A Look at Brand Presentation across Canada and USA
This spring I toured with the family band (The Josties) across eastern Canada and parts of the US for almost two months playing upright bass and bass guitar.
During the trip I was constantly analyzing logo and art design along the highway. I think my family got sick of me identifying all the fonts on all the signs along the way. I’m sure other designers can relate.
Along the way I took several photos that I wanted to share with you all. It’s always interesting to see how companies present their identity.
Logo Presentation
We came across this logo at the Indiana Toll Road and I fell in love with the logo. So simple.

In Quebec City I had to admire these classic style brands as we walked through the historic part of the city:

Nice detail:

Found this fun and classy brand in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario:

I really loved the simple illustration for Parks Canada:

The eco-buses in Quebec have a pretty snazzy logo:

We visited the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They have a very nice, clean, illustration of flags.

Mainway, a gas stop store, logo forms an “M” and “W”.

Major Brands
Found this McDonalds in the mid-West US with birds nesting in the letters. Probably not the best logo presentation:

Jared’s favorite brand:

Budget’s simple graphic suggests going down a road:

Mobil is an excellent typographic logo that is so simple. The “o” suggests a wheel:

THE UGLY
Traveling through some towns I also came across several dreadful logos that I couldn’t believe that a company would actually be happy to have it as their identity.
Here is a logo that has an overused font stacked on top of each other with sketchy color scheme to form a memorable logo you wish you could forget:
(I removed the name from this sign to protect the company. Who knows? They might be a quality company despite their identity.)

Pretty scary kerning:

Far from creative:

Conclusion
I think its healthy for all creative designers to constantly be observing and analyzing other brands. Hope you enjoyed the photos.
I’ll end my post with a custom type that you type lovers will find interesting I found hidden behind some bushes near Niagara Falls. I like the look of the lower case “a”s:

Cheers!
Josiah Jost
Philippians 1:6
8 Comments
crazy_wabbit
July 10th, 2009
Nice collection, I love the MacDonald one, hope they clean all the bird droppings in front of the store :O
crazy_wabbit´s last blog ..WS: Trip to FeilongShan
Mario De Kauwe
July 10th, 2009
Hey awesome post dude!! good observations! love the picture of the McDonalds signage!! haha… i can assure you that the 1 rupee Big mac you are going to eat when you come here does not have anything to do with those birds… ![]()
Mario De Kauwe´s last blog ..WS: Trip to FeilongShan
That Rossy sign is hideous. Looks like some of these were taken in Montreal?
9swords´s last blog ..New Post: A roundup of inspiring Typography. Enjoy!
Well Dude. I used to live in T.o., and it’s fun to read such a post. Please send me a sample of your bass guitar work saved as Mp3. I live in California. You brought back memories of the 90′s… you know , that other century when we were kids!
Wonderfu l logos by the way…
That sounds like a fun trip! I like the eco bus logo. This is a great idea for a post. Thanks for sharing the pics.
Matty´s last blog ..Threadless Tshirt Giveaway at jaypeeonline.net
Nice blogs thanks
The Indiana Toll Road load is excellent, simple but very very clever – love it.















awesome post! and oh my are ROSSY and the dry cleaning logo scary!! hahah, sweet to see some canadians doing it right tho
Sean Farrell´s last blog ..New Projects