Daily Brad, the blog

My friends think it a little funny that every time we pass the IKEA being built in Draper that I get a little excited. Why’s that you ask? Well duh, it’s the big Okland Construction logo hanging from the side - another Brad McCall design.

There is a fair amount of excitement in Utah that we’re finally getting our own IKEA. They officially broke ground just south of Salt Lake City, in the City of Draper back in early April of this year. (Near 1-15 and the Bangerter Highway) The 310,000 square-foot Draper location will open in Spring 2007 and will be the first of its kind in Utah. (There are 230 IKEA stores in 33 countries, including 27 in the U.S., where IKEA plans to open three to five stores a year.) For those unfamiliar with IKEA, there’s always IKEA.com where I personally have ordered plenty of things and had them shipped. But for those of us in-the-know, we knew that the 63 year-old Swedish store would eventually make a grand appearance in Utah. We’ll swoop in and grab from their range of home furnishings and accessories all with “good design” and function, at low prices. (Utahans LOVE a good deal.)

But as for now, the sweet spot for me is this:

See that? It’s my logo hanging on the side of the concrete structure going up. Call it a “sighting” if you will. It’s one of two logos of mine that can be spotted from the freeway.

Back in 2001 Okland came to Impact Media with the need for a brand refresh, and Impact Media turned to me to do that project. (I was a contractor for them at the time) We began by putting their current logo through the test.

After 5 rounds of designs and over 50 logo concepts, the vision was clear - Okland liked their current logo. What’s that you say? Sometimes it happens.

Here’s one of my favorite of the 50 variations that we explored (showing font treatment combinations that were eventually used in the final logo): (To see full size, right click on image, select “Open in New Window”)

Here’s some of the color combinations we explored: (To see full size, right click on image, select “Open in New Window”)

But after all those logos and all those rounds of feedback, we ended up back at their current symbol of the “O” which was based on a cotter pin (used on much of the large equipment.) But to update the symbol, I re-drew it completely (it was inconsistent in size and not symmetrical) and added the new font treatment we had been working on. It modernized the symbol, and eased the transition from their old logo. (Their logo appears on trucks, equipment, cranes, etc.)

Notice the previous font treatment - very dated. I assume the symbol was hand drawn originally as well - thus the inconsistencies.

So yes, the logo ended up being a “make-over”, but as for the one on the building, I claim it as my baby. (Adopted symbol and all) Here’s the final version in all its glory.

And as far as my experience working with Okland Construction as a client, it was fantastic. What a great bunch of people, I’d love to do some more work with them.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 1st, 2006 at 1:23 am and is filed under Brad McCall designer, Branding, My Portfolio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.