This April, Image Comics will release a new comic series by my pal Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein called Viking.
In 2007, not too long after 24SEVEN #2 was released (for which I had done design work) Ivan asked me if i was interested in designing the logo for a comic pitch he was developing called Viking.
Ivan didn’t give any specifics, other than that it needed to be modern and bold. Not your typical Norse heraldic designs you’d associate with the culture. Since it was early days, all I had to go on was Ivan’s direction.
My first instinct was to go and look at the Runic alphabet to look for stylistic characteristics. I thought that even though the book needs a contemporary logo, it never hurts to have some sort fo visual key to the time period its based in.
The Codex Runicus
Chance would have it that during that time I was developing an angular typeface for another project (that never happened) at that time, which with some work could fit the bill.
Precursor to the Viking type
Using bits from my typeface sketch I created the initial idea for the Viking logo, keeping it quite traditional in a sense. Nothing to modern, and I even tried telescoping the type — as is so usual in comic logos — to create depth and a sense of power and speed coming towards the reader (I even tried adding an exclamation mark, but that was too much).
The first Viking logos
I sent those off to Ivan for feedback and he wasn’t too keen on the telescoping, but liked the direction of the logo.
continuing work I felt that the lettershapes were getting a bit too complex and maybe too thin for a cover of a comic.
Redrawn Viking logo & letter elements
With that in mind I started redrawing the letters, but this time in much thicker strokes, while keeping the elements I liked from the thin version — the letter ‘K’ in particular — and simplified the design into a much more robust shape that could comfortably grab your attention on the cover. Ivan was happy with this design, so now I had to come up with a cover treatment.
The initial cover treatment idea for Viking
By now Ivan had teamed up with artist Nic Klein, so I could tailor the cover design to include their names (since its a creator-owned book, I don’t have to worry about rotating creative teams) on the cover. Because Ivan wanted something modern and unusual for the book I thought it’d be nice if the title bled off the cover, almost as if it was a bold print error — to strengten the effect of a rebellious, almost “punk” book. The logo would be supported by a skewed block of colour (which could change each issue based on the cover art).
The problem was however, that the placement of the names and the issue numbering looked like an afterthought, especially the numbering — I hadn’t even taken double digits in account! I wanted the creator names to be in a neutral, but strong typeface sitting under the logo, but couldn’t really find anything off the shelf that made me happy. So I decided to continue the style and design the rest of the charachter set desinged for the logo to create the names.
The final Viking logo, with one small alteration
It wasn’t too much of a stretch to design the rest of the charachters and a short while later I had the final logo & type treatment for the book. The only thing I had to adjust was the letter B, looking too much like a D the first time around.
The treated Viking logo
Going back to to the cover design, I kept the skewed postion of the logo, but got rid of the colour block to allow more space for the art. Because the logo was now “free” as it were, I could move it around on the cover, placing it in such a way it wouldn’t intervene too much with the art — but blend in with it. To do this, and adding that little “rough Viking touch” to it, I dug up some photoshop texture brushes and went to work on it before finally bringing all elements together for the cover.
Viking issue 1 cover
Viking will be released in April 2009 from Image Comics. You can read the advance solicitation here, and have a sneak peek at a teaser.
January 22nd, 2009
Very awesome from start to finish! Love it.
January 22nd, 2009
I really like how the logo turned out, and it’s very interesting to see the process. It’s a shame that the letter V will always feel so much lighter than the other letters, that calls my attention but I know there isn’t much one can do to avoid it, so I’ll stop being picky.
January 22nd, 2009
Solid! Cool to see your process.
January 22nd, 2009
I really like how the logo turned out. :D thanks for sharing. cheers!
March 20th, 2009
[...] he goes in to the process behind the projects he's designed for clients. I especially like the Viking logo one. A great resource for designers, from a guy who's been visible on the web since the [...]
November 28th, 2009
An excellent write up of your process!
Just shows how you should never discard old projects or mock ups.
I love the texture in the final design.