The Artifex Logo: case study

The Artifex logo is probably my best project to date. I had an amount of freedom that let me dive in and create using my own restraints. This freedom allowed me to design with purpose. Ultimately allowing me to explore areas of their brand that could have been off limits and inevitably undiscovered. 

Something to match their work
What They needed from a visual standpoint was simple, Something to show the world the elegance of the furniture they build, along with showing the importance of service upheld by the brand. They needed something that would last for years and match their handcrafted and artistic style. these were simple goals for me to understand, but it took many renditions of the same idea and even some off the wall ideas to get to the end product.

I believe my client's client to appreciate the value of a company's culture and Ideals.

I started off hunting for hand tools that would work well as icons. From our initial conversation we decided hand tools are timeless, and would bring a very obvious visual to help clients understand what they do. The more we looked at this option the more we realized it was much too obvious. Artifex is more than craft, and the logo should reflect a strong personality as opposed to eluding to what they do. I believe my client's client to appreciate the value of a company's culture and Ideals. Many times it is the ideals that help them make a buying decision.  

I returned to the sketchbook and came up with something a bit whimsical,  I personally really liked it but knew it wasn't right. Artifex is for families who work hard for their money and don't mind spending for something that will really last. this furniture was for those looking for something beautiful as well as sturdy. I believed my idea to be too fun and maybe even a bit morbid for its purpose.

But, what is more, sturdy and elegant then a stag? the idea was there, I just had to refine it. I made the Stag whole and took off the hat to again pull away from the obvious. the stag now was a coat rack decluttered and beautiful. ​

Georgia
For a font family there was simply nothing more elegant and easy to read then Georgia, an elegant font with bold lines. Georgia was created to resemble a traditional serif font in 1993 for web use but still holds on to the traditional styles of fonts of the 19th century and calligraphy. It makes a good fit as the differences include bolder thin lines for clarity. It's classic but also clean and bold.

setting the stag on the new type, I realized with the current stance, it was a bit tipsy. but I liked the shape and dug around for ideas of how I could balance the Icon. While digging into their work a bit I noticed a certain style popping up quite a bit. a victorian style piping that would work perfectly with the aesthetic of this stag. These created amazing balance with the icon and added to the final design.

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As a whole, I couldn't be happier with the result of the Artifex logo and stationary. It has been a pleasure to work with the owners and I hope to work with them much more in the future.