. Current

COACH

Classic. Stylish. Current

COACH Classic. Stylish. Current

CH A O CCOACH

Classic. Stylish. Current

COACH Classic. Stylish. Current

COACH

Classic. Stylish. Current

COACH Classic. Stylish. Current

CH A O C lish.

ic. Sty

Class

ent

Curr

ylish.

ic. St

nt.

Curre

Class

is h

.C u

rre

C l as sic.Styl

CLA

S SI C.S T Y LIS

H.C

CLA

H S SI C .S T Y LIS

S SI C .S T Y LIS

CLA

U H.C

LIS

H.C

URR

E N T.

.C U

H.C

CLA

S SI C.S T Y LIS

H.C

S SI C.S T Y LIS

CLA

H S SI C.S T Y LIS

.C U

CLA

S SI C.S T Y LIS

H.C

25 I eventually got to the place where I decided how the spokes would look like and what their lengths and line weights would be. After I had finally established a basic system of how my logo would look like I needed to start thinking about where my tagline would fit into the logo. Initially I had it in a serif font in order to contrast with the main type of Coach but later saw that the two typefaces were not working well together. From then one I made the tagline the same font at â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;COACHâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. I finally decided that the tagline would help to create the outer rim of the wheel.

YLIS

CUR

N RE

YLIS

R H CU

CLASSIC STYLISH CURRENT

IC L ASS

ST YL

UR SH C

REN

YLIS

R H CU

N RE

YLIS

R H CU

Part 4 After using 200+ Illustrator art boards,I finally came to my final logo design. I stayed with the deconstructed wheel idea and created a circular logo. I was able to incorporate Coach in the circle by having the ‘O’ in coach be the center wheel. From that ‘O’ I created spokes that went out to create the illusion of the outer circle. I also was able to place the tagline inside the circle as another aspect that references the outer circle. The tagline is able to be pulled out of the circle and be placed next to the circle or not in the circle at all. I believe that I was able to create a logo where text and shapes fit together rather than apart. I also was able to create a logo that could be deconstructed into parts just like how a wheel can be deconstructed into parts.

CL AS Main Logo

YLIS

H CU

E RR

30 Logo without TagLine inside

SS CL A

Logo with TagLine outside circle

IC S

CU LISH

RRE

Next steps

Now that I finally had a clear logo down I knew the next step was to start working on brand identity. I needed to start thinking of ways I could show the logo that demonstrated Coachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brand identity. I needed to show the classic Coach along with the current hip Coach. I needed the customer to know what Coachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brand identity was no matter what application they were looking at. The identiy needed to flow from the logo not the other way around.