Bill Michie

Why We Work Safely
For this project I was required to create a logo that effectively brands and represents my course topic, Why We Work Safely. The project instantly reminded me of a task I complete often at work – creating project safety stickers. Visual communication, specifically logos and brands, are an important part of the construction industry.  Every day we seek to communicate complex messages and overcome language barriers with visual cues.

Safety stickers serve two purposes. Their primary purpose is to communicate to project managers and superintendents which employees have completed their safety orientations and are allowed on site.  Second, they build morale on the jobsite and allow tradespeople to show off which projects they’ve built over their career.

Design Approach
As I’ve stated in previous posts, the goal of my project is to connect emotionally with employees through various communication methods. Based on the research from my collage I know that our employees mostly work safely for their families. With that in mind, I started sketching.

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I experimented with different variations of hardhats, hearts and safety crosses. You might notice, I really got into hearts – which aren’t part of my final logo. I tried every combination of hearts and nothing seemed to work. They were too simple or dainty for use on construction sites. 

The focal point of my collage was the hero family so it makes sense for them to be the focus of this logo. I sketched out my hero family enclosed in a heart, but realized I would have to draw them. Then I had my aha moment. I glanced at my other monitor and saw a friend I’ve been spending a lot of time with lately, Safety Sign Man.

I thought, perhaps if Safety Sign Man were reminded of his family he’d work a bit safer. The beauty of Safety Sign Man is he is recognized globally as a safety symbol and would be easy to understand on-site. I quickly sketched his family into a heart and got to work in Illustrator.

Design Execution
I intended to include a step-by-step guide to how I created this logo, however I quickly realized that wouldn’t be possible without a time-lapse video. I started by using my sketch to make the main shapes which were the heart and the family. These were fairly simple shapes to create by using the pen, rounded rectangle and elliptical tools.

Once these shapes were created I began to arrange them. In order to fit the heart shape I rearranged my family to make the child the focal point. Then, to get them in the heart shape I created a clipping mask and began to make edits to the family.

One Illustrator feature I love is being able to double click your way through layers and manipulate different paths.  I did a lot of this with the family since I wanted to see results in the heart instantly. To achieve the family appearance, I experimented with various stroke weights and colors. Once satisfied, I used the shape builder tool to remove parts of the shape that were clunky.

Final touches on the family required using the scissor tool to trim up their arms. I then added a rounded rectangle with an orange radial gradient and my tagline in a font I liked. Initial font edits were minimal, primarily adjusting tracking to make the copy tighter. Below is my first, first draft.

Revision Stage 1
The danger of Illustrator is that you could really never finish a project, if you’re critical.  I opened my logo the next day and hated it. The only things I liked were the family and font.  The heart felt too forced and the color was distracting.  I needed to simplify.

I removed everything except the family and main copy.  With the heart clipping mask gone, I had to fine tune my shapes using the pen tool. The align tool proved very valuable as I sought to keep the bottom flush. I manipulated the copy by tilting my ‘e’ by 10 degrees. I feel this makes it a bit friendlier and aligns with my company brand. I then added a safety orange color palette that draws the viewers’ attention to the child and tagline. These efforts resulted in the graphic shown below.

Revision Stage 2
While I prefer my logo post revision 1, the missing the heart shape made the family arrangement look too similar to a Microsoft family logo I’ve seen in the past, so I rearranged them again. Satisfied with the result, I converted my shapes and copy to outlines which would allow me to achieve scalability. Shown below is my draft logo thus far and at the top are versions in color, black and white, and grayscale.

Thanks for taking a look at my logo project.  I look forward to your feedback!

IMAGE SOURCES:

Safety Sign Man images courtesy of Lease Crutcher Lewis.