Design: Refining Rolando

A few months ago, I was approached by Miami-based photographer Rolando Diaz about redesigning his wordmark. Rolando wanted to attract high-end travel, hotel and lifestyle clients, and needed a mark that would appeal to them. He requested that his new look reflect not only simplicity, but have an elegance to it as well. I was happy to take on the challenge and soon got to work.

First, I took a look at his current branding. This was the wordmark he was using:

According to Rolando, the inspiration for this had been “a reflection of the sun on water.” A cool idea, but as you can see, the execution could use some help to attract the high-end clients he’s after. While it fit the simplicity bill, it didn’t quite hit the elegance mark.

With that in mind, I set out on my journey to design a better wordmark for Rolando. I began the process by first creating everything in black and white. I’d recommend anyone designing a wordmark or logo to start in black and white—as this will assure it has structure. It’s also important because this shows that the logo can be reproduced over several mediums, and won’t be washed out or lost if color is not available. You want your logo to be strong enough to stand on its own and not be dependent on color. My first idea was to keep it simple and use Rolando’s initials with his name. Thinking ahead, I thought this would create some interesting design opportunities when it came to other elements of his brand, like letterhead or business cards. For this round, I also tried to recreate Rolando’s idea of the reflection, but use it with his initials in a more sophisticated execution. However after reviewing these options, Rolando and I decided to leave off the initials and do something with just his full name—which we felt would be a more elegant approach.

Heading back to the drawing board, I hammered out another round of concepts. Playing with new ideas, I came up with the concept of connecting the “O” and “D” in Rolando’s name. In my mind, this represented travel, romance and worldliness. Kind of like his first and last name were lovers, holding hands so they wouldn’t lose each other through their adventures. Romantic, I know! I continued this idea with a second option that used a more elegant swash cap to connect the “O” and “D” in Rolando Diaz. In my mind, this was like a father holding the hands of his children.

In this round, I also added a photo to help Rolando see the wordmarks in action. That way, he could visualize how it would be presented on his portfolio site. I grabbed a few of his photos and inserted the marks above them before sending the drafts to Rolando. Seeing things in place can help someone make their final choice easier.

The placement above the photos helped Rolando make his choice—and he went with a a different mark than he first thought. He said of his decision, “[The first one] actually looks better. It’s always best to view it with an actual image in layout.” After choosing his favorite mark, we moved on to playing with color. We deliberated over several color schemes, before finally deciding on a blue/gray palette. Here is the final wordmark we both agreed on:

It took some convincing to get Rolando to go with the blues, as he originally liked the straight black and white, but after seeing it in a few comps he replied, “Great job man! I really like it. You were right on the blue, it works nice.” The finished product is a definite step up from his original mark, and I believe it will attract the clients he’s looking for. Now Rolando is working with Photo Editor Sean Stone on a web edit; once completed, he’ll update his website with new images and his simply elegant wordmark.

Here’s a preview of his new website:

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