A Logo Is Worth A Thousand Words

Not long after we came on the Dallas design scene, a couple of local seasoned photographers named Lennart Karlsson and Mark Hoffman joined forces to form a new boutique studio catering to marketing departments and ad agencies. They came to us to help them get off on the right foot.

The Hoff­man Karls­son Studio needed a brand that legit­imized their young com­pany to people who cri­tique cre­ative work for a living. They both have a lot of expe­ri­ence, but any­time you intro­duce an unknown name, you have to sell the qual­ity. When we met with the guys, they empha­sized that the logo had to be min­i­mal and cool (Lennart is Swedish after all) and above all, they wanted some­thing black. It turns out, after a little per­sua­sion, they are also OK with orange:

This logo doesn’t break a ton of new ground in its con­cept. Its a modern twist on a clas­sic design solu­tion. Com­bin­ing the H and K work really well from the begin­ning so we stuck with it. We tried other things, but some­times, the answer comes quickly and the best thing you can do is leave it alone. After some custom type work on the names and a bit of work get­ting the lock-​up right, a clas­sic little mark was born. We knew it was good when Jay’s daugh­ter drew a copy of it while play­ing around on the dry erase board. I’m a big believer in simple design that leaves an impres­sion, and I’ve always though the open mind of a child is at least as valu­able as a pro­fes­sional research group. (espe­cially when the kid likes my stuff!)

Mark and Lennart are really happy with the logo. They returned the cre­ative favor by doing our new bio photos. (you can see them here, here, and here) As our com­pa­nies grow together, we are look­ing for­ward to future project collaboration.

In the spring, we were very pleased to learn that the Hoff­man Karls­son logo would be included in the 2008 DSVC Pro­fes­sional Show fea­tur­ing the best of design in our area. Of course when things go well, some of the credit should always go to clients who are will­ing to trust our cre­ative judg­ment and help us with the vision. Thanks guys.

Here’s a few sam­ples of Hoff­man Karls­son Studio’s recent work: