Smog City Wants Your Help Designing 1st Anniversary Logo
Smog City’s 1st Anniversary is approaching and approaching rapidly. We are designing a special logo to celebrate and if you’re an artist, we may be looking for your help.
Here’s the background. Porter and I have been avid art collectors for many years. When Smog City came into being we focused on The Craft. Craft beer, word craft for our beer names and wood craft for our tap handles, hand branded coasters and, of course, our logo. Our dearest logo, this was image we hoped to brand into the memories of those dedicated to supporting and pushing forward the craft beer industry. We wanted it to be art.
We knew when we started out that the logo was key. It had to be memorable and speak for and about our brand. Many people have asked us where it came from and now here’s the answer.
As I said, Smog City is about craft. So when we started conceptualizing the logo it was always with an artist’s hand in mind. Our earliest logos looked more like a classical etching which spoke to our traditional leanings, create solid base beers and then modernize them. Bring them into the fold of new craft beer, innovative and creative but still balanced.
Our friends at Ignition Print helped create the Smog City logo. They used one of their freelance artists to work specifically on the logo. We were excited to find out that our logo was to be drawn by artist, Su Jen Buchheim. She’s crafted children’s books (which Emmett loves!), movie posters and her own personal art work. When Laurie heard that Su Jen was working with us, she was especially excited as she had known about her work for years. Best of all, Su Jen nailed our concept almost immediately.
As concepts came in we lived with the print-outs on our kitchen wall and when one fell out of our favor, it was folded up but not taken down. The earliest drawings were of an old oak tree drawn in a classical style, which evolved into a wood cut style and then modernized into the silhouette we all know and love.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE CURRENT ART WORK , READ MORE, AND ENTER YOUR ART WORK.
