Bob McGough’s Domain Name business
Logo and Identity Design
Backstory
Bob McGough was looking for a logo for his domain name reselling business and business cards. The business name he registered was: Bob’s Domains.
I was looking for imagery ideas. With Bob’s name on the business, it was fitting that the logo might have some representation of him. As a Domain expert, he wanted to appear sharp and reliable.
He sent me a photo. Of course, I could just put his picture on the business card but that wasn’t a logo and, he wasn’t a Real Estate agent. Or, I could create a Bob mascot and hope it wouldn’t drown in the sea of Bob the Plumbers, Bob the Electricians, Bob the Flooring Guys. There were so many directions to go in – I needed Bob’s opinion.
To help him understand the design challenge I faced, I created a matrix for him. The Y-axis explored the type of rendering – from photo-realism to cartoon abstraction. The X-axis did a little semiotic progression, from direct relationship to Bob, all the way to symbolic relationship to smart super-hero.
I spelled out some choices from my Mascot Matrix.
What could go wrong?
The Bob Mascot path wasn’t clicking – one was too literal, the others too cartoonish and arbitrary. Working with the name Bob’s Domains was definitely pushing us into some reference to Bob.
When Bob saw the cartoon owls on the bottom row in the Altogether different direction – he wanted an owl.
Strategy to avoid what could go wrong.
“Bob’s Domains” didn’t have a lot of Owl-ness to it. I brought that up. Bob was willing to change the name. Since Bob typically worked in the wee-hours keeping an eye on domains – we could go out on a limb with “NightOwl Domains”. He registered it.
Owls are the symbol of smartness, so that was good.
I had to find an owl that wasn’t cliché – like the ones I sent him. Owls are often used for mascots/logos – I had to find a fresh way to represent one.
What went right?
I discovered Pygmy owls – aka Burrowing Owls. If you haven’t seen one, go here now: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Pygmy-Owl/
(If you never return to Cleos Island because you spent the next three hours checking out pygmy owls, I’ll forgive you.)
A photo on the incredible bird photographer, Rob Palmer’s, site had just the owl I wanted – ok, you might as well go there too: https://www.falconphotos.com/
I drew Bob’s owl logo from the Pygmy Owl above clinging to a seed stalk and perched him on a crescent moon.
Bob loves his owl and claims his business cards really stand out from others at the tradeshows.
Notes to self
Pivot when things are getting stuck. Careful what you show a client – I should have learned this lesson from the Painter project.