Longmont Symphony Orchestra
Brand Identity • Logo
Skills Used: Illustrator, Photoshop, Communication, Visual Design
Overview
The board members for Longmont Symphony Orchestra, of Longmont, CO, wanted a new logo design to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the orchestra. They felt their existing logo was plain and outdated and wanted one that would appeal to new and current patrons.
One of the guidelines for the logo was to include the local mountains which would allow it to be instantly recognizable to the area.
Two versions of the logo were needed:
- One displaying the full name of “Longmont Symphony Orchestra”
- One using only the first letters of the name, as the orchestra is commonly referred to as the “LSO”
Designs for business cards, letterhead, and an envelope were also needed that utilized the new logo. The design of these elements was to be kept simple in order to keep printing costs low.
Final Designs
Logos
The final logos included one with “Longmont” spelled out in a script font and “Symphony Orchestra” in a simple, plain font below, and another with “LSO” on top and “Longmont Symphony Orchestra” in the simple font below the three letters. The script font helped to soften the straight lines of the plain font, and also reflect the flowing nature of music.
A drawing of the mountains in Longmont, CO was included in both versions of the logo. The simple lines of the mountains were meant to reflect the plain lines of the non-stylized font in the logos. The “L” was made to look like a music note to not only draw one’s attention, but make sure it is recognized as the logo for Longmont Symphony Orchestra.
Full Logo
LSO Logo
Brand Collateral
Business Cards
The business cards use gray on the back to allow the full Longmont Symphony Orchestra logo to stand out in white. On the front, a gray panel is used on the right to contain contact information, while the left side displays the full logo, the name and title of the person the card is for, along with the website.
Letterhead
For the letterhead, a very simple design was used with the logo on the top left and the contact information along the bottom.
Envelope
The same simplicity found in the letterhead was applied to the envelopes by placing the logo and return address on the back flap, with a larger version of the logo on the front left.
Sketches & Other Concepts
Logos
Original Sketches
Prior to designing anything on the computer, I sketched a few concepts for the new logo design. Three of the sketches use a musical 16th note placed on its side, as the tails resemble the mountains of Longmont.
The bottom left sketch in the image uses a mordent (looks like an “m”), which is another symbol used in musical notation. The shape of the mordent also gave a resemblance of the mountains of Longmont in both the positive and negative space of the symbol.
The top left sketch uses a musical staff, on which notes are written, with the mountains carved out of them.
Mountain Variations
Once the main part of the full Longmont Symphony Orchestra logo was finalized, using the musical note for the “L”, I played with different shapes and ideas for how to bring the mountains into the logo.
For some concepts, I used a soft blue/green color for the mountains that was meant to evoke thoughts of nature and bring a calming feel to the logo.
Business Cards
Front Concepts
In one concept for the front of the business card, the Longmont logo would only appear on the back of the card, and the mountains would be shown in a light gray on the front left of the card. While it simplified the look of the front, the board members of the orchestra wanted the logo shown on the front.
In the other concept, the Longmont logo was the only thing displayed in the gray section on the right. While this drew attention to the logo, it made the left side too content heavy and was harder to read.
Back Concepts
For the back of the business card, I used the same blue/green color in a couple of the concepts that I used for the mountains of the logo concepts. While the board members liked the color, in order to keep costs down, it was decided to only go with gray ane white.
The gray and white concepts show only the mountains in white and a very light gray. However, it was decided that having the full logo on the back was a better way to go as anyone could view either side of the card to see that it was for the orchestra.