Anatomy of a logo

Every now and again you find a solution to a client brief that is so elegant that you can’t believe no one else has thought of it before. This is one of those solutions

The Client
The Lancashire Co-operative Development Agency is an organisation specialising in managing economic and social regeneration projects in the public, private and voluntary sectors. In a nutshell they help local businesses and organisations get access the grants and funding, usually at a European level, for projects that will help the regeneration of the more deprived regions in the area.

The Brief
The organisation were undergoing a major restructuring, and as part of this had decided to rebrand themselves as simply the Co-operative Development Agency. I was awarded the contract to develop this new brand.

When doing any branding work I like to get the client to define their company or organisation in as few words as possible, this helps to focus their minds on what lies at the heart of their business. So this in mind I asked the client the question and they replied that, ‘basically we open doors for our clients, we unlock funding they probably won’t realise they are entitled to’. 

The Solution
I always start by exploring the type, before looking at possible symbols as I feel that if you can find the solution within the name without the need to introduce additional elements this often produces the most memorable solutions, and as the client had explicitly asked for a simple device based on the initials this seemed the obvious place to start. 

As I explored the shapes and forms of various typefaces, there was something about the simplicity of the three lower case characters set in Helvetica Neue Heavy seemed very appropriate. So I started to explore the relationships of the three characters more fully. The more I played with them the more I was convinced that I was missing something. I went back to my meeting notes and the phrase, ‘basically we open doors for our clients, we unlock funding they probably won’t realise they are entitled to’  instantly leapt out at me and I realised that what I was missing wasn’t something in the relationship of the three characters, but something in the spaces within the characters.  

Once I realised what I was looking for the solution seemed ridiculously obvious, as though it had always been there, and actually it had, it was just waiting for someone to see it!

Add a strapline and the brand came to life. One of those moments that makes being a designer the greatest job in the world. Took it to the client, client loved it, job done.

Footnote
Within a month of getting the logo approved, CDA appointed a new Managing Director and it was decided to relaunch the business under a totally new name. The organisation was renamed EDS (Economic Development Services) so this beautiful solution never saw the light of day, c’est la vie!