I was approached by founders and co-hosts Nik and James to design some assets for their new EdTech podcast The MADness (Marketing & ADmissions) Podcast. Already professionals in the fields of Marketing and EdTech, they were keen to highlight some key voices and to help invigorate a corner of the industry that is really impressive, but just doesn't get enough attention.
Together we experimented with a range of different styles and concepts, eventually going with a hand-drawn style a distance away from the original corporate-friendly marks and imagery I developed at stage 1.
Some of the earlier concepts and ideas are below. We communicated on the details of the original brief together as certain elements such as the inclusion of a shield as a shape were reconsidered, fine-tuning the project until it's completion.
With changes requested by the clients they liked the M+ idea which we redeveloped in the same hand-drawn uneven style from the more clean and modern version originally shared to Nik and James.
The M+ represents 'MAD' - the M and the + symbol (add). It also resembles a grade (e.g A+) awarded to students.
In the beginning
Below: This was the first concept of 2 submitted along with some simple mock ups to demonstrate use. Based on the brief submitted, this included a Latin strap-line, and the use of a shield (a symbol widely used in University and school insignia) and a spiral as a speech bubble.
Sharing this with Nik and James enabled us as a team to get a feel for colour and style choices. We discussed how it did and didn't sit with them. Through these discussions it was eventually determined that the shield element originally a part of the brief could be put aside, and - later - that we should move away from clean fonts in search of a more unique feel. The strap-line was also removed from subsequent concepts.
Below: Examples of quick mock ups more to share a feeling than final designs.
Below: An alternative colour scheme from concept 1.
Other logo concepts
Throughout the development process there were of course lots of potential logos worked on, some of which were shared with the clients at various stages following the first concept. The logo, as all logos are, was important of course, but likely secondary to the audio thumbnail on platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
A few examples of them are below with brief explanations:
1. M broken up to represent M & A - 'Marketing' and 'Admissions'.
2. One of many logo ideas I worked on involving a door to represent admissions.
3. A maze-like 'M' shape, the 'M' (Marketing) leading to the maze's end (Admissions).
4. M broken up to create a play button, in reference to the podcast format.
5. M shapes like a work shirt, not tucked in to hint at the rule breaking nature of the podcast. The central gap in the M is a marketing funnel, not obvious right away.
In the end this was a really fun project to work on. The process was a journey and I was glad we arrived at a final product that Nik and James are happy with.