For my logo, I knew I wanted to challenge myself to think outside the box. As an actor, the easiest way for me to do this is through storytelling. Since the logo is for a publishing company, I decided to base my company/logo on “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe. The story revolves around an unreliable narrator as he recounts murdering an old man with striking blue eyes. His guilt and hallucinations of the victim’s heart thumping under the floorboards leads him to confess to murder to two policemen. I’ve always loved creepy old stories, and many of my favorite short stories are by Edgar Allen Poe, including “Masque of the Red Death” and “The Cask of Amontillado”. I want more people to appreciate these stories, even if they are old, which is why Tell-Tale Publishing focuses on republishing vintage, macabre stories for new audiences to enjoy.
I wanted to tell the story of “The Tell-Tale Heart” through the logo. So, the logo is made of a drop of blood that features an upside-down heart and a piercing blue eye. The colors of the brand are red, white, blue, and black. The heart is upside down to represent it being hidden under the narrator’s floorboards, and the eye represents the striking blue eyes of the old man who gets murdered. Eye imagery always makes me slightly unsettled, and I wanted the logo to give that off-putting feeling. I chose a clean and condensed font to evoke a modern feel as the company focuses on republishing classics.
The most challenging part of this project was trying not to do too much. I don’t have much experience with logo design, more with posters and ads. I’ve always wanted to develop my skills in logo design, but I have a hard time being able to tell what looks “good”. There are so many iconic logos that I feel set the standard for logo design, and I get in my head about whether or not mine is “good enough”.
Overall, I felt like this project pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced me to be a vulnerable designer. I hope to work on logos more in the future because it was a very fun process and got my creativity flowing.