ASYLUMLogo Design Contest

get committed.

ASYLUM is the latest show from the urban fringe theatre company, UPROCK, and will be premiering in NYC at The International Fringe Theatre Festival in August.

I need to be very clear that we have a very specific look in mind and our show has an extremely limited and non-negotiable color scheme. The logo needs to be black; therefore being able to be inverted to white as needed. We also like many different filter/layer effects; old peeling walls, rust, scratched floors, etc. Although we are interested in exploring the idea of some of these textures, we are fairly certain we will decide to go with an all black design... but if the creativity is there, we can be swayed. And really, as long as we have the outline of the text, you can get really creative with what sorts of layers you put underneath it. Realistic blood splats, static (as in reference "brochure1"), etc.

Please reference "logoreferencedrawing" for the exact layout that we are looking for. We are obviously not artists, this is just for layout purposes. The balloon string should be a little longer than this. Outside of the slogan placement (we will probably want it centered, but would also like to explore a slightly diagonal "stamped" angle), this is exactly what we are looking for. We don't mean to be pushy, but I just don't want anyone wasting their time... the rough sketch that you see is exactly what we are looking for. We are looking for you to design the words and the stenciled balloon.

If you are the winning designer, we will also request another version of the design where instead of the slogan reading "get committed.", it would read, "getcommitted.org" to both incorporate the slogan and lead people to our website.

At the bottom of the logo, the word ASYLUM should appear large, bold and prominently. We want this word to demand attention. If this were a billboard in Times Square, it is the word that you would see. Although we are looking for something bold and thick, we are not looking for a cop-out "go to" font like Arial. It should look clean and not dated. Very up to date without being trendy or futuristic; maintaining it's bold simplicity. There is a sort of steam-punk meets 1940's aesthetic through the show, if that helps you draw any inspiration. We like the boldness and style of ASYLUM in "brochure1" and this is a good example of some of the textures you can play with within the design as long as we can always revert it to all black. Other good references are the TITANIC (James Cameron film) and Call of Duty logos. Here are some fonts that can be used for inspiration.
http://www.fontspace.com/david-kerkhoff/oomph
http://www.fontspace.com/david-kerkhoff/balagan (we don't like the uneveness of the letter sizes of balagan)
http://www.fontspace.com/david-kerkhoff/face-your-fears (this is different than the direction mentioned, but a good example of how we could be swayed.)
http://www.fontspace.com/kc-fonts/subway-novella (if in caps)

The slogan, slightly less than half the size of the title, should appear centered underneath ASYLUM. It should read, without quotations, "get committed." Please notice that these are all lowercase letters. In terms of font, we are looking for a throwback typewriter (maybe 40's type) sort of print. Possibly would be interested in playing with some sort of "spray-paint-stenciled-on" effect, especially if it ends up being on an angle, as mentioned above, in a sort of stamp or stenciled on effect. Again, we would also request an additional version of the final design which would read, without quotations, "getcommitted.org". Please notice that these are all lowercase and there is no space between the words and no period after .org. Here are some good reference fonts for inspiration!
http://www.fontspace.com/david-kerkhoff/dk-trashtype
http://www.fontspace.com/search/?q=senta%20schreibmaschine
http://www.fontspace.com/search/?q=maszyna
http://www.fontspace.com/typografski/copystruct
http://www.fontspace.com/anke-art/incognitype

The stenciled balloon, which should take up a minimum of 2/3 of the logo, should look like a well done graffiti balloon. Very Banksy-esque. It should look slightly imperfectly spray painted on. Although we understand you are digital designers, we are a very urban entertainment company. Don't be scared of creating your balloon design, stenciling it, spraypainting onto white paper, scanning it and using the real deal. If it is between a real looking stencil balloon and a clip-art one, we will pick the real looking one. We do not want this to look cheap, cheasy or computer generated. We simply will not accept designs that simulate clip art; that is why we are coming to LogoTournament. The balloon is really your place to showcase your design ability, get creative and think outside the box! I know it's just a balloon stencil, but make yours stand out. We would also like some sort of texture behind the balloon, like it was spray painted onto an old, peeling wall. Please don't be scared to incorporate "shine" marks. We may ask for them to be added or taken away. We are also sort of ambivalent at this point to curls in the ribbon. Please try to stick to the dimensions in the logoreferencedrawing, noting that we would like the string slightly longer. Balloonreference1 is a really close example of what we are looking for. We would want the balloon more of a egg balloon shape than a circle, otherwise this is close. Balloonreference2 we absolutely love the spray-ed on stencil effect.

We are looking for something pretty clearcut, but we are looking for a designer that will take our basic idea and give it a matured, artistic finish. We want you to feel more like an illustrator than a logo designer. Please feel free to reference our other logo competition's brief for a better understanding of who we are.

We will be happy to provide any feedback and answer questions as you need us to. Thank you in advance for your work!