The Journey of the Inspire Labs Logo: Chapter Three

We’re getting there. Finally.

Whilst I still need to move some anchor points around and tweak some curves, the swash logo is nearing completion. So much so that I’ve gone ahead and started testing it with various fonts. As I (think I) said before, my font library is a bit limited, so I’ve had to make do with what I have plus the odd GPL typeface.

I’ve also decided to stick with sans serif typefaces to contrast with the swashy-serif logo. Most of the fonts that have made it to the final choices have ended up being fiarly modern and geometric.

We’ll start with my least favourite, below. The idea of using monospace font Anonymous Sans in a camel case format came from all that coding the rest of the team do.

The problem is, obviously, that the font is mainly intended for use at small sizes in a text editor. As such it doesn’t look that sexy at larger sizes. Also, the idea is kinda cheesy to begin with anyway!

Next up is Quadranta.

Quite modern and geometric, but don’t feel it fits absolutely right myself. I love the lowercase ‘e’ though!

Time for something classic, Helvetica Neue Light.

Well you generally can’t go wrong with a bit of Helvetica, though I might need to play with the kerning a bit.

Let’s switch it up a bit with a touch of slab-serif — Museo 300.

I think this works really well. It’s modern, quirky & sexy — just like our team!

Myriad Pro next, which is one of my current favourite sans typefaces.

Myriad Pro Regular, above, looks solid and modern against the logo. It’s condensed font, below, is sturdy too but looks just a little too corporate for my liking. I mean that’s fine and everything, but it doesn’t really fit our team that well.

Finally, Lovely geometric typeface Geo Sans Light.

Pretty good. Nice and modern looking; and a nice compliment to the logo, but I think the weight is a little too light to stand up to the heavy logo.

Well there’s a lot to think about there, but my clear favourites are:

• Museo — although I’m going to have another look at the 500 weight.
• Myriad Pro Regular.
• Hopefully a slightly thicker alternative to Geo Sans, if I can find one. That happens to be free!

Next time, I’ll be showing off the winning font, and going over what I’ve done with colours. Exciting.

:: EDIT ::

By the way, you are encouraged to share your thoughts in the comments below…

Thanks