Surfer Dude Studios

The quirk

Surfer Dude Studios logo has it's origins, like all good branding does, in a simple, easily repeatable, logo. Initially starting as a joke, I would sometimes sign cards and presents with a little surfing stick man logo rather than using my name. This quickly gained noteriety, and I began to receive replies that used the logo rather than my name, and even a gift of a hand painted mug that used the surfer dude logo on a mix of blue and off white.

While this quirk fell out of use, especially for more formal signatory requirements like weddings, and funerals, the logo did stick around as an idea, or outline of a studio logo. To this end it was recreated in Adobe illustrator, but at this point stalled. There was no clear idea of what to do with this logo, and only a rough idea of what it stood for, a name, and not much else.

Brand identity

Brand identity usually begins with a simple, recognisable logo. Just by reading the words, Coca-cola, Warner brothers, Windows, Apple, Batman, lego, BMW etc, most people can visualise the logo of this brand (yes Batman is a brand as much as a fictional superhero). Branding can be considered as an evolution of recognition. Go back far enough in history and you can see how it was even a matter of life, death, and civilisations. Gold eagles on a red background? Must be the Roman army. Chalk white hair and blue bodies? Must be the celts.

Heraldry can be considered a form of branding, albeit with more formalised rules, but never the less remains a code of simple, repeatable logos. Think how provocative many middle age rulers could be, by laying claim to a kingdom simply by attaching some form of branding to their coat of arms. European monarchies would antagognise each other with the simple adding of a few motifs to flags and shields. Be caught in battle without your coat of arms and no one would know if you were of more value as a hostage.

Simple design

Simple design is the most effective as it can be repeated quickly, and simply. The cross of the French resistance in world war II could be quickly painted onto walls, trucks, whatever was needed to be defiantly marked. In these often very simple logos and motifs there is expressed a whole range of emotions, enough so, that if you consider the opposing motif to the French resistance cross, the swastika of nazi germany, itself a simple, easily recognisable design, but frought with negative connotations and emotions.

These simple designs could also be expanded. Moving into more modern brand iconography, while there are usually branded colours attached to a logo, these should (particularly for accesibility) be still present a recognisable brand logo in high contrast black and white (think colour blind, or visually impared users, or even just printing onto black and white paper). Remove the colours from a logo and present it in simple black and white is it still instantly recognisable?

A logo which ever way you think of it, be it heraldry, graffiti, or company branded, has to be simple and easily recognisable. The Surfer Dude device met these requirements, but for a studio logo, had to be expanded.

Micro narrative

The studio logo used in film and television by the wide variety of production companies, has the additional requirement in that not only does the logo have to be recognisable, the sequence containing this logo has to be memorable too. This is after all mediums that are not constrained to two dimensions. This adds the need for a micro narrative, a story about the logo that identifies the film or TV show's creators, distributers etc, it is reduced to its most simple concept, branding.

The logo sequence in effect starts the movie. In the past when movie studios were typically more committed to certain genres, this brand mark was an establishment of the kind of entertainment one could expect to follow. MGM for example was famous for its musicals, Disney animation etc, but also, this was the mark that the studio endorsed and stood behind what it was delivering.

While the studio logos have changed over the years, digital has made these much more complex animations, the overall, recognisable brand logo has not changed that much. It is in this respect that the studio logo delivers its advantage over other forms of branding with the micro narrative. It can be changed, but still be the same. Take for example;

• The take on the 20th Century Fox music at the start of Alien 3, holding on the last note.
• The green flickering added to the Village Roadshow logo at the start of the matrix movies.
• The sepia overlay on the Universal and Dreamworks titles for Gladiator.
• The use of the old (70's) Warner Brothers logo at the start of Argo.
• The disolve of the Paramount pictures logo into features at the opening of the Indiana Jones films.

All these examples break with what the audience expects from the studio logo micro narrative. This is all part of the brand identity, yet by breaking it, keeps the original distinct, and memorable.

The Surfer Dude device

So while a logo existed, it was not enough by itself, it needed a micro narrative. The logo, font, and colours needed that story to establish them.

The obvious choice would be something to do with the sea, ocean or surfing, and initial concepts revolved around this. However like most projects, budgetry and time constraints meant that something had to be turned out quickly. That project was the creative pioneer video, it had a limited time period of 5 weeks for delivery, and had to demonstrate a huge range of skills. Therefore a quick solution had to be delivered, the advantage to this being that a micro narrative is by its nature micro (10, maybe 12 seconds).

During the research process, the Videocopilot.net tutorials and resources kept coming up, and a decision was made to use the Blueprint tutorial to deliver a studio logo. After all the logo was light grey on blue, and Surfer Dude Studios is all about creation, so a blueprint seemed appropriate. The logo was quickly delivered to be included in the creative pioneer video.

Going forward

As stated, the important part is the logo, font, and and branded colours. The micro narrative itself is malleable, to outright changeable. It's always been disappointing that in the end the logo had nothing to do with the ocean, sea or surfing, this is the name of the studio after all. However this can change, without effecting the brand identity. While the current studio logo is effective it does lack imagination, but has been the brand for a few years now. It is difficult to let go and move on from it. Nothing will ever be so simple, yet so complicated in creating an identity that not only sums up a brand, but promises and stands behind its products also.