Vital Market Research

I was asked to develop a logo for a small market research firm working exclusively for pharmaceutical companies. The client wanted the company's identity to represent confidence, experience and professionalism, but it also needed to be slightly whimsical and not too stuffy – a worthy challenge for any designer.

And there was a bonus challenge - the client's first name is "Vita" and her last name begins with an "L", so she cleverly named her company Vital Market Research, with "Vital" being a combination of her first name and last initial. She suggested that if this could be emphasized in the design, it would make a nice Easter Egg for her clients.

The initial round of logos contained five samples, all in a bright orange and a desturated bluish-purple color scheme. The first concept used an implied word bubble at the top of the shape, indicating the voice of the customer. The tail of the word bubble split the "Vita" and "L" in the name, providing the clue to the hidden meaning of the firm's name:




Concept two was more fun and retro - "Vital" was laid out in a custom-designed typeface, with an image of a rounded boiling flask (I did my research) next to the text portion of the logo:




The third concept was the most formal due to its centered layout. The orange triangles emanating out of the center of the "M" created a megaphone/speaking mouth effect - another representation of the role served by the firm – gathering information from customers and conveying that data to pharmaceutical companies:



Since many pharma companies have all-text logos, the fourth concept I presented was a type-only logo. I created a custom face for the "VMR" and set it next to the firm's full name. The angles on both sides give balance to the layout:




The fifth concept used a futuristic font and a segmented capsule pill to illustrate the concept of market analysis:




The client reviewed the first round of concepts and selected the first logo as the one to develop further. She asked that we modify the color scheme – the orange and bluish-grey were too close to the colors of an existing pharmaceutical company. The client also requested that I present alternate typefaces as well as additional ways to emphasize the word bubble element:




For the next round of revisions, the client asked that the lime green be changed to a more subdued color – I chose with a 50% gray. We also explored additional shape and font combinations, and added a version of the logo with rounded corners:

After reviewing her options, the client went with a version of the logo with sharp corners, an additional top shape, and the original typefaces:

Hopefully one of her clients will pick up on that Easter Egg.