Four brands, from the first idea to real use.

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1. Four directions, nine references

   A board with four worlds (tape measure, ledger, instrument and topography), built from nine reference sites and the month's web design awards. The ledger base stayed, the report an accountant would sign, with the instrument's typography.

   

2. Six palettes

   On that base I built six palettes, each applied to a sample report with its contrast calculated. None convinced yet.

   

3. The obvious was discarded

   The ruler and the tape measure were left out because they say construction, not marketing. Then I tried five search symbols: the o as a magnifier, the name inside a search box, the first result, the answer and the click. Not those either.

   

4. Six marks made only of letters

   I moved to marks without an icon: the full stop, the M as a chart, the highlighter, the block, the o that fills up and the slope. The fifth stayed.

   

5. The o as a ring

   I measured the ring on the real o of twelve typefaces, with Hebrew in all of them, until it fit the word. Three finalists remained: Plus Jakarta Sans, Manrope and Schibsted Grotesk.

   

6. The real logo, in eight palettes

   With the ring chosen, I converted the logo to real outlines and tested it in eight palettes, with the favicon, the avatar and the trust labels beside it.

   

7. Black and yellow, with the contrast calculated

   I tried seven yellows. The calculation showed that yellow on white scores between 1.2 and 2.1, and on black between 8.9 and 16.6. Hence the rule: yellow goes on black or behind black, never as lettering on a light background.

   

8. Plus Jakarta versus Manrope

   The two finalists, with the same yellow, the same ring and the same surfaces, side by side. Manrope 800 won, with more identity, and Assistant 800 for Hebrew.

   

9. Trained-eye adjustments

   The counter of the o became that of the d. The ring settled at 66 %. In Hebrew, the cut of the vav lines up with a line of the dalet.

   

10. Delivery

    Versions, ring, favicon and avatar, clear space, minimum sizes and what not to do, all on one board. The files are outlined, with no dependency on the font. Then came the guidelines and the website.

    

Versions

Uses

Specifications

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1. Reading the logo I received

   I read it in two layers, what it shows and what it says. Black capitals on navy sound institutional, the shadow falls while the name speaks of rising, and nothing hints that it is a podcast. Decision: the blue, the white, the name and the shadow stay, now pointing up. A nod to La Casa is added.

   

2. Fourteen typefaces

   I tried fourteen families in capitals and lowercase, three of them with Hebrew. Rubik stayed: free, with Hebrew, several weights and an ExtraBold that holds the blue.

   

3. Three ideas for the mark

   Three symbols for the microphone, B1 concentric, B2 broadcast and B3 microphone-house, each tested from large down to 16 px, on white and on blue.

   

4. The first compositions

   The microphone-house and the cup stacked, horizontal and on a single line, with and without the La Casa line.

   

5. B2, from large to small

   With B2 chosen, I tested it stacked, horizontal and as a round avatar, and the mark alone, flat, from large size down to the favicon.

   

6. Guides and alignment

   The mark at cap height, with guide lines, and the cup aligned with the La Casa line on the left.

   

7. The weight of the cup

   The cup with the line in four weights, from 400 to 700, and several rim thicknesses, until the handle stopped merging with the letter. Rubik's o did not work and I drew it to measure.

   

8. The O as a microphone

   I tried making the O of SALTO the microphone, narrow and wide, in white and in blue. It was discarded.

   

9. B on one line, measured

   The microphone sets the block: I tried five heights until it overshoots the capitals by the same amount above and below, with the La Casa line at the foot.

   

10. Symmetry, verified

    The shoulders of the inner roof fall on the axis of the letters, and the microphone's oval ended up solid, with no lines inside.

    

11. Two proposals and favicons by size

    Each option came in colour and reversed, with a fixed line, “a La Casa TLV production”. The favicons have their own drawing at 16, 32 and 64 px, with thicker strokes and less detail in the small ones.

    

Versions

Uses

Specifications

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1. A PNG as the only file

   The logo existed only as a cropped 380 × 193 px image, with no vector and no design file. Before improving anything it had to be rebuilt.

   

2. Measuring instead of redrawing

   I measured every shape by colour (centres, radii, thicknesses and the angle of the accent) until the vector matched the original by 95.4 %. That is the maximum possible: the rest is the anti-aliased edge of a pixel.

3. Six small adjustments

   I corrected what a trained eye sees as construction noise: three thicknesses, two D sizes, three baselines, a different counter in each syllable and a clipped accent. I did not touch what makes it this logo: the angle, the cut and the five colours.

   

4. Backgrounds and contrast

   I tested five backgrounds with the contrast calculated. The pastels pass 7:1 on charcoal, graphite and night blue. On light there is a version of the same family with more ink, and a one-colour version for signatures and stamps.

   

5. A D without a stem, in the letters too

   I redrew the capital D of the site's typefaces without a stem, with the same construction as the logo. DiDi Sans, based on Figtree, and DiDi Mono, based on DM Mono, were born, both open-licensed. This page is set in them.

   

Specifications

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1. Starting with the obvious

   First I drew a ring of turning figures and a pinwheel of petals. They said dance, but they did not say Spain.

   

2. From the carnation to the symbol

   I swapped the people for a flower, the carnation, associated with Spain. The animation shows the path: the photo, the synthesis in the brand colours, the line drawing itself while turning like a ring, the colour opening from the spiral and the name.

   

   

3. Circle and spiral

   The petals turn towards a spiral centre: the dance. It stayed in colour and in a one-colour line version. The name surrounds the flower in an arc, in a calligraphic serif, so that the whole is another circle.

4. The festival, more direct

   For “Directo al corazón” I made its own logotype, with artistic brush lettering and the o turned into a heart. It started in blue and ended in the red of the flower. A small line goes with it: “Festival de danzas circulares, primera edición”.

5. The system in use

   A five-colour palette carried the brand to a brochure, an invitation email with the registration, social posts, a T-shirt and a phone mockup. It is all below, under Uses.

Versions

Uses

Specifications