PROBLEM SPACE
Danner knew its logo was creating production problems, particularly when injection molded, but not exactly what in the mark was to blame or what needed to change. The challenge was to simplify the mark without losing what made it Danner.
PROJECT SUMMARY
I knew where the trouble was: dense details in the mark were obvious failure points at small sizes. Then I discovered the original art was gone. The primary logo file was a vector trace of a photocopy already generations removed from it.
What I expected to be a straightforward recut became a reconstruction. I enlarged and compared the surviving versions, using their curves and stroke logic to recover the intent of the original handdrawn forms.
The riskiest part was changing two of the mark’s most recognizable characteristics, they were the same details causing the production problems. I kept that concern in sight, but ironically enough, the changes that solved the injection-molding issue actually made the signature read more clearly. The logo looked more like Danner by changing two of the things that had arguably come to define it.
Agency: Kamp Grizzly
Creative Director: Haven Anderson