You’ve probably noticed our new logo sitting next to the rotating banners in the Lost At E Minor masthead. It was the fruits of an on-site logo design contest and is the work of London-based creative director, David Marc Marinelli. We asked David to give us the rationale behind his winning entry and to tell us about some of the logos that have inspired him over the years: ‘The Lost At E Minor name already speaks in volumes. It stands strong and its complexity commands attention, so I knew early on that the logo needed to be a typographic treatment. It also had to be unconventional, and appeal to the diverse but ultimately design-inspired readership. It needed to compliment the content of the site and have the ability to sit next to any piece of artwork with ease’.

‘With this in mind I went to work creating interesting type treatments that were edgy and eye catching. Some executions were stronger than others, and it was the heavy block typeface of the winning concept that caught the attention of LAEM – its letterforms a throwback to hand-lettered sci-fi posters from the fifties.

As with LAEM, the new logo is all about discovery – with a weathered surface, its heavy forms look like something left by a long lost civilization for us to discover. The logo is bold and robust, built to grow with the LAEM brand and set to take it into the future’.

What other logos do you really admire and why?
‘One favorite would have to be the Tate Gallery logo (Wolff Olins, 1999), which I can’t help but lock eyes with whenever I’m in London. It has a depth which is arresting to the eye and has enabled the brand to be explored in so many ways and by so many designers since its conception. Another would be The Royal Parks logo (Moon Brand, 1994), such a simple idea but so effective.

‘The Woolmark logo (Francesco Saroglia, 1964) is also a favorite. A beautifully constructed and powerful logo – as impressive now as when it was first designed.

But my favorite of all time would have to be Milton Glaser’s ‘I love New York’ logo (1977). Apart from its amazing story of success (and that he designed it pro-bono), it marks the great work of such a profound designer. I think all designers dream of creating marks that carry through time like these ones have’.

What are you currently working on?
‘We’re currently detailing the online face of Creative Order which we’ll have live soon.

‘We’re also working hard in the studio on the second series of Designer People for Ovation network. The first series featured amazing insights into designers such as Chris Lee, Yves Behar, Ed Fella and Ole Scheeren (to name a few) and the second series promises to delve just as deep – profiling the big names and personalities of the global creative landscape.

The titles and graphics for the second series are being designed to guide you on a journey through the six degrees of creative separation. It will air later in the year’.

SPONSOR

We’re turning it over to you to shape the look of the new Lost At E Minor logo, one that sums up everything this site stands for: discovery, creativity, all rolled up into a logo which is cool and readable. Yes, readable! We’ll give the winning designer $400.

The designer that creates the winning new Lost At E Minor logo, as judged by our editing team, will have that logo splashed across all our products, will receive a prominent credit on the site, and will be handed a cash prize of $400.

So this is what you need to know: the logo must be rendered in various output formats, be clean, simple, paired back yet cool and compelling. The rest is up to you. Send us your finished Lost At E Minor logo via the submit form on the site. We’ll post all submitted logos under the original post and will rely on the feedback from our readers to make the decision on which one to go with, so every entrant gets some exposure. Entries close May 8th and the winner will be announced on the site shortly after that.

To enter, send us your completed Lost At E Minor logo via the Submit Form.

Submitted Logos

Jason Kuehn

______________________________

April Laws – “I created you mascot… a minor e who loves to eat! I think it reflects what you do: absorb and digest. Hope you like it.”

______________________________

David Hagger – “Crazy that you guys should be chasing a new logo as I was sitting on the tram the other day doodling ‘lost at e minor’… Uncanny that I read your post today.”

______________________________

Linda Cummins

______________________________

Paul Ikin

______________________________

Stephen Matthews – “Here is your new logo – a cardboard box. It symbolises all that is happening today. The board itself sheds itself of wealth. The hand-made ethos stands for ‘do-it-yourself’ and it has a second use as a guinea pig cage when my sons’ pets come over. It could easily become a low wattage light giving off typographic shadows, or a planter, the possibilities go on…”

“This is an attempt to show the box in motion, a living logo.”

“I’m sure you’re wondering how this might actually be used as a masthead. Being 3D it allows for interaction with it’s background. lostateminor is 3-dimensional in content and it’s participants are 3D, now its logo can be.”

______________________________

Stephanie Cummins

______________________________

Rory Toomey

______________________________

Odair Faléco

______________________________

Carlos Vazquez

______________________________

Neeraj Sarna

______________________________

Daniel – “For me, the first things that came to mind: E minor = Guitar; and Lost = Torch. Put them together and you have this. I was trying to give the impression of guitar tabs and also combine the O and the T to formthe torch. Enjoy!!!!”

______________________________

Mark Bol – “Based on the web, it is one word, spaces don’t work, capitals are not required. It carries real information, facts, and opinions of substance. the classic serif font embodies this.

Many forward slashes come together to form lostateminor. it is what it is. The white is larger than the black. the black, the addresses. the white, the filtering, the collection, the interpretation.

Lostateminor is transparent, the banner art is as a background is not obstructed. Intelligent content which does not have to rely on tricks and effects.”

______________________________

Romualdo Rommel Perez – “I made the e in a stylized vortex and made connections with the other texts to form the logo.”

______________________________

Adam Okrasinski – “This version has a gradient fill, but it would change to reflect colors from the banner it sits upon.”

______________________________

Mike Frank – “Simple typography with a nice thick modern san-serif provides a window into a moment that can rotate. Use with or without a background texture.”

______________________________

Alisha Watford – “My interpretation of discovery, creativity and artistry in a ‘Lost At E Minor’ logo.”

______________________________

Francisco Galárraga – “Lost At E Minor is all about discovery, and in your face content. The type is direct and easy to read, even in it’s slanted form. Coming from the beyond the top right corner the logo “comes to view screaming “i’m here!” to visitors. The transparent text area gives equal importance to the visual content as to the brand itself.”

______________________________

Tiffany Hancock – “The name ‘Lost At Eminor’ immediately made me think of being lost in a maze, which fitted in with the idea of discovery. I also hand drew the lettering to give a sense of fun and creativity.”

______________________________

Tara Higgs – “It’s different. I hope you like.”

______________________________

Joanne Lam – “Inspired by the lines of musical notations, as derived from the “e minor” part of the name.”

______________________________

davemanc – “Negative space agogo, would need tweaking and font experimentation for final, just throwing an idea at your thought wall to see if it sticks or dribbles down in to the rejection gutter. Lots of options and playability, featured image taking negative space etc.”

______________________________

Daniel Sicolo – “A clean modern logo with samples on both light and dark backgrounds.”

______________________________

David Marc Marinelli

______________________________

Ben Hill – “Lost at E Minor is a place where people come to gorge themselves on creative inspiration. That is the essence of a site like this… It’s all about the work showcased. This logo is the stylish unassuming partner of the featured artists and projects. The circle serves as a place where featured projects and the logo cancoexist. I hope you dig it.”

______________________________

Jamie Strand Roscini

______________________________

Tara Higgs – “I created this logo to show mostly what I think Lost at E Minor is…discovery (looking, listening, reading, learning and immersing).”

______________________________

Daniel Meyerowitz – “This design, which I made in my HS digital graphics class, was really inspired by the content of this website: fun, funky, and alittle wild.”

______________________________

Gabriel Towles – “Hope you enjoy!”

______________________________

Murphy Spence – “Here are several drafts of my Lost at E Minor logo Hope you guys enjoy”

______________________________

Andrew Tiller – “Lost in the urban sprawl.”

______________________________

TJ Lewis

______________________________

Sreyas Reddy

______________________________

George Coogan

______________________________

Joel Garza – “This is the logo that I worked really hard to create, so just for that you should totally make it your own. Love what you guys do way too much!!!”

______________________________

Daisy Kannis – “I aimed to treat typography like a maze…’lost’ in a maze of thoughts in the mind of a creative person/creative environment…yes, sounds corny/obnoxious, (spinning **** IS part of validating a design…no?) but i actually DID have that in mind when coming up with it…tried to show options of how it could look on your banners.”

______________________________

Letitia

______________________________

Kate Johnston

______________________________

Mike Walsh – “Lost at e minor GLOWS creativity. With an INVERSE look on things. Yet they stay ORIGINAL.”

______________________________

Mel Colvin

______________________________

David Marc Marinelli

______________________________

Grant Clark – “3 logo options for the new Lost At Eminor identity. They’re pretty flexible when it comes to colour changes and/or backgrounds. I realise I may be erring on the legibility aspect, but I think they’re readable!”

______________________________

Samuel Gee

______________________________

Rev. Jeff – “Argh! Daisy Kannis’s posting beat mine using the labyrinth as inspiration. It is cool to see how similar sparks get executed in such different ways. This one came to me from a Saul Bass + Piet Mondrian love child.”

______________________________

Taylor Jones

______________________________

Evan Papa – “The logo uses the bird to represent discovery with the musical note giving the logo a link to the sites name.”

______________________________

Jenna Read – “A design which plays off the concept that a good idea can graphically be depicted by a light bulb. In this design, it is not your usual light bulb, but one that is bursting, exploding with a new creative idea.”

______________________________

Lynette – “From London back to Oz, love your site and you have a lot of talented designers to choose from. My inspiration came from within the pages of your site and what you represent.”

______________________________

William Soo

______________________________

Carolina Celis – “I’m an Industrial Designer, who loves illustrations and Flash Animations. I always look at your website, i think is amuzing and fun.”

______________________________

Jon Swendris – “Clean, legible, and simplified these logos demonstrate Lost At E Minor’s transcendence across all media.”

______________________________

WLShia

______________________________

Kevin Vo – “Focusing on the AT as a graphic device that can be treated with variations to make it unique.”

______________________________

Sasha Liu – “My one’s weird.”

______________________________

Anna Chard – “Lost At E Minor brings together the whole spectrum of creativity in one place.  My new logo design for you, demonstrates this in a simple and playful way. I wanted the lettering to be linkedtogether, yet feel individual, like all the different areas in your website. Hope you like it.”

______________________________

Tim Eggert – “Four logos shown here pretty much without color.”

______________________________

Robert Bacchetto – “These are different colored lights of the logo design. This idea is based on the concept of your website you can choose the colour of the site. You can now choose different colours of the logo and using a light to colour the site.”

______________________________

Chris Gordon

______________________________

Natalie Pereira

______________________________

Melissa Currier

______________________________

Sara James – “Find your way…”

______________________________

Adam James – “Two designs, based on using opposing arrows as a visual representation of the word ‘lost’.”

______________________________

JP Schmidt – “Creativity and Exploration. I thought how better to convey these ideas than through street art? Then I thought of “exploration” again, and thought, SPACE! It doesn’t alienate anyone, and let’s you what the site’s about.”

______________________________

Jyoti Mary Singh (Mary)
“Logo 1
CONCEPT – Lost at E Minor is place for community,where people are given opportunity to discover their creativity and share with others.Along side the editors and writers of this website help the readers to be in touch with the latest trends in every field.This collaboration is the key to success of this website.
SYMBOL – The two spot color merged symbol represent  successful progress (motion) of the site. The two shapes represent community and editors/writers,who together give a dynamic look and feel to this website,which is represented in the merged symbol.
LOGOTYPE – is very simple  in negative and positive. All the characters are linked together supporting each other conveying the message “together we can discover new avenues in future.” The design contains curves and hard corners to create an oppositional feel – simple yet sophisticated to help attract core audiences of this website.”

______________________________

Orlando Lopez – “These are some of my ideas for a new site logo.”

______________________________

Pam – “Some like things clean and simple, like the type. Some like things not so clean and simple, like the heart. Contrast can be good. Everyone ‘hearts’ the Lost At E Minor site.”

______________________________

Michael Kleinman – “I couldn’t make up my mind, so I ended up trying multiple styles.”

______________________________

Ali Arad – “Here are some ideas for your new logo.”

______________________________

Jose Castro

______________________________

Chris Alcantara

______________________________

Martha Pettit – “Color bars always make feel mixed-up and lost in a good way.”

______________________________

Chris Swimley – “I hope you like it.”

______________________________

Javier Del Rio - “I play with something readable… that was all… and some clean things… that can be play by some textures and some other elements… readable is the key of this props…”

“I’ve been playing with something simple, but readable… but also that has that kind of fun and simplicity …
that has something iconic that could be used in some other materials in one color and also with textures and a lot of applications…”

______________________________

Jane Abma (aka Abmatron) – “No matter how many sketches I went through for this, my mind kept going back to simple type with only a few custom tweaks. There are loose connections to guitar strings modification as well.”

______________________________

Jeremy Gordaneer

______________________________

Mihoko Hakata – “Pleasure of Being Lost”

______________________________

James Crawley – “A custom font created by using only perfect circles and rectangles. This logo is proof that all things ordinary can be beautiful.”

______________________________

Terry

Please leave a comment to let us know your thoughts.

We’re turning it over to you to shape the look of the new Lost At E Minor logo, one that sums up everything this site stands for: discovery, creativity, all rolled up into a logo which is cool and readable. Yes, readable! We’ll give the winning designer $400.

The designer that creates the winning new Lost At E Minor logo, as judged by our editing team, will have that logo splashed across all our products, will receive a prominent credit on the site, and will be handed a cash prize of $400.

So this is what you need to know: the logo must be rendered in various output formats, be clean, simple, paired back yet cool and compelling. The rest is up to you. Send us your finished Lost At E Minor logo via the submit form on the site. We’ll post all submitted logos under the original post and will rely on the feedback from our readers to make the decision on which one to go with, so every entrant gets some exposure. Entries close May 8th and the winner will be announced on the site shortly after that.

To enter, send us your completed Lost At E Minor logo via the Submit Form.

Submitted Logos

Jason Kuehn

______________________________

April Laws – “I created you mascot… a minor e who loves to eat! I think it reflects what you do: absorb and digest. Hope you like it.”

______________________________

David Hagger – “Crazy that you guys should be chasing a new logo as I was sitting on the tram the other day doodling ‘lost at e minor’… Uncanny that I read your post today.”

______________________________

Linda Cummins

______________________________

Paul Ikin

______________________________

Stephen Matthews – “Here is your new logo – a cardboard box. It symbolises all that is happening today. The board itself sheds itself of wealth. The hand-made ethos stands for ‘do-it-yourself’ and it has a second use as a guinea pig cage when my sons’ pets come over. It could easily become a low wattage light giving off typographic shadows, or a planter, the possibilities go on…”

“This is an attempt to show the box in motion, a living logo.”

“I’m sure you’re wondering how this might actually be used as a masthead. Being 3D it allows for interaction with it’s background. lostateminor is 3-dimensional in content and it’s participants are 3D, now its logo can be.”

______________________________

Stephanie Cummins

______________________________

Rory Toomey

______________________________

Odair Faléco

______________________________

Carlos Vazquez

______________________________

Neeraj Sarna

______________________________

Daniel – “For me, the first things that came to mind: E minor = Guitar; and Lost = Torch. Put them together and you have this. I was trying to give the impression of guitar tabs and also combine the O and the T to formthe torch. Enjoy!!!!”

______________________________

Mark Bol – “Based on the web, it is one word, spaces don’t work, capitals are not required. It carries real information, facts, and opinions of substance. the classic serif font embodies this.

Many forward slashes come together to form lostateminor. it is what it is. The white is larger than the black. the black, the addresses. the white, the filtering, the collection, the interpretation.

Lostateminor is transparent, the banner art is as a background is not obstructed. Intelligent content which does not have to rely on tricks and effects.”

______________________________

Romualdo Rommel Perez – “I made the e in a stylized vortex and made connections with the other texts to form the logo.”

______________________________

Adam Okrasinski – “This version has a gradient fill, but it would change to reflect colors from the banner it sits upon.”

______________________________

Mike Frank – “Simple typography with a nice thick modern san-serif provides a window into a moment that can rotate. Use with or without a background texture.”

______________________________

Alisha Watford – “My interpretation of discovery, creativity and artistry in a ‘Lost At E Minor’ logo.”

______________________________

Francisco Galárraga – “Lost At E Minor is all about discovery, and in your face content. The type is direct and easy to read, even in it’s slanted form. Coming from the beyond the top right corner the logo “comes to view screaming “i’m here!” to visitors. The transparent text area gives equal importance to the visual content as to the brand itself.”

______________________________

Tiffany Hancock – “The name ‘Lost At Eminor’ immediately made me think of being lost in a maze, which fitted in with the idea of discovery. I also hand drew the lettering to give a sense of fun and creativity.”

______________________________

Joanne Lam – “Inspired by the lines of musical notations, as derived from the “e minor” part of the name.”

______________________________

davemanc – “Negative space agogo, would need tweaking and font experimentation for final, just throwing an idea at your thought wall to see if it sticks or dribbles down in to the rejection gutter. Lots of options and playability, featured image taking negative space etc.”

______________________________

Daniel Sicolo – “A clean modern logo with samples on both light and dark backgrounds.”

______________________________

David Marc Marinelli

______________________________

Ben Hill – “Lost at E Minor is a place where people come to gorge themselves on creative inspiration. That is the essence of a site like this… It’s all about the work showcased. This logo is the stylish unassuming partner of the featured artists and projects. The circle serves as a place where featured projects and the logo cancoexist. I hope you dig it.”

______________________________

Jamie Strand Roscini

______________________________

Daniel Meyerowitz – “This design, which I made in my HS digital graphics class, was really inspired by the content of this website: fun, funky, and alittle wild.”

______________________________

Gabriel Towles – “Hope you enjoy!”

______________________________

Murphy Spence – “Here are several drafts of my Lost at E Minor logo Hope you guys enjoy”

______________________________

Andrew Tiller – “Lost in the urban sprawl.”

______________________________

TJ Lewis

______________________________

Sreyas Reddy

______________________________

George Coogan

______________________________

Joel Garza – “This is the logo that I worked really hard to create, so just for that you should totally make it your own. Love what you guys do way too much!!!”

______________________________

Daisy Kannis – “I aimed to treat typography like a maze…’lost’ in a maze of thoughts in the mind of a creative person/creative environment…yes, sounds corny/obnoxious, (spinning **** IS part of validating a design…no?) but i actually DID have that in mind when coming up with it…tried to show options of how it could look on your banners.”

______________________________

Letitia

______________________________

Kate Johnston

______________________________

Mike Walsh – “Lost at e minor GLOWS creativity. With an INVERSE look on things. Yet they stay ORIGINAL.”

______________________________

Mel Colvin

______________________________

David Marc Marinelli

______________________________

Grant Clark – “3 logo options for the new Lost At Eminor identity. They’re pretty flexible when it comes to colour changes and/or backgrounds. I realise I may be erring on the legibility aspect, but I think they’re readable!”

______________________________

Samuel Gee

______________________________

Rev. Jeff – “Argh! Daisy Kannis’s posting beat mine using the labyrinth as inspiration. It is cool to see how similar sparks get executed in such different ways. This one came to me from a Saul Bass + Piet Mondrian love child.”

______________________________

Taylor Jones

______________________________

Evan Papa – “The logo uses the bird to represent discovery with the musical note giving the logo a link to the sites name.”

______________________________

Jenna Read – “A design which plays off the concept that a good idea can graphically be depicted by a light bulb. In this design, it is not your usual light bulb, but one that is bursting, exploding with a new creative idea.”

______________________________

Lynette – “From London back to Oz, love your site and you have a lot of talented designers to choose from. My inspiration came from within the pages of your site and what you represent.”

______________________________

William Soo

______________________________

Carolina Celis – “I’m an Industrial Designer, who loves illustrations and Flash Animations. I always look at your website, i think is amuzing and fun.”

______________________________

Jon Swendris – “Clean, legible, and simplified these logos demonstrate Lost At E Minor’s transcendence across all media.”

______________________________

WLShia

______________________________

Kevin Vo – “Focusing on the AT as a graphic device that can be treated with variations to make it unique.”

______________________________

Sasha Liu – “My one’s weird.”

______________________________

Anna Chard – “Lost At E Minor brings together the whole spectrum of creativity in one place.  My new logo design for you, demonstrates this in a simple and playful way. I wanted the lettering to be linkedtogether, yet feel individual, like all the different areas in your website. Hope you like it.”

______________________________

Tim Eggert – “Four logos shown here pretty much without color.”

______________________________

Robert Bacchetto – “These are different colored lights of the logo design. This idea is based on the concept of your website you can choose the colour of the site. You can now choose different colours of the logo and using a light to colour the site.”

______________________________

Chris Gordon

______________________________

Natalie Pereira

______________________________

Melissa Currier

______________________________

Sara James – “Find your way…”

______________________________

Adam James – “Two designs, based on using opposing arrows as a visual representation of the word ‘lost’.”

______________________________

JP Schmidt – “Creativity and Exploration. I thought how better to convey these ideas than through street art? Then I thought of “exploration” again, and thought, SPACE! It doesn’t alienate anyone, and let’s you what the site’s about.”

______________________________

Jyoti Mary Singh (Mary)
“Logo 1
CONCEPT – Lost at E Minor is place for community,where people are given opportunity to discover their creativity and share with others.Along side the editors and writers of this website help the readers to be in touch with the latest trends in every field.This collaboration is the key to success of this website.
SYMBOL – The two spot color merged symbol represent  successful progress (motion) of the site. The two shapes represent community and editors/writers,who together give a dynamic look and feel to this website,which is represented in the merged symbol.
LOGOTYPE – is very simple  in negative and positive. All the characters are linked together supporting each other conveying the message “together we can discover new avenues in future.” The design contains curves and hard corners to create an oppositional feel – simple yet sophisticated to help attract core audiences of this website.”

______________________________

Orlando Lopez – “These are some of my ideas for a new site logo.”

______________________________

Pam – “Some like things clean and simple, like the type. Some like things not so clean and simple, like the heart. Contrast can be good. Everyone ‘hearts’ the Lost At E Minor site.”

______________________________

Michael Kleinman – “I couldn’t make up my mind, so I ended up trying multiple styles.”

______________________________

Ali Arad – “Here are some ideas for your new logo.”

______________________________

Jose Castro

______________________________

Chris Alcantara

______________________________

Martha Pettit – “Color bars always make feel mixed-up and lost in a good way.”

______________________________

Chris Swimley – “I hope you like it.”

______________________________

Javier Del Rio - “I play with something readable… that was all… and some clean things… that can be play by some textures and some other elements… readable is the key of this props…”

“I’ve been playing with something simple, but readable… but also that has that kind of fun and simplicity …
that has something iconic that could be used in some other materials in one color and also with textures and a lot of applications…”

______________________________

Jane Abma (aka Abmatron) – “No matter how many sketches I went through for this, my mind kept going back to simple type with only a few custom tweaks. There are loose connections to guitar strings modification as well.”

______________________________

Jeremy Gordaneer

______________________________

Mihoko Hakata – “Pleasure of Being Lost”

______________________________

James Crawley – “A custom font created by using only perfect circles and rectangles. This logo is proof that all things ordinary can be beautiful.”

______________________________

Terry

Please leave a comment to let us know your thoughts.