The making of the Unlim 500+ festival logo

Starting to work on the details. The illustrator draws the horseman and prepares background patterns.

Fine-tuning the shape of the sign.

Client: We don’t like the horse.

Meanwhile, the type designer is busy creating the letters.

Changing the illustrator. Drawing a new horseman. Changing the shape of the sign.

Working on dynamics.

Client: This rider’s no good. He’s too detailed.

Drawing a horseman in a new style and looking for a better shape of the logo.

Client: This coat of arms looks like it has a long history behind it, but our event is rather young. We need the logo to be in the spirit of the races, more modern and technologically advanced.

Taking a step away from the concept.

Inviting new designers to draw the logo in their own style.

It’s all wrong. Trying again.

Looking at the logo in the natural environment.

Client: Neither one of them reflects the vibe of the event.

Studying pictures of racing cars, expensive modern mechanical watches, watching videos of the races, gathering our thoughts and making yet another attempt.

All right, we have something here. Developing it.

Just what we need.

Client: We’ll take it.

The type designer draws the letters.

Trying them on the logo and polishing the shape.

Creating a 3D model of the sign and starting to work on the details.

Too much noise in the tail area. Removing the speedometer scale from the bottom part and instantly everything falls into place.

Now the additional elements. Making sketches of the participant number stickers.

Drawing the digits and creating a typeface file for printing race numbers.

The client brings the samples. Trying them on. Looking at them under different lighting.

Making corrections and preparing stickers for cars of different colors.

Working on invitations and participant badges.

The type designer draws letters specifically for the Paddock Club.

Client: The Paddock Club is a separate privileged category of visitors. A Paddock Club badge has to truly stand out.

Deciding to use calligraphy.

Checking out the result on different media.

Time to tackle the clothes.

Too straightforward. What if we move the patch to the sleeve (like a chevron), add the text to the back and color certain elements of the clothes?

First samples are ready. Making corrections.

The type designer draws the text for staff uniforms.

Making sketches and writing recommendations for using the logo on flags, banners, finish line arch and other decorative elements of the event.

Moving on to the appearance of the plates for the winners’ cups.

The first drafts reveal the problem with 1 in the set of previously drawn digits: it looks too much like 7. Making a new 1 and checking: yep, it did look like a 7.

Back to the plates.

The logo will also be placed on the bottom part of the base to be visible on the pictures from the award ceremony (when the winners hold up the cups).

Time to decorate the racing helmet. Making first sketches.

The client brings a real helmet.

A new idea is born.

Preparing the alternatives and creating models to see how the pattern will look on different parts of the helmet.

The theory fails: it looks poor when viewed from the side and various technical difficulties are a sign we have to continue the search.

Going away from computers, taking colored paper, scissors and glue.

Thinking about using a volumetric sticker.

Done.