“Aladdin” is the name of a hookah lounge based in Philadelphia, and the owner wanted a redesign of the brand with a fresh and original coat of paint. The name and color palette were kept the same, but I completely redesigned the logo and overall brand identity for the lounge.
I began the process by sketching various distinct treatments for the logotype, including concepts with separate type and symbols, bespoke handwritten variants, and lockups that combine type and logo mark. Here is the first round of concept sketches:
Here is the second round of rough concepts:
Communication with the client was consistent and thorough, and creative decisions for moving forward with the design were made in conjunction with each other. The client and I decided that the type treatment with a silhouette of a hookah in the letter “A” and hookah mouthpiece between the letters “I” and “N” of Aladdin was the concept that presented the most potential.
The next step was to expand the chosen concept into variants that stayed true to the idea but showed a wide scope of possibilities. I looked through hundreds of typefaces and selected ones that both fit the brand identity and provided ample space to house the hookah illustrations. Here are the type treatments:
The next step was to expand the chosen concept into variants that stayed true to the idea but showed a wide scope of possibilities. I looked through hundreds of typefaces and selected ones that both fit the brand identity and provided ample space to house the hookah illustrations. Here are the type treatments:
After many type treatments, the client and I decided that the best fit was the solid, sans serif typeface seen in the final logo. I then created variants of the logo with the hookah pipe arranged in different positions, which sits under the name and connects the two hookah silhouettes. Here are the variants:
The final contenders for the logo were these two variants, the only difference being the hookah pipe’s length below the type:
Ultimately, the shorter hookah pipe element was what worked best. The final touch was choosing the right color combination, which I did variants of with labeled color codes for the client to compare. Here are the color variants:
Once the decision was made, a finalized logo was created and Aladdin received the brand refresh my client desired.
