Logo Design: Two Brothers Canoe

I recently designed a logo for Two Brothers Canoe, a small company based in Garfield, Arkansas that manufactures and sells royalex canoes. Their request was pretty basic: the logo design should be fun, funky and earthy. Having looked at their old logo, I began working on the idea of making it more dynamic.

Of course, the canoe would still be there, but this time, I had to draw in the "two brothers" steering the boat against the currents. I retained the sun from the old logo (with very much the same style). Having the main concept in sketch form, I began work in finalizing it into an inked design in my sketchbook. To achieve the earthy feel for the logo, I utilized a woodcut effect on the illustration. As soon as the illustration was ready, it was scanned and vectorized.

With the illustration ready and framed within an oval similar to the old logo, appropriate text were added in.

And then colors for the final design:

I aimed for a design that still connects with the old logo... in as much that you can say that the new logo is a direct evolution - a much energized version but with that classic country adventure feel.

Ice Princess

After spending the morning reviewing the tasks I and my thesis group have to accomplish before the awaited days of the implementation of our survey and finishing some work for the reopening of school, I thought I have to go out mallhopping (it's been ages since I roamed the malls). Besides, I have to buy a new set of clothes (my favorite pants got ruined after my newly bought red handwraps were mixed in the washing machine), and a USB game pad controller (to play with downloaded Nintendo Family Computer Games in my laptop, I wouldn't want to destroy my keyboard). Since my little sister Sigrid has been begging me to bring her to Club Manila East for swimming these past few days, I thought why not bring her with me to Megamall. She was ecstatic! And so it was a day long date with Sigrid...

What was supposed to be a fast afternoon of buying only the things became an afternoon of spur of the moment decisions. Traffic during commute was so terrible and we arrived at SM Megamall, just in time for lunch. I was planning to eat at Sbarro's or Pollo Loco, but Sigrid said we eat at Chowking instead. Ok, ok... it's cheaper anyway, haha. But when we arrived there, the queue was so long, so she said we eat at the neighboring KFC instead. And so we did. She finished early so she could play at the playground area (no wonder, she only ordered spaghetti only!), and as soon as finished my meal (I ordered a lot, and I couldn't finish the chicken burger), we left with the intention of resuming my shopping agenda. We had to pass that area overlooking the iceskating rink, and guess what... Sigrid asked me "Kuya, can we go to the iceskating rink?"

"Hmmmm..." I was thinking that it's been ages since I iceskated. As I recall, the last time was when I was in college, and that's almost a decade ago! Could I still have the skills I had back then. I was not a good skater, but not a bad one too (like those who would go blam on the fiberglass walls or flail their arms to regain their balance, only to ungraciously fall on the ice). I had my own share of falls, but I knew how to skate. And it's always scary to skate when you know that behing the walls and above you, people are watching, looking only at the skating divas with awe or the funny ones for entertainment. But what the heck, it's for Sigrid. "Sure! After we finish buying the stuff I need..." She was grinning, showing her missing front teeth (Guess her favorite Christmas song?).

Buying clothes for myself was always a problem. I never had a reliable fashion sense. We went to U2, and I found these pants which were on sale for 50%off. As I was about to pay at the counter, I saw a display featuring Nike shoes and wondered if they would have the pair I was looking for, and told Sigrid that we go there after I buy the pants. She asked me with a particular look I couldn't describe, "Kuya, why do always buy these clothes, those shoes, these computer stuff... it's just a waste of money..." Hmmm, I knew where she's getting at. "It's not a waste of money, I wear and use these things... y' know what's a waste of money? Going iceskating!" She had her hands folded speechless. The saleslady was smiling at us.

After buying the stuff I needed (I bought a cheap game controller pad), we were off to the iceskating rink. I was nervous, but excited. As I said before, I'm not confident, and I knew Sigrid was expecting me to teach her. We went in, got our shoes, filled up our locker, and headed to the rink. I started slow. I told Sigrid to stay at the sides first to feel the ice. And the geek that I am, I looked at the biomechanics of how it should be done. Bend knees slightly, with the upper body slightly forward, so that the line of gravity falls within the base of support. And then for propulsion, the propelling feet should slightly push sideways. Pretty soon, I was moving, quite well rather. Of course, I had Sigrid to look out for. As soon as I was confident, I had her hand and she was already sliding with me. Gave her instructions and she followed well. For a first timer, she did well. Only comment I gave her was to push longer and slide more. She was skating like she was walking on the ice. I left her on her own because that was the only way one could truly learn, while I was watching coaching from a distance. She had lots of falls but she wasn't embarrassed at all. I would slide up to her and ask "Are you alright?"

"I'm OK, just a fall... I have to practice some more," and I'll help her stand up, and she was off to skate again. I've always been afraid to fall.

If only I knew that we would be iceskating, I could have bought my digital camera, so I could have taken pictures. But I only have my camera phone with me, so I ended up with crappy pictures and videos. Nevertheless, it's still sufficient.

Ice Princess

After spending the morning reviewing the tasks I and my thesis group have to accomplish before the awaited days of the implementation of our survey and finishing some work for the reopening of school, I thought I have to go out mallhopping (it's been ages since I roamed the malls). Besides, I have to buy a new set of clothes (my favorite pants got ruined after my newly bought red handwraps were mixed in the washing machine), and a USB game pad controller (to play with downloaded Nintendo Family Computer Games in my laptop, I wouldn't want to destroy my keyboard). Since my little sister Sigrid has been begging me to bring her to Club Manila East for swimming these past few days, I thought why not bring her with me to Megamall. She was ecstatic! And so it was a day long date with Sigrid...

What was supposed to be a fast afternoon of buying only the things became an afternoon of spur of the moment decisions. Traffic during commute was so terrible and we arrived at SM Megamall, just in time for lunch. I was planning to eat at Sbarro's or Pollo Loco, but Sigrid said we eat at Chowking instead. Ok, ok... it's cheaper anyway, haha. But when we arrived there, the queue was so long, so she said we eat at the neighboring KFC instead. And so we did. She finished early so she could play at the playground area (no wonder, she only ordered spaghetti only!), and as soon as finished my meal (I ordered a lot, and I couldn't finish the chicken burger), we left with the intention of resuming my shopping agenda. We had to pass that area overlooking the iceskating rink, and guess what... Sigrid asked me "Kuya, can we go to the iceskating rink?"

"Hmmmm..." I was thinking that it's been ages since I iceskated. As I recall, the last time was when I was in college, and that's almost a decade ago! Could I still have the skills I had back then. I was not a good skater, but not a bad one too (like those who would go blam on the fiberglass walls or flail their arms to regain their balance, only to ungraciously fall on the ice). I had my own share of falls, but I knew how to skate. And it's always scary to skate when you know that behing the walls and above you, people are watching, looking only at the skating divas with awe or the funny ones for entertainment. But what the heck, it's for Sigrid. "Sure! After we finish buying the stuff I need..." She was grinning, showing her missing front teeth (Guess her favorite Christmas song?).

Buying clothes for myself was always a problem. I never had a reliable fashion sense. We went to U2, and I found these pants which were on sale for 50%off. As I was about to pay at the counter, I saw a display featuring Nike shoes and wondered if they would have the pair I was looking for, and told Sigrid that we go there after I buy the pants. She asked me with a particular look I couldn't describe, "Kuya, why do always buy these clothes, those shoes, these computer stuff... it's just a waste of money..." Hmmm, I knew where she's getting at. "It's not a waste of money, I wear and use these things... y' know what's a waste of money? Going iceskating!" She had her hands folded speechless. The saleslady was smiling at us.

After buying the stuff I needed (I bought a cheap game controller pad), we were off to the iceskating rink. I was nervous, but excited. As I said before, I'm not confident, and I knew Sigrid was expecting me to teach her. We went in, got our shoes, filled up our locker, and headed to the rink. I started slow. I told Sigrid to stay at the sides first to feel the ice. And the geek that I am, I looked at the biomechanics of how it should be done. Bend knees slightly, with the upper body slightly forward, so that the line of gravity falls within the base of support. And then for propulsion, the propelling feet should slightly push sideways. Pretty soon, I was moving, quite well rather. Of course, I had Sigrid to look out for. As soon as I was confident, I had her hand and she was already sliding with me. Gave her instructions and she followed well. For a first timer, she did well. Only comment I gave her was to push longer and slide more. She was skating like she was walking on the ice. I left her on her own because that was the only way one could truly learn, while I was watching coaching from a distance. She had lots of falls but she wasn't embarrassed at all. I would slide up to her and ask "Are you alright?"

"I'm OK, just a fall... I have to practice some more," and I'll help her stand up, and she was off to skate again. I've always been afraid to fall.

If only I knew that we would be iceskating, I could have bought my digital camera, so I could have taken pictures. But I only have my camera phone with me, so I ended up with crappy pictures and videos. Nevertheless, it's still sufficient.