If there is one thing I can pass along on this post, it's a theory I call the "appleswoosh" effect. Its when a company’s logomark doesn’t directly correlate to the things they produce. Its more about their products, core values and beliefs that make their icon, an icon. Nike used a checkmark. Apple, a fruit. My point is -- is that sometimes we spend too much time justifying our logo designs, and don’t realize it’s only a third of the equation. This isn't very conducive to any forward momentum of our company.

In the diagram above there are three pillars that make up a company: The Icon, Brand & Product. I’ve represented them through sketches we can relate to. The icon is the face of the company. Regardless of how attractive you are, we rely on the heart to determine your brand. These are things such as: your attitude, personality and values. The sum of it all is what society consumes, the product.

As much as I am excited to fill this blog with product. Firstly, it'll be fun to touch on the logo I designed and the inspiration around it. Yes, it's ironic I encouraged you to not spend much time on your logo, but you should still care about its origins. Keep good design practices, but avoid spending way too much time justifying the design so you don't rabbit hole yourself and move on.

I knew I wanted this blog to be about adventures on the motorcycle. There are so many places I want to check out, in and around California. Ho°Bo° is the perfect excuse to ride and explore. When designing the logo I drew inspiration from things related to: location, geography and traveling. I chose the final logo because how extensible the longitude & latitude concept is, and I love its application. Imagine Ho° & Bo° replaced with coordinates relative to my adventures. Would you be curious about where I went? There's something compelling about tracking down mysterious coordinates to me that I encourage the stalker in you to agree. Especially if I presented them to you like this:

Below are a few more sketches to tease your appetite. Enjoy them as I enjoyed quickly sketching them.