The Blind Robin 7 June 2007
Today a shiny new bar called The Blind Robin is opening at 853 N. Western. The primary difference between this bar and all the other bars in Chicago (and the universe generally) is that I designed the logo for this one. You can see illustrated above the logo and it’s very-well-done translation into signage.
Bar identity is kind of a strange netherworld as far as retail identities go. Especially in this town where half the bars are identified by an Old Style sign . I’d be interested to know if most people can even bring to mind a logo for their local watering hole, if it even has one. I think people just don’t care as long as the beer is cold. But of course I do because designers live to be obsessed with such things and so I was really happy to get a shot at a bar logo.
The iterative process on this one was so much fun. It was one of the rare instances where having very little in the way of parameters was a happy thing. Of course, some I set for myself. As you can see, I decided on the basic black/gray/orange/blue palette more or less immediately:
I decided pretty early, too, that there would be no dark glasses or canes, and that I enjoyed focusing more on the bird and less on the ‘BR’. I also wanted to avoid any representations of dark glasses and/or canes. So with a lot of back and forth with Steve (one of the owners who I ever so coincidentally also practice Aikido with) it turned into the image at the top of this post. (I really lobbied hard for the version in the center. I liked the X’d eye as an homage to Drinky Crow but some took it to mean ‘dead robin’ instead. But now I’m glad we didn’t stop there.)
So that’s all. If you happen to own one or more bars, I would be interested in doing more of this sort of work. And if you’re in the neighborhood you should stop into The Blind Robin. Tell them I sent you and you will receive a free quizzical look.
See more: Unjustified Text, Design
Andrew
7 June 2007, 17:08 #
Very cool, well done, all that… but what’s up with the name?