Our good friends at Sixthman, brought us "on board" to help develop the brand for their newest partnership cruise, VH1′s Best Cruise Ever. Included in our efforts were brand strategy, naming, logo design, print collateral, and the website design. A big initiative like this always leaves a trail of materials from our process, so I thought I'd collect some add some thoughts and share. Enjoy!

Concept:

Imagine everything awesome about VH1, then imagine it on a cruise for 4 days and nights with endless activities, so much so you'll forget to put on sunscreen.

First Execution:

The first approach we tried was an illustration based design that would allow us to be a little more whimsical and playful, but we felt it took away from the simplicity and humor of the sunburn concept.

Second Execution:

The second approach was a photo shoot with an everyday Joe as our model. We didn't want Billy Blanks or Xena the princess warrior, we wanted average. Someone who really would forget to put on sunscreen, you know, that guy. After we received the photos we tried various treatments, including a body covered in sun burnt type, but kept hanging on to this idea of simplicity. Below are some of the executions:

Final Solution:

We ended up on a version with only the logo burn mark and all the type set into the box in the bottom right. This version also allowed us to "swap" the background whenever needed. A TV Spot might have a setting sun, a web banner might have thousands of people packed onto the deck of the boat, or the festival poster might have the simple blue for ample room for autographs. The version below also includes the retouched final model image.

Logo

The logo was a simple stencil, used for the blocking of sunburnt chests, with an added Rock N' Roll hand. Our goal was to make it translate easily into merch and lower back tattoos.

So, as Danny Bonaduce would say, What do you think?

Back to Blog