Goals and Summary:

The goal of the logo is to convey the rich history of the dance hall, while highlighting the fun, light-hearted, community spirit that people experience when they hold and attend events there. A refresh of their branding will help Anhalt Hall to stand out more prominently in peoples’ minds when they consider where they’d like to have their next party, wedding, family reunion, etc. resulting in a more steady inflow of new and returning patrons.

I designed a logo that dances across whatever medium it uses. I intentionally gave some of the letters a subtle characteristic of dancing feet so the logo would express the vibrancy one experiences in the dance hall. I hand crafted a German type style font that matches the historical feel of the venue with a light-hearted spirit. For the secondary text I used a simple, rounded, sans-serif font with a little bit of German flavored decor to anchor the rest of the piece. It says to its beholder, “Come on in! Willkommen… if you will. We’ve been around for awhile and we know how to have fun. In here are good times and fond memories.”

Content:

Main Title – Anhalt Hall
Secondary Text – Est. 1875
Secondary Text – Germania Farmer Verein

Mediums:

Road signs, Banners, Website, Business Cards

Mood-Board:

These are some of the pictures and images I collected while I was gathering inspiration for this logo.

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Process:

-Sketch & Selection
anhaltsketches
I first sketched out several different ideas. In the end there were a few that really stood out to me. I went with the layout I liked the most and pulled some type styles from a few of the others.

-Draft & Digitize
progress1
1. I did a rough sketch of the idea that I liked the most, to confirm that I wanted to go that direction stylistically.
2. I drew and inked a final version that I then scanned into my computer.
3. I used Adobe Illustrator’s “Live Trace” feature to get the lines as close as possible to the original intent.
4. I cleaned up the wavy lines and stray points to make the logo more fluid.

-More Adjustments
progress3
5. After struggling with the layout, I decided to use a different arrangement from the preliminary sketch phase and adjust the entire thing. I also started focusing on kerning and making other adjustments to design how the spaces between the letters would interact.
6. I made adjustments to the overall curve of the logo, making sure it followed the curve of the composition more precisely to make for a better visual. I also made more adjustments to kerning.
7. Finally, I made detailed adjustments to each letter to bring out characteristics I wanted to highlight.

-Final
anhalt-final1
The final piece includes the establishment year and original title of the gathering that founded the hall.

anhalt-image
This is a fun variation that overlays a picture of the interior string lights (a key feature of the dance hall).

Package and Delivery:

-PMS color values
Main Color: PANTONE BLACK 7 C
Highlight Color: PANTONE 7515 C

-examples
Entrance Sign:
sign example 2

Business Cards:
business-card