Pragmatech is a web design and IT support company which also offers personalized, one-on-one technology lessons. Prior to this project, Jared (the owner) had hired me to design a few advertisements in local publications. When he asked me to give his business cards a facelift, I made a pitch for a logo redesign, which he accepted.
A key objective was for the logo to reflect Jared’s approach to his work; that is, systematic, deliberate, practical, and well-considered. Given the company’s work in the dual realms of technology and design, it also needed to appear technically savvy and attain to a certain level of graphic sophistication.
I chose to develop a concept which involved stacked blocks with alternating orientations, which made creative use of negative space and also seemed to evoke a Rubix cube or cypher. We started with five blocks, each smaller than the one beneath it, but after a few rounds of revision we settled on three blocks of equal width, using tints to distinguish one block from another.
The final mark embodies problem solving, systems, moving parts, and articulation. Many of my favorite logos persuade the viewer to do a sort of double-take; there is more to them than immediately meets the eye. In this mark, the little notches and overlaps suggest the stacking order of the blocks, but the left-hand facet of the top and bottom block are left largely to the imagination; the whole form of each block is conjured by the viewer. The color scheme (oranges and reddish-browns) was chosen to balance the technical feel of the logo with a degree of human enthusiasm and warmth.
