It feels as though I have been finding myself as a graphic designer for the entire time I have been one. In no way is this more evident than in the dozens of logos I have designed for myself. In the spirit of further self-discovery, I decided to spend a few hours sifting through my archive and present them here. Each one has become an era of my design career, representing leaps in skill and waves in personal style.
I am defining a logo as a symbol representing an identity, and this is what I have always been inspired by. Below are 15 personal logos created between 2011 and 2023:
My first logo, at least the first digitised, was this signature which I drew with a mouse using Adobe Acrobat. It had the exclusive purpose of signing the bottom of my school essays whose production value had increased exponentially. The logo itself is hideously technophobic, yet it was the first time I had branded myself as well as formed the basis of logos to come.
The design lacks little merit, but did build on a young mind's impression that "to be a signature, it had to be scribbly" and indeed the Aaron Swaffer is barely legible. The brown colour was the default, and I never quite figured out how to change it.
By this time I had started podcasting and producing videos online and desired something that "looked professional". Interestingly enough, although the shape is generically inspired by sound waves emanating from a speaker (à la Spotify, which was very new at the time) the protrusions were sloppily taken from that first signature, with the triangle being recognisable as the top of the F; you just need to take my word for it. At the time I had no funds for any type of professional image software nor the capability to use it, therefore the logo was first hand drawn and then traced in Gimp.
This was a beautiful collision of me having just written my first HTML blog website: I had some old colour splashes stored on my PC, and cutting out letters from train tickets. I remember thinking I had been quite clever in the way I had subtracted the type from the background texture. At this time I was living in the UK and felt a desire to accentuate my Swedish heritage by adding the first letter of my middle name.
This brief G was used for my first freelance invoices to friends and family. The G derives once more from my middle name Gustav, this being at the climax of my sentimentality toward my Swedish name and has not since reached these heights. The type itself is custom, inspired by a typeface I had designed for my mother's charcuterie. Notably it is the first vector logo used, and heralded an era of personal design minimalism.
This childishly simplistic monogram was with me for what felt like an age. AGS is visible with moderate wit and was used during my degree in Architecture, producing work adorned with it, as well as freelancing to supplement my income and portfolio. At some times I quite enjoyed the geometric nature of it, and at others I found the monogram crude. The colour is an off-pink, inspired by the graphic profile of my then favourite fashion brand Acne Studios.
Another brief but influential logo. The desire for my design language to be bolder, and more confident, had grown. Furthermore I desired to represent myself with themes and imagery that I was inspired by, not simply something that looked clever. Inevitably this fell flat on it being difficult to use and non-transferrable between mediums - for example it was unrecognisable at the scale of a profile picture and difficult to print.
The hook logo returned, now in a sharper red on a white background. Print design had become a cornerstone in my architecture degree, and my logo needed to work with this. However the aesthetic conflict continued, and this logo would be avoided and often replaced with simply my full name typed out.
At this point I had become worn out by the plethora of logos and identities acquired over the years. I therefore intensely sensored my aesthetic expression. This red circle was a response to the futility of a brand, and once again tried to embrace print design above personal representation. The colour might, however, be recognisable to observant Swedes as falu rödfärg, the oxidised red paint most associated with pastoral Sweden.
Around the time I produced my first product Penelope Playing Cards I produced this original logotype. The words had become a pseudonym and business name, deriving from the plethora of feathers in varying shapes, sizes, and functions that complete the whole bird's plumage; a metaphor for my diasporic interests. The colour becomes more pink, and a navy is introduced, though sadly was never to return.
The work is clean and balanced, it is unique and crisp. Some letters appeal to me, such as the 'm' and 'g', others less so. The entire font was built up of three shapes, two curves and rectangles.
Owing to the extremely personal nature and relative success of my playing cards, this "headshot" became a sort of logo. However this was partly due to a brand void created by my relocation to Stockholm during the pandemic. I am still very proud of these simple illustrations, and pleased that they were so warmly received. They gave me an opportunity to work with my hands during the pandemic, and to produce a product that was uncompromisingly sustainable.
Translating plumage to Swedish gives fjäderdräkt [feather costume] and this became and remains my company name. The icon is based on the coat of arms for the province of Uppland in Sweden. The use of the name proved problematic, with many of my clients being english-speaking. The icon was later used as the basis for a new brand founded in 2022 producing sustainable clothing made in Sweden.
I wanted to produce a logo that was foremost focused on my love of print design, with type being created on an HP printer and the feather being a rubber ink stamp. Fjäderdräkt became my holding company name, and as a result I was free to introduce a new name and identity for my graphic design business.
My first logo for Pantograf was one produced very quickly and acted as a placeholder. The name refers to a pantograph used to connect power to a moving train, and this formed the basis of the O. The name was chosen due to its legibility, my love for sustainable transport and the built environment.
The logo lacks refinement that I can be proud of, and does not imbue the values that inform the studio.
In 2023 I was finally able to produce a more considered approach to my brand. Three of the core principles when designing the identity were:
The custom typeface is based on other art nouveau styles, taking inspiration from one of my greatest idols - Glasgow's Margaret MacDonald and Charles Rennie Mackintosh. This era saw great public works and social reform, with designers of all disciplines manifesting this into timeless work. The contemporary UK Arts & Crafts Movement and Nordic Romantic Movement typify this perfectly, and parallel my own duality.
Creating original design is hard. Not because plagiarism is difficult to resist, but because originality is often a measure of comparison. I define originality as design that is attentive to its user or client, it is intuitive and innovative - and when done well, nothing can be more original.
A sustainable brand needs to respond to the needs of the times, to imbue values that show a pioneering spirit and sensitivity to the past. The design tries to have a sense of locality and place, employing a vernacular familiar to me and to our customers. We look forward to demonstrating how graphic design and sustainability can synergise in coming articles and projects.
I also created this simple square icon based on the illustration used in #10 above to give continuity and a recognisable asset to be used for various print and digital purposes.
I am surprised to find at the end of writing this that my design evolution is far more coherent than expected - it is surprisingly simple to follow a thread from one logo to another. Typically I have been quick to delete all records of a previous logo, and embracing a new. Most of these logos would not hold up well if presented in any kind of design review, yet some have charm perhaps owing to the same naïveté.
Being able to reflect on my design process vertically has been rewarding and I would love to see other designers try it.
Got any thoughts or questions? Reach out to us at info@pantograf.se
-Aaron
