100 Day Project — Branding

The 100 Day Project

In 2020 I began this project with the goal of making 100 different logo designs within certain criteria. First, each logo was from a different year; beginning in 1920, each day I progressed one year. Second, I wanted to spend an average of 45 minutes on each logo. That included deciding which logo — from a Wikipedia page displaying companies established in the given year — any research necessary, and designing the logo. 100 days of branding yielded some interesting results!

My goal wasn’t so much to create a complete and perfect identity for each brand, but to challenge myself to think quickly, and make design decisions without getting in my head too much. Beyond that I wanted to sharpen various design skills. The project was a blast, and though it had moments of frustration it was well worth it. Not every logo was a winner, but I’m really pleased with the work that came out of this project.

Ampere Computing is a semiconductor company based in Santa Clara California.

Alpha Michigan Brewing Company was founded in 2018 and is located in the village of Alpha Michigan.

Canoo is an electric vehicle manufacturer founded in 2017. Canoo is based near L.A. and their first prototype was an electric van.

9 Stories Productions was established in 2015 and is the company behind the movie Whiplash among several others. Branding this with a motion graphic seemed fitting for a production company.

Potato Parcel is a company established in 2015 that delivers potatoes with personalized messages. Honestly… if someone sent me a potato I wouldn’t be mad. It does get much better than branding a potato.

Boom Technology is a startup which began in 2014 with the goal of introducing a new Mach 2.2 commercial passenger plane in 2029.

Master & Dynamic is a premium audio company founded in 2014. They’ve partnered with several other premium brands to collaborate such as Leica.

Lever is a company established in 2012 to provide a way to track applications when companies are hiring.

Cincinnati Bell is a regional telecommunications service provider that was technically founded in 1873, but changed hands somehow or another in 2011.

Jump started in 2010 and is a dockless scooter and electric bike sharing system owned by Lime. Branding this company was a favorite of mine.

Hydro Flask is a brand of water bottle established in 2009. The owners first sold their products at farmers markets.

Astrobotic Technology is a company founded in 2007 to develop robotic technology for lunar and planetary missions.

LightBuckets is a commercial astronomical observatory founded in 2007. Located in France, they rent time on their telescope to people around the world online.

Megabus was founded in 2006. Its an inner city bus service and tickets can be purchased for as little as $1.

Illumitex was established in 2005. They manufacture lighting for indoor and vertical farming.

Zillow was founded in 2004 but their site didn’t launch until 2006. They’re an online real estate database company.

blackbird vineyards — Blackbird Vineyards was technically established in 1995, however their first vintage was in 2003.

Ghost Robot is a creative content studio based out of Williamsburg, Brooklyn that was established in 2002.

Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory was established in 2001. All of their ice cream and hot fudge is freshly made in the old fashioned style with no preservatives.

March First was a web development company named after their formation date. Just over a year after they were formed, the company filed for bankruptcy.

Pyra Labs was established in 1999 and eventually created the “Blogger” service and was bought by Google in 2003

WebAssign was established in 1998. They provide homework services for faculty and students.

Pommes Frites was established in 1997. They serve only one thing: Fries prepared in the Belgian style, with a variety of sauces of course. This place, located in NYC makes me kinda hungry.

I’m still not totally sure what Belgian style fries are, but I definitely want some.

Digital Anvil was founded in 1996 from the idea of providing, “hard work and high tech.”

Blue Microphones was founded in 1995. They design and manufacture recording microphones.

Best Market is a family owned regional supermarket established in 1994. They are currently in the process of being bought out by German super market company Lidl.

Move inc was established in 1993 in in Delaware. It is now based in Santa Clara, California and operates a number of real estate websites including Realtor.com.

Digital Ocean was a maker of wireless products established in 1992. They had several contracts with companies such as Apple and AT&T.

Moe Pipe Organ Company was founded in 1991 in Northern Minnesota. They have been mostly installing and building pipe organs for the last 20 years.

Digital Theater Systems was founded in 1990 by Terry Beard. He convinced Steven Spielberg to use DTS for Jurassic Park by remastering “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

Long Trail Brewing Company is a regional brewery in Vermont. It was founded in 1989 by Andy Pherson.

Shred-It was founded in 1988. They specialize in paper shredding and hard drive destruction. They work to prevent identity theft, dispose of old ID badges, prototypes, and my favorite: materials with outdated branding.

Radius bank is an online focused bank in Boston Massachusetts that was established in 1987. It has only one physical location.

Delta Shuttle finds its origins in 1986 when it was known as Pan Am shuttle. It was purchased by Delta in 1991.

Vinotemp was established in 1985 in LA by Francis Ravel. The company was established to make and sell wine but eventually transitioned to making customized wine storage refrigerators.

Cirrus Aircraft was established in 1984 in order to produce the VK-30 kit aircraft. Originally founded by Alan and Dale Klapmeier, it is now owned by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China and is headquartered in Duluth Minnesota.

Lens Crafters was established in 1983 by E. Dean Butler and is now owned by Luxottica, the largest eyewear company in the world.

Lotus Software was established in 1982 as Lotus Development Corporation. It is now a subsidiary of IBM.

Ibis Bicycles was established in 1981 by Scot Nicol. He sold the company in 2000 and was bankrupt in nearly two years but was brought back in 2005. It is still in operation today.

New York Air was created out of Texas Air in 1980. It ceased operations and merged with Continental Airlines in 1987.

The Mysterious Bookshop is a bookstore and publisher in NYC. It opened for the first time on April 13, 1979 and is now located in the Tribeca neighborhood of NYC.

Orion Pictures was established as “Orion Pictures Company” in 1978. Now owned by MGM films distributed by Orion have won 4 Academy awards for best picture.

Giorgio DeLuca and Joel Dean opened the first location of their grocery store in 1977. As of 2018 they operated 37 locations.

Lamps plus was established in 1976 in North Hollywood by Dennis Swanson and his wife Manja Swanson. Originally a design and manufacturing company, they moved eventually to multi channel retail. Lamps plus is now the largest specialty lighting company in the US

Three Little Pigs is a charcuterie company established in 1975 by two chefs and one other business partner. They didn’t have enough money to start a restaurant so they started this company instead out of a 300 square foot space.

Full Moon Records was established in 1974. It’s most notable artists were Chicago, Joe Walsh, and Dan Fogelberg.

Mann Theaters was established in 1973 be Ted Mann. It was a theater chain mostly concentrated in Southern California and at one point owned Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

Half Price Books was established in 1972. They’re a chain of new and used books stores and their motto is “We buy and sell anything printed or recorded except yesterday’s newspaper.”

Cannondale has a really interesting history. It was established in 1971 as a manufacturer of precast concrete housing. If you think that’s unrelated to bikes: their next endeavor was to try and develop an engine that ran on ammonia, and then an air conditioner with no moving parts. It wasn’t until later on that they got into bikes after one of the founders went on a camping trip with his son and they started to develop a bike trailer.

Western Digital was established as a semiconductor company in 1970 and is now a leading manufacturer of data storage of all kinds.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. was established in 1969 in Santa Clara California. They develop computer processors for all kinds of applications.

SpaceAge Control was established in 1968 to produce pilot protection devices for space-based and high-performance test aircraft. Any branding having to do with space was always a blast.

When I was a kid I used to love going to EMS to look at all the stuff I could neither afford nor had any real use for. Eastern Mountain Sports was established din 1967 and is a retailer of outdoor equipment such as climbing, hiking, and camping gear.

ACE Rent-A-Car was established in 1966 by lifelong friends Robert Sorenson and Ken Osterand. It’s headquartered in Indianapolis Indiana.

Petco was established in 1965 as a mail order business for veterinary supplies. Though they do sell some animals they always encourage adopting a pet rather than purchasing whenever possible.

First Manhattan Company is a financial services and asset management company established in 1964. Its history is exactly as boring as this description.

One of a few motion graphics throughout the project

This isn’t as much a logo design as it is just an animation but that kinda just seemed more appealing today. Comcast was established in 1963 and is the second largest broadcasting company in the world.

Crate & Barrel was first opened in 1962 by Gordon and Carole Segal. The store was located in an old elevator factory in Chicago. The couple wanted to bring durable, beautiful, and affordable European products to young couples just starting out like themselves.

Pacific Northwest Bell Company was established in 1961 and was owned mostly by AT&T until January 1st 1984.

The “companies established in 1960” page on Wikipedia listed Vitamin World… only after finishing today’s project did I see on the Wikipedia page for Vitamin world that it was in fact established in 1977. I’ve used up the allotted time for today’s project and so we’re time traveling today.

Cyclo Industries is a service chemical company established in 1959.

Beginner Books was founded by Phyllis Cerf, Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and Helen Palmer Geisel. It is the Random House imprint for books for 3-9 year olds and began with the book, “The Cat in the Hat.” In 1958 they only had four books in their catalog.

Seven Arts Productions was a film production company established in 1957 by Ray Stark, Eliot Hyman, and Norman Katz. It merged with Warner Brothers in 1967.

Mister Donut was established by Harry Winokur in 1956. His brother-in-law was the founder if Dunkin’ Donuts and Winokur broke off his partnership with him and started Mister Donut. I’ll let you guess which one has seen more success.

Rocketdyne was established in 1955. It was a rocket engine design and production company based out of LA.

G4S is an American/British security company that was established in 1954 by George Wackenhut. It was originally called, “The Wackenhut Corporation.”

Panavision established by Robert Gottschalk in 1953. It is a motion picture equipment company that specializes in cameras and lenses.

Herald Records was established in 1952 by Fred Mendelsohn. The labels biggest hits was “Stay” by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs.

Iron Mountain Inc was established in 1951 by Herman Knaust. It was originally a ploy of land for him to grow mushrooms to sell which is how he made his fortune. But as demand decreased the business changed drastically and he used the depleted iron mines on the land as vaults. Today is operated as an information storage enterprise used by 94% of Fortune 1000 companies. This company has seen some changes to say the least.

Desilu Productions was established in 1950 by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. Both Desi and Lucille were brilliant business people and creatives and the two of them completely revolutionized tv and production. The list of the developments credited to them is too long to list but they’re worth learning more about for sure. I remember going to my grandparents house and watching “I Love Lucy” on VHS. Their work still holds up!

Circuit City was first established in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as “Wards Company.” Wurtzel was a on vacation when he witnessed television for the first time and decided to open a retail store. The business grew and was very successful until the recent decline in retail brick and mortar stores.

Ravn Air Group was established in 1948 by Carl Brady as an economy helicopter airline.

Igloo Products Corp. was established in 1947 as a producer of metal water coolers. It became known as simply “Igloo” in 1971.

Tektronix was established in 1946 and began during the tech revolution following WWII. It’s best known for manufacturing testing and measurement devices.

Schuman Cheese was established in 1945 by Arthur Schuman and is the largest US importer of Italian cheeses.

New York Bus Service was established in 1944 (possibly 1945). It began as a school bus service but grew into a more and more routes of transportation. It was bought by the city of New York in 2005.

United Productions of America was an animation studio established in 1943. It originally produced industrial and WWII training films and later went on to produce theatrical shirts such as Mr. Magoo.

Portraits Inc was established in 1942 in NYC by Lois Shaw. It is the world’s oldest and largest commissioned portrait company.

This was one of my favorites from early on in the project

California Shipbuilding Corporation was established in 1941 to manufacture ships for WWII and produced 467 ships. Once the war was over they ceased operations and their site and materials were absorbed by another company.

Bob’s Cola was founded in 1940 by Benjamin J. Frink. There was never a Bob at Bob’s Cola but the founder thought the name was good and easy to remember.

Pocket books was established in 1939 and was the first producer of mass-market pocket-sized paper back books in the US. It was created by two partners of Simon & Schuster.

Empire Kosher Poultry Inc. was established in 1938 in Liberty, New York by Joseph N. Katz. Today it is the largest producer of kosher poultry, beef, and lamb.

Today I was feeling very unenthused by the project. Every day I pull up a Wikipedia page that displays companies that were established on whichever year I’m planning to do that day. I usually look for one that is familiar or interesting. Something with a fun name or business.. today the pickings were mostly pretty lame and the ones that were cool I didn’t feel up to doing. So I just picked one that seemed as boring as possible and rather than trying to make it “good” I played around with each letter and the spaces in between each letter and made it… well whatever you would call this. Though not technically “good” certainly not abiding by any legitimate rules of branding.. it was fun. CoServe Electric was organized in 1937 in Denton County Texas.. it’s a not-for-profit rural electric utility cooperative. It is exactly as exciting as it sounds, maybe somehow even less so.

Although Ray-Ban is advertised as “since 1937” the original pro type was created in 1936 as anti-glare glasses for aviators, hence the name of their most iconic product. The lenses were green and reduced glare as well as made visibility better against the blue and white hues of the sky.

Sunshine Dairy was established in 1936 in Portland Oregon by John Karamanos. He originally started the business as a dairy delivery service for his friends who worked in the food industry. In 2001 Sunshine Dairy became the first dairy in its area to buy only rBST-free milk.

DC Comics was established in 1934 by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson as “National Allied Publications” with the intention of publishing original stories. One title “Detective Comics” helped to inspire the abbreviation “DC.”

E & J Gallo Winery was established in California in 1933 by two brothers, Ernest and Julio Gallo. It is now the largest exporter of California wines.

The Modern Art Foundry was founded in 1932 by John Spring and is still operated today by his descendants.

Monogram Pictures was established in 1931 and specialized in low budget action adventure films. It was one of the smaller studios during the “golden age” of Hollywood.

Westin Hotels was originally named Western Hotels, and then Western International Hotels. The words Western and International were then contracted into the word “Westin.” It was founded out of an unexpected meeting between two hotel owners in Seattle Washington in 1930.

Carvel was founded by Tom Carvel in 1929. He borrowed $15 from Agnes (his future wife) and bought an ice cream truck.

Zach’s Hotdogs was established in 1928 by Zach Touloupas in Burlington, North Carolina. Its original name was “Alamance Hot Wienie Lunch.” Zach was quoted as saying, “If it tastes good to me, it tastes good to someone else.”

Lender’s Bagels was established in 1927 by Harry Lender, and immigrant from Poland. Lender’s pioneered “prepackaged” bagels and throughout their history have been owned by Kraft and Kellogg.

It’s no mistake that three projects in a row were about food

Sprague Electric was established by Robert C. Sprague in 1926 and was a maker of electronic components. The company was bought and sold over the years and has since been sold off to several companies in small parts. Sprague invented the tantalum capacitor which was significantly smaller than the current standard.

Argosy Book Store was established in New York City in 1925 and is the oldest independent book store in the city. The name was chosen because Louis Cohen, the founder, wanted a name that would be early on in the phone book. Argosy is a type of ship that was used by merchants beginning in the 16th century.

Ace Hardware was established in 1924 and was named after the “flying aces” of World War I. Following World War II their business grew dramatically and they are now the largest non-grocery American retail cooperative.

Kreider-Reisner was an aircraft company formed in 1923. They were both a flying service and manufacturer of aircraft and closed down in 1929.

First National Bank of Anchorage was established in 1922 and is now called the First National Bank of Alaska. It was founded by a candy maker.

Laugh-O-Gram was a film studio incorporated by Walt Disney in 1921. It only lasted 2 years but I couldn’t resist the name.

DiCamillo Bakery is my favorite Italian Bakery back home in Niagara Falls where I grew up.

The 100 Day Project

I’m still not totally sure what Belgian style fries are, but I definitely want some.

One of a few motion graphics throughout the project

This was one of my favorites from early on in the project

It’s no mistake that three projects in a row were about food

You can also see the project on Behance. And you can see another branding project here.