The Logo Factor Design Blog » Logo Videos

HD video logo animations using Flash

Steve Douglas — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 12:48:53 +0000

At the shop, we’ve been creating Flash logo animations for years now. As a design studio that specializes in logos, it was always a natural extension, and something that I like to think we’re pretty good at. One of the often overlooked features of Flash is the ability to turn animations into video, and in particular, HD video. Accordingly, I thought you might like to see the new 4 second video introduction that we’ve been working on at the studio. The animation (after the jump) was created originally in Swift 3D by Electric Rain, a nice little 3D animation package that can export as .SWF files and, as in this example, QuickTime video. The HD source animation for the video is 1980 px X 1080 px and weighs in at a couple of gigs. The version featured has been reduced to 560 px X 318 px and weighs in at 2.1 MB.

If you want to convert Flash animations to video, there’s some tweaky stuff you’ll need to know, so we’ll be featuring a step-by-step tutorial later in the week, using a couple of recent HD video logo animation projects (follow us on Twitter or Facebook for announcements of new posts).

Logo porn revisited: Another look at awesome DVNO motion video by Justice

Steve Douglas — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:44:52 +0000

We first wrote about this classic logo porn by French electro-pop duo Justice on The Factor! a few years back when it was first released. While taking care of some blog house-cleaning a few days ago, I discovered the original YouTube link for the DVNO video had gone dark, so I spent a bit looking for another. Found a good one too and figured it might be worth a revisit for folks who either haven’t seen the video before, or weren’t readers back then. So what’s the deal with DVNO? I was finally able to grab a quote (not that it clears much up):

”DVNO stands for ‘Divino’,’ states Justice‘s Xavier de Rosnay. ‘In every suburb of the world, in every city, there’s always a nightclub called El Divino… Clubs where you have to wear like a white shirt to get in.’

Probably lost something in the translation I suppose. Anyhoo, if you’ve been in the logo design game for a while, you’ll recognize a lot of the logo ‘styles’ used, everything from 20th Century Fox to HBO, NBC to Carolco, Cannon to CBS, all done up in the style of 70s and 80s TV CGI ‘bumper’ animations. Even a nice little homage to the SEGA logo about a third of the way in.

Believing in giving credit where credit is due (and it’s certainly due here) the motion design is by Machine Molle with artwork design by So Me. The DVNO song was featured in the Hitman film (directed by Xavier Gens) and was used in a commercial for the Discovery Channel back in 2007.

Enjoy.

Update:

If you’re interested in the various logo font treatments and typefaces, The Font Feed serves up an awesome dissection of the various styles, identifying most of the typography used. Worth a look if you’re into such things. Steven Van Vaerenbergh gives us a list of all the original logos and corporate idents from which the inspiration was drawn.

Epic BBC 2010 Winter Olympics commercial

Steve Douglas — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:31:38 +0000

As the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver are grinding down to a finish in the next few days, we may be a tad late to the party with this brilliant BBC animated ad for The Winter Games. Still, it’s worth a looksee, as this is unlike any Olympics ad we’ve seen before For starters, it doesn’t feature any live clips from actual Olympic events. Most notably, the spot avoids the official day-glo Silly Putty logo while still tipping a hat to the real-life Inukshuk monument that stands at the top of Whistler Mountain. Quick overview: the ad features a bloody great bear that rips the Inukshuk’s head clean off and using almost every winter sport from The Games, our little hero dude has to get it back. Great stuff, all set to an epic soundtrack. For more on what an inukshuk is, and how it relates to the Olympic brand, see our bit on the Vancouver Winter Olympics logo from a few weeks ago.

[Hat tip: Designer's Couch]

Retro logo porn. Behind the scenes of HBO’s 1983 CGI-free intro sequence

Steve Douglas — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:56:35 +0000

Stumbled onto this over the weekend (hat tip: I Watch Stuff) and thought you might like a gander. This classic HBO 1980′s logo animation is full-blown logo porn that sees a detailed cityscape morphing into the famous TV network’s text logo. Many of you may be familiar with the spot, but HBO wasn’t available at all in Canada during the 1980s, and could only be viewed in the mid-nineties and early 2000s through technically illegal (though not enforced) Direct TV dishes using hacked cards (not that I’d know anything about such nefarious activities). Even those watching HBO illegally saw their satellite feeds go dark after the introduction of supposedly unhackable R4 cards (not that I’d know anything about this either). After that, Canada remained a completely HBO-free zone until October of 2008, when HBO Canada was launched (though that version is owned by Astral Media and Corus Entertainment, owners of The Movie Network and Movie Central respectively, not Time Warner as in the US). Anyhoo, even though the clip is over twenty five years old, that’s why it’s relatively new to me and hope you’ll understand why I think it’s so cool.

What’s even cooler is this behind-the-scenes video that illustrates how the spot was made, sans any CGI special FX, using itsty-bitsy models created with an almost pathological attention to detail. The documentary is a little dated, especially the cheesy music that would do any retro porn movie proud. It is, however, worth a looksee for the pure craftsmanship and love that went into a logo spot that lasts less than 30 seconds. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. And if it’s a little old hat, please forgive me.

We don’t get out much up here.

EURO 2012 soccer logo: A wonderful exercise in graphic design excess

Steve Douglas — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:14:47 +0000

Little bit late to the party on this one (this logo was released December 15 and I sorta neglected it courtesy the Christmas and New Year hubbub) but despite my tardiness, the UEFA Euro 2012 scoccer logo is still worth a mention and a looksee. So let’s.

Developed by Portuguese design group Brandia Central, the design will represent the 14th UEFA European Football (soccer) Championship, scheduled to be held in Poland and Ukraine in July 2012. For what it’s worth, this is only the third time that the championship hosted jointly by two countries, a fact that was an integral factor in the creation of the logo. And while the announcement was ignored in North America (we tend to like the other version of football), the championships are an awfully big deal in Europe, with a predicted 1.4 millions fans taking in the matches at the various stadiums and the TV coverage broadcast to 200 markets. From a personal POV, I absolutely love the logo (while many others are decrying its complexity) and think the development video (below) to be brilliant – a must-see for any graphic designer, particularly those interested in the logo design niche. It explains, in exquisite graphic detail, the thought processes behind the logo; concept, execution and color choices. If only more logo design projects were this thought out.

There’s a lot going on in this logo, both stylistically and symbolically, but there’s not one piece of the design that doesn’t have a reason for being there. Typically, and despite being quite cool with illustrative logos, I’m not a big fan of extraneous War-and-Peace extravaganzas, but I’m more than willing to make an exception here. The font work is lovely too.

Logo described as “a bunch of flowers” and “too girly”

Will the design resonate with soccer fans? Who knows. Reception has been mixed. “Too girly” seems to be one of the main beefs, with some fans carping that a “bunch of flowers” has no place in the presumably masculine world of European soccer. Some graphic designers were quick to jump on the logo, criticizing as “too complex” with some claiming that the logo wouldn’t effectively convert to black and white (not true – see below).

I’m glad to see sports organizations pushing the envelope back a bit (I think we can all agree that this is a much better example of an unorthodox sports logo than the arguably disastrous London Olympics logo trotted out a few years back). Also, and as mentioned earlier, I tend to lean towards more illustrative logos myself so perhaps I’m a little biased on what is, and isn’t effective for this particular design. What about you? You like or no like? Too complex or a decent visual exercise? Have at it in the comment section if you’re so inclined.

Hat tip: David Airey‘s Logo Design Love

Logorama. Short film featuring corporate brands as villains and heroes gets Oscar nod.

Steve Douglas — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:35:16 +0000

Logorama, a stunning film by French collective H5 (filmmakers Francois Alaux, Herve de Crecy and Ludovic Houplain), is a violent, profane, action-packed caper set in a world comprised entirely of well-known corporate logos and mascots. A satirical look at how pervasive corporate imagery has become in today’s society, the 17 minute flick features a gun-toting Ronald McDonald (yes, that Ronald McDonald) who goes on a shooting spree on a street festooned with 7-Elevens, U-Hauls, Wal-Marts and Pizza Huts while the Michelin Men are featured as bumbling, foul-mouthed cops on his trail. The film reads like a copyright lawyer’s wet dream, yet according to the filmmakers, they haven’t heard from any of the corporations whose logos and trademarked characters are included. So far, the movie (showcased at last year’s Sundance Festival) hasn’t garnered a large audience but that’s about to change. The film was nominated for an Oscar (in the short film category) this morning, and a lot of folks are now furiously Googling Logorama to find out what the buzz is all about.

Logorama is sometimes available on YouTube, but the video version has repeatedly been taken down as a result of (irony alert) copyright claims by the film makers. I managed to find a couple of active clips, so here’s a look at Logorama in two parts (as long as they remain available, I suppose). Before you click on the play buttons please note this language warning – with a generous helping of cuss words, this is decidedly Not Safe For Work.

Update:

Logorama YouTube links have been disabled. Here’s another version. And it’s just as NSFW as the other one.

Logorama: The Movie

Here’s a fun exercise. See if you can identify the number of corporate logos and mascots included (you’ll lose your mind trying). Personally, I loved the Pringle‘s dude as a truck driver, and the MSN butterflies in the opening frames. For more on Logorama, you can visit the film’s official website. There’s also an interesting behind-the-scenes interview over at Creativity Online.

Update 2:

Sunday, March 7, 2010. Logorama won the Oscar for best animated short film. Congrats to all involved.

Obama logo design – behind the scenes

Steve Douglas — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 06:20:56 +0000

Now that the USA Presidential Campaign is over, the dissection of everything associated with it begins. One of the items under the microscope is Barack Obama‘s campaign marketing in general, and the Obama logo design in specific. Interesting to look back at what people thought of the Obama mark at the time (referred to by some as the ‘hardest working logo of the campaign’). I wasn’t terribly excited about the logo (nor any of the other primary election campaign designs) at first, but have got to give the Obama icon props for capturing a nation’s imagination, and being at the vanguard of a political movement, certainly a barometer of a logos success if there ever was one.

Couple of videos featuring Sol Sender of Sender, LLC, the company behind the Obama ’08 campaign logo. A little dry but a fascinating look under the hood for anyone who’s into logos and design. The vid’s split into two halves – I’ve jotted down some of the things I found interesting and placed them underneath each video.

Sol Sender – Obama Logo Design Part 1 of 2

Some interesting bits – Sender wanted to create something ‘really new’ but held back because of some early criticism of Obama’s lack of experience. Wanted to keep red. white and blue but viewed the political design landscape as ‘gray’. Other candidates designs (this was introduced during the primary election) were all typographic treatments (you can see them here). Hope and Change was an integral part of the design approach since day one. This was the firm’s first political logo. The new logo had to ‘mean something’. The firm’s design process usually involves 2-5 preliminary concepts, but with the Obama campaign logo there was ‘a lot of excitement’ and ’15 to 16 options’ created (though, according to an interview Sender gave to the New York Times, only ‘seven or eight’ were actually presented to the Obama campaign for evaluation).

Sol Sender – Obama Logo Design Part 2 of 2

Some interesting bits – While the logo was designed by Sender, it was adapted by the campaign’s internal design agency – New Media for Obama for America – using the celebrated logo treatments on Obama’s website. The design was developed for social media such as iPhone apps. The logo became ‘viral’ – none of which were ‘allowed’ (under licensing and copyright) but it wasn’t policed. Unofficial applications of the logo were everywhere – websites featuring how-tos on pumpkin carving and cupcake recipes were among the favorites. Someone printed T-shirts – Pirates for Obama – using an upside version of the logo which looks like, well, a pirate.

For (a little) more on the design of Obama’s campaign logo, see Sol Sender’s interview in the online edition of The New York Times. We also named the Obama campaign logo as the best logo of 2008.

Logo Design Workshop Video

Steve Douglas — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:06:16 +0000

Been working on a series of Logo Design Workshop Videos and just about finished the first – a look at logo file formats and the importance of vector based artwork. After all these years, we still have to deal with pixel based logos that are created in Photoshop and all the inherent problems that comes with. The video doesn’t have any sound yet (still working on that), but I thought I’d throw the (almost) final version up on YouTube. Amazingly, a 3 minute video contains about 80% of the format technical information you can find in our library. Scary.

Update: Added a new version with soundtrack to our video library. Already had a few e-mails asking about the production of the video so here’s the geek stuff for those interested. Majority of the video was created in Flash. Logos and screen grabs set up in Illustrator and Fireworks respectively. Used Swift 3D for a couple of quick-and-dirty animations. Put together the music and sound FX in Apple‘s Soundtrack Pro. YouTube doesn’t same to like Quicktime movies as exported natively in Flash, so I had to re-export to a QT movie through Quicktime Pro. Not particulary thrilled with the low resolution on YouTube (original is 53 MB, cranked down to 20MB for upload) but it is what it is (if you’ve got the Quicktime plugin installed, you can view the hi-resolution version). Total production time? A whopping 35 hours.

You suck at Photoshop

Steve Douglas — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:55:47 +0000

Speaking about Photoshop (you know we were), found this on the toobz last night. A great series of how-to-Photoshop lessons by Donnie Hoyle, wrapped up in a hilarious back story that follows the host’s descent into madness and ultimately, a Swat raid. You gotta watch the whole series to appreciate the cleverness of the set-up. Looks like I’m a little late to this party – the video has had well over a million hits on YouTube, but as this is Bitter Free Friday – I’m not going to be, well, bitter. If you want to watch the series in higher resolution (with stereo soundtrack) you can do so here, at My Damn Channel. Speaking of videos (you know we were), and shameless plugs (we are now), checked out our new logo design video yet?

DVNO – 70′s & 80′s Classic logo video by Justice

Steve Douglas — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:39:56 +0000

Found on YouTube this morning – kick ass music video for French electro-pop duo Justice and their single DVNO. Contains the type styling of just about every cheesy 70′s and 80′s logo you can imagine, with killer motion graphics timed perfectly to the sound track. Must admit, this is the kind of logo animation that I’d love to produce when I grow up. If you got a few minutes to spare, take a gander and see how many logos and/or typography styles you can recognize – there’s a boat load. According to Computer Love’s blog post on the vid, the motion design is by Machine Molle with artwork design by So Me. A little humble pie’s good once in a while I suppose – kinda makes our own logo design video look a little pedestrian…