Two months ago when the name Five Technology was agreed upon we then had to give birth to a logo. I enlisted the help of Sarah Lavin, a freelance designer who I was referred to by our first client, Eventive Meetings. I was able to get a glimpse of Sarah’s skills and process from Eventive and knew she was a good fit for bringing our logo to life.

Planning & Discovery
Since I’m a creative guy myself I put together some samples of logo’s and design elements that inspire me. I also included some rough mocks of the web interface we were working on (which completely changed after our logo came alive). Sarah and I talked on the phone for about an hour and then she said she would have some structural concepts to me in a week. It’s important to get the structure down on a logo before you get carried away with colors and other details. After just a few days my inbox had the logo concepts below.

We liked the strong and solid feel that the far right concept gave us. It embodied the trust and strength we wanted to convey to our market.

Colors & Variations
Next came laying out some color options and tweaking the layout. I won’t make you look at the 12 to 15 different structural and color combinations that we made Sarah pull together for us, but the three below are good example some of the avenues we explored.

We toyed with the structure of the “tucked” Technology and also playing off the leg of the V into an exclamation point. In the end, the further versions were just options we said “No” to and the original structure won out. I have witnessed this extra step of creation with clients before and commented to Sarah I wouldn’t do that … but I did.

The Final Logo Result
Below is the winner as you already noticed from our website or blog header. It was a great experience and one that was truly productive thanks to Sarah’s expertise and guidance. If you are considering a logo design or a redesign, make sure you can see an example of a similar process from your contracted designer. Logo design is not just a one and done “here you go”, but a process of planning, creativity and options. A good logo designer helps you throw the right stuff at the wall and then helps you see what best sticks.

A good logo designer helps you throw the right elements at the wall and then enables you see what sticks for the right reasons.

I thought I would introduce myself, the company and what you can expect to find here on the five spot blog.

What is Five Technology?
Five Technology is a full service web design and Internet marketing firm located in Minnesota. Five was formed in February 2008 as an extension to Intrcomm Technology’s web services. Intrcomm has been servicing websites and small business networks for 12 years, but created Five to further expand on the growing need for enhanced web design and focused marketing services. Five is unique in our full service approach and our in-house programmers. We have the talent to blend the beauty of custom design, tools of Internet marketing with our SMC content management tool to handle any functionality a client needs. Content management, e-commerce, client portals and more. It’s why “technology” is in our name. With clients both locally in Minnesota as well as national we service a wide range of successful organizations in many verticals.

What will I get on the Five spot blog?
Readers of this blog can expect weekly posts on web design, web development, web strategy, search engine optimization, small business marketing and more. We want the blog to be a strong glimpse into our knowledge, experience and offering. Our current clients will get added value in our sharing of knowledge and strategies we put to use everyday. We hope to educate, inform and have a bit of fun here.

Who is the wizard behind the curtain?
I’m Five Technology’s Vice President Aaron Weiche and I’ll be the primary voice heard here. I have 10+ years experience in web design and Internet marketing. I may well qualify for being addicted to the Internet. The past 4 years I spent as a Web Director for a Twin Cities Ad Agency so I’m well versed in marketing strategies offline in addition to online. I have worked with over 300 companies and organizations in my years and a wide range of project sizes. I’m excited to build Five into something special and deliver valuable services for our clients. The web is evolving into an extremely transparent marketplace and I love helping clients leverage that for their success.

There is your short version. I look forward to your comments and go ahead and click on the one of the subscribe options up top. Like you really want to miss out on this.