Logos

Since closing my business and reentering the 9 to 5, I’ve had very little time for creative pursuits. I’ve been a little like a fish out of water, gulping air, hoping to run some creative fluids past my gills. Creatively speaking, it’s been the driest period in my life, except for designing several logos recently. So that’s what I’ll write about today--creating logos.

Interestingly, the word logos itself is a Greek word referencing Divine creativity, power and reason. Some cultures refer to it as Naad, Dabar, The Word, or equivalent of the Big Bang. While our use of the word "logos" is none so lofty, I find the linguistic tie to the creative process interesting.

Some logos involve nothing more than choosing a font, but we are going to stretch a bit farther than that. However, to successfully do so we must descend into realms of consciousness where primal images communicate universal concepts. For example, if you look at the crafting of signs denoting gender on restroom doors you begin to understand communication that transcends language. The primal language of rudimentary forms seems innate to the human psyche. Indeed, the brain itself creates a mental kanji of sorts to abstractly represent known realities. For example, take a moment and close your eyes. Now think about the first house that you can remember living in as a child. Notice the abstract icon that your mind created to represent this structure, feeling, and memory. The initial mental impression doesn’t contain the entire layout of the house in detail, just an abstract impression.

When crafting a good logo and artist must descend into this realm of primal impressions. Seeded with the concepts which one desires to communicate, the mind will begin flashing through image icons and mental thumbnails to begin drafting possible representations.

As these images and impressions are transferred to paper, an intellectual process begins which calls upon one’s creative skills in distilling a singular image which is aesthetically pleasing, striking, and communicative.

Obviously, not all logos reach this high benchmark, and there are many other considerations which intermingle in the equation. For example, one must become familiar with established symbolism, calligraphy, geometric forces, image reduction, mental cropping, and aesthetics of composition like shape, perspective, balance, and unity. Nevertheless, I find descending into deeper realms of consciousness crucial to the creative process. Moreover, the more familiar one becomes with this process, the more they can branch out into conceptual art work, which is not and easy genre to master.

Aesthetics involve everything from the subliminal to the intellectual. Yet articulating why we like a work of art is often hard to do. Truth be told, most artists want a visceral response. All of their effort is aimed at soliciting three simple words from their audience, “I like it!”

Let the Colors Run

It is a curious time in this artist’s life, as I step back to view the masterpiece that surrounds me. Just this last month my oldest daughter Amanda’s work was featured in the Springville art museum and another piece at BYU. To say that I am a proud father is an understatement. I stand in awe at all of my children’s accomplishments. Summer’s science project recently went to the state finals, and she made the cheer leading squad for next year when she enters high school. Suzy was elected to the student counsel this year and serves as class president. Roxy, being the genius that she is switched to being home schooled by Wendy because we wasn’t being challenged enough in 1st grade, so she is now doing third grade work. And David is just a kick in the pants when it comes to physical strength and athletics at the age of one.

Looking at this soulscape one would think that I drove my children to excel with a whip. But nothing could be further from the truth--these are their own accomplishments, there own motivations, and autodidactic skills. Long ago I learned how beauty was created in letting colors run free on the canvas. I called this painting technique organic flow. I allowed subtle forces like gravity and wind to spread paint on the canvas. I would coax and cajole, but not force. Interestingly, the philosophy behind this technique carried over and superimposed itself onto my life, along with a new appreciation of what I called soul art. Indeed, I became enamored by the living medium of the human heart, the aesthetics of love, and the hand of Providence. Howbeit, I am still in awe of the talent that surrounds me. I can’t believe these amazing children are mine.

As if in celebration of their accomplishments, we recently had the privilege of participating in the color festival at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna temple in Spanish Fork--a living metaphor wherein massive crowds of people throw colors on each other to welcome spring and celebrate the beauty of infinite diversity, as well as all of creation’s underlying unity. (see youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pjZRHoWFUc )

We had blast! But I also think that the experience left a deeper impression on our subconscious. There remains the lingering imprint of sheer joy, bathing in color, spreading it around, and appreciating its random beauty with childlike awe. Herein one is led to consider the spontaneous splendor of life unfolding, the mystery of self, and the works of the Master.

Soul Art

The canvas of a heart

Unique

Potential undefined

An infant’s spotless innocence

A surface primed with light

The spirit comes to distill

On the blank slate of a mind

Where conscience engaged

Holds unfettered promise

It’s not a paint by numbers

An abstract, nor still life

Its beauty is authentic

Our love not artifice

Though society coerces us

To color in the lines

A masterpiece above all must be honest

Across the frame of time

Is stretched the soulscape of a life

A transcendent self-portrait

Of interior design

Composed of will

Self is revealed

In that a Divine spark

A living, breathing medium

As our life becomes art

Bleed Through

Last year I closed the doors on Acoustic Aquarium Inc. and reentered the job market--not an easy transition, but a necessary one. As I look back fondly over the last two decades a new clarity and perspective emerges. What I once considered the daily grid, now appears as a rich series of relationships, experiences and accomplishments.

During those years I represented over a hundred different manufacturers, and sold close to 100 million dollars in AV gear. Everything from inexpensive music accessories to high end PRS, G&L, and Brian Moore guitars. From cassettes and 24 track analog machines, to cutting edge hard disk DAW’s. From selling simple FX pedals to Lexicon 960Ls. From outfitting small project studios to selling large venue DSP like Sound Web & Media Matrix into facilities like the Salt Palace and the United States House & Senate. From sound systems in bedrooms to boardrooms, from garage bands to theaters, from podcasters to worldwide broadcasters. I sold everything from inexpensive PA’s in school classrooms to quarter million line arrays in venues like the LDS Conference Center, Brigham Young University, and the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii.

My work took me to places all over the US, and exotic places like Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, and Germany. I received extensive training from the best minds in the biz. I’ve strategized with colleagues and CEOs on products and marketing. I’ve met and traveled with recording artist and audio legends. At the time, it didn’t seem glamorous--I was just doing my job. But now, as I look back and think, I can’t believe I did the things that I did.

Among the dozens of awards received for sales and marketing efforts, one award is especially close to my heart--Numark’s Best Individual Field Rep in 2006. Being singled out and extolled in front of peers is a great honor. But the greatest surprise was that my efforts in this small little corner of the world were recognized at all. I remember picking up manufacturer’s at the airport and visiting dealers in one state, then at the end of the day dropping them off at the airport again, and traveling all night in my car to pick them up the next morning in another state to visit more dealers. That was also the year I launched my most aggressive email campaign, replete with custom graphics. I created over 350 email flyers in that year alone.

But of all the things I miss, are the faces and relationships built during those years, and the privilege of working many days from my home office surrounded by my family.

As in the winds of magnetic tape, each year bleeds through onto my memory--faint whispers, affects, and circumstances that print themselves onto life. A full year has wound itself around me since shutting down my business--partially obscuring my past endeavors. But the print-through of smiles, voices, and relationships come through the strongest. Trophies gather dust, commissions are spent, sales goals are but pinnacles fading in the distance, but the people. . . the people that touched my life endure.

Now, as fate and good fortune would have it, no sooner did I finish the text above when I got a call and an invitation to work within the circle of one of my favorite clients--Performance Audio. But this time I am an exclusive part of their winning team, to help get their new Orem store up an running. As I embark on this adventure, it’s already very exciting for me--I thoroughly enjoy my new job and old comrades. It appears there are a few remaining winds on this reel.