Cutting Edge Logo Design
Twenty years ago Jake Darnell started to mow lawns. The trajectory from summer job to small business owner wasn’t linear or planned. Like many small businesses, Cutting Edge started at home. In the company’s early days, Darnell split time between the burgeoning lawn care business and building new homes. With time and word of mouth, the company grew and added more equipment and part-time help.
Cutting Edge became a stabilizing force. As new home construction wavered and steady work became unreliable, Cutting Edge Landscaping provided dependable income. In 2017, the company entered an informal partnership with a tree-trimming contractor. The two agreed to operate under the Cutting Edge name and promote each other’s services. Today, the relationship is formal and the partnership is a successful small business. Cutting Edge Landscaping offers year-round services including lawn mowing, lawn care, landscaping, plowing, tree trimming, tree care and removal.
Logo Design Brief
Cutting Edge never had a professional logo. It used what it had to promote its landscaping services and keep down costs. Company business cards and invoices used various clip art and stock images as a stand-in for a formal logo. The company wanted something simple and cost-effective for the new logo design. It was also important that the new logo look ‘cool.’ Defining and delivering the subjectively ‘cool’ new logo was Insomniac Studios’ next challenge.
Logo Design Process
The company’s previous informal logos included images of lawnmowers, trucks and other equipment. Insomniac Studios elected to focus on the idea of a spinning blade, or cutting edge, for the new logo design. Insomniac Studios wanted the new logo design to feel sharp and knife-like.
A traditional lawnmower blade is a single, sharpened metal bar fixed at a central point on a shaft. A motor spins the shaft and the shaft spins the blade. Several design iterations of this concept produced logo concepts that looked like an unmoving straight line, a spinning circle, an airplane propeller or, in the case of some unsuccessful attempts, a bowtie.
Adding a third blade to the logo in the form of another triangle created a sense of spinning movement and razor sharpness that connected with the company’s name. The logo’s shape provided the opportunity to create a repeating pattern for the brand. When the three triangle logo is repeated horizontally and vertically it creates a checkerboard pattern. The pattern has a dimensional quality reminiscent of the appearance of a freshly mowed lawn.
Reusing the logo to create the background pattern kept design time and cost down for the client. Insomniac Studios also produced only one version of the logo—a traditional logo lock up comprised of a logomark to the left of the logotype. This single-version logo approach also reduced client cost.
Insomniac Studios used the single version logo design and the brand pattern to design a business card and employee hat for the business. Insomniac Studios then created a vehicle wrap design that can be employed at a later date to wrap the company’s trucks, trailers or other equipment.
To help the small business attract new clients, Insomniac Studios developed the marketing tagline “Your Lawn Is Our Logo.” The phrase appears on several advertisements that can be used on social media or in print publications.
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