China Photo Adventures Logo

Eleanor Moseman, my awesome friend and VCU alumni homegirl recently asked me to do a logo for a new project of hers called China Photo Adventure. Those are three words that partially describe her, but they are also things Ellen positively knows a lot about since she bicycled close to 15,000 miles (mostly solo)   documenting the landscape and people of China and the central Asian borderlands.

The design needed to incorporate a few things: Eleanor wanted a logo with art deco elements but was still modern in appearance. It needed to be simple, to the point but yet elegant.

I first started out drawing the architecture of this Chinese temple based on an image found online. At this point in the process I'm more concerned with composition that color harmony, so not all the colors are really suitable. An invented Chinese style panel was created and the type placed within. It's not great work, but it's a start.

The original temple design is shot down and replaced with a different, somewhat less phallic (look it up) one. The new temple visually works better because its wider and anchors the design to the bottom of the logo. I'm a big fan of Michael Schwab's work and thought something simple, like the example of Chinese architecture set in a dark color with bold, in front of the Great Wall of China against a bright sky would work well. Personally, I like the top middle design and think it would make a strong poster.

Bottom Right: Early, bad logo with a shutter.

Eleanor suggested that maybe the logo should be even simpler and omit the architecture and Great Wall altogether, so I focused on just that. I came up with the examples above and made a series of them varying them in shape.

Eleanor tweaked the colors on the logo and was ready to use it. I think it works well both on a white and a black background.

The final logo in use on  Eleanor's website.

Eleanor Moseman currently resides in Shanghai, China. Read the often edge-of-your-seat true stories of her travels and adventures on The Wander Cyclist:

Look at Eleanor's photography on her website here:

Check out her new venture, China Photo Adventure: