The Evolution of a Logo

When we had the idea for what is now IgnitionDeck, we didn’t even have a name for it yet. It was simply being called ‘WordPress Pre-Order Widget’ amongst Nathan and I. Later it graduated to ‘WordPress Crowdfunding Widget’.

Once we’d begun to flesh out the idea, and realized we were going to start creating it for real – we threw names around for what felt like weeks. Eventually we settled on ‘Ignition’ but we never felt that was JUST right. However, it was at that point we began to work from there with a logo.

Being our designer, I started throwing around some ideas in my head. A rocketship came immediately to mind – and at the same time i threw it out. Rocket’s are so overused, I could really find something else. Something more original. Here’s one of my pages of drawings… where I kept coming back to, well, you’ll see.

As you can see, a lot of rockets ended up on paper. I have a few other pages pretty much the same – I’ve highlighted this one for the point of this ‘evolution’. There’s some ideas on this page I actually really love – the entire word ‘ignition’ being a fuse burning up. The ‘T’ in ignition being an old fashion explosive detonator. But both of them felt too complicated for what I wanted.

Eventually, when we settled on IgnitionDeck – the rocketship seemed to fit that much more. I decided that regardless of a rocket not being ‘original’, it fit, was instantly recognizable, communicated a point and if done right, even an ideal.

I went back to my drawings, and spotted a rocket I sketched that seemed perfect for what I wanted (seen in the above image). I tried sketching some other rocketships, along with a one inspired by my favourite from above.

And I still liked the one inspired by the earlier one I sketched, so I created it as a Vector drawing to take it further. I wanted to get it a little rounder, give it more of that space idealist feeling of the ’50s.

And actually – I haven’t changed the rocket in our logo since I turned it into a vector. It’s been coloured – but it’s shape remained unchanged as we kept iterating on ideas. For me, it captures exactly the feeling I wanted it to – it’s original, it’s simple, it feels slightly retro, is instantly recognizable, and will be well suited for animation.

The ‘ideal’ it communicates to us, is that period of time in the history of our world where Space Travel seemed like it was just years away. Where our vision of the future was glass bubbles and white plastic and shiny clothing. That point in time, when anything was possible and the future was something to be looked forward to, to be excited for. Where we as a people could do the most amazing things.