While working at Huebner Marketing, my co-workers enjoyed coming up with nicknames and puns revolving around my last name. I never realized just how easily it could be used to switch things out. Basically, my name would end up being used as a verb. These are just the tip of the iceberg of names and phrases that would be used on a regular basis:
- The Merk
- Merkenary
- The Merk With a Mouth
- Trademerks
- Merktastic
- Merk the Logo Bigger
- Merkshop
- The Merkanator
- Merkfaster
- Merkmeister
- It Merks Perfect Sense
- This Task is Getting Rather Merky
- And finally… Merk Werk. (All of these names are trademarked under Todd Kamp… Just Kidding.)
Merk Werk came about one day as we were discussing a name for a new marketing platform that Huebner created. Eventually the final name became Marcom HQ. You can view the final logo and project here. As a joke, the copy writer, Todd Kamp, threw out the name, “Merk Werk.” This name became a running gag in the office, and eventually I realized I needed to make this actually official. Merk Werk rolled off the tongue and was far more memorable than Merkley Art. Now the daunting part came. Coming up with a complete rebrand design.
When I initially tried rebranding myself with my old name, I was very limited. I was trying to create a more modern version of my logo, but I wanted to keep the general idea of a pencil. My old logo used the “M” and “A” of my name to create a pencil. However, once I decided to change my name, I realized that Merk Werk was such a fun name that it didn’t actually need any kind of icon to go with it. I was fine if I could still utilize the pencil in some way as a tie into the old logo, but I wasn’t restrained to this concept.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row el_class=”full”][vc_column width=”1/2″]
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[/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]I started with some rough sketches of initial ideas. Normally I do FAR more sketches and make them way more refined, but for some reason I was losing sleep over these initial ideas. So, I decided to go straight to work. I was initially excited about my first designs, but I still wasn’t sold on it.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Then, I came around a post that had an awesome typographical use of the word, “Awesome.” I then I thought, maybe I could use what I already had, but add a slant to it. I liked the “Awesome” font so much, that I wanted to find something similar. Eventually I discovered the typeface, “Lithia Titles.” I liked this type, but it still wasn’t what I needed. So, what you see today is based off of Lithia Titles, but it is actually a completely custom type face at this point. My process usually takes far longer, (and is also far more chaotic) but this time around things just seemed to go extremely smoothly.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1501084565432{padding-top: 80px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Originally, I was going to make my logo just the name and not use any kind of iconography. Eventually, I decided to play around with the pencil idea and I’m glad I did. The new icon now ties into my old brand and it also still uses an “M” and “W” to create the pencil. Eventually, the logo got to the place you see today by utilizing grids and making sure everything lined up perfectly. I think i accomplished my goal of whimsical yet professional with this deaign. Do you agree? I hope you enjoy the final outcome![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
