MO by MOTHERHAUS

Magick & Meaning: The Hidden Arts in Logo Design

Branding, and logos in particular, aim to distill a lot of big ideas down to an elegant expression that resonates with people. When we are building a brand’s visual identity, we are working in the world of symbolism.

There is an inherent meaning in everything. Colors have meaning. Shapes have meaning. Meanings can come from history, myth, and folklore and they are embedded in our culture and in our subconscious.

For instance, colors have a psychological influence on us. Blue instills trust. Green connotes nature and healing. Red is passionate. Purple is luxurious.

Shapes can also communicate a subliminal message. It can be as basic as an arrow hidden between the E and X in the FedEx logo to convey speed. But shapes—and the meaning behind them—can get far more sophisticated than that.

We have a lot of tools in our creative toolkit for inspiration, and one I love working with is Magick, with all its history and symbolism. MAGICK is he art of utilising natural forces around us to achieve transformation, external change, self-improvement, or connection with the divine. As a creative tool of exploration, it opens up incredible paths and often results in surprising twists and synchronicity.

One type of magick I’m fascinated with is Alchemy. Alchemy is the process of taking something ordinary and turning it into something extraordinary, sometimes in a way that cannot be explained. This sounds like my creative process.

The core of Alchemy can be summed up with the Phrase “Solve et Coagula” “Solve et Coagula” translates to “dissolve and reconstitute” The transmutation from base to a finer state, the perpetual goal of spiritual growth and human evolution. Something must be broken down before it can be built up. This is what we do when we build a brand. Break everything down to its essential parts, and then build it up into something elevated.

The Motherhaus logo has symbolism in it. The M is based off the Viking Rune Ehwaz that [DEFINITION] and the “O” [DEFINITION]

Let's walk through the design of a client’s logo, incorporating some magick and meaning through symbolism.

Symphonic Capital, Financial Management firm for top-tier investors. Symphonic combines “the best of technical command, artistic virtuosity, and intellectual depth.”

Here is the logo we’re going to break down. Inspired by a little-known Bach musical cryptogram and the golden ratios of Fibonacci that play a key role in market calculations.

In the discovery phase of the project, we learned that Symphonic’s founder—who is also a concert pianist— finds Johann Sebastian Bach’s use of counterpoint to be a constant inspiration for his development work.

Researching Bach, I discovered The Bach Motif. In German musical nomenclature it is possible to spell out Bach’s surname with four notes, and many musicians have hidden this motif into their own compositions as tribute. I’m going to show you how I did the same with visual symbolism.

First, I created a visual representation of the wavelengths for each of these notes, and then stretched them to match the same time span.

Next I isolated the segments of each wave.

Then I enlarged the four waves and aligned their end-points to match key Fibonacci values used as markers in evaluating financial markets.

Next, I modified the strokes to give them a more musical vibe. We now have a symbolic representation for Symphonic and what they do, embedded with a musical tribute to Bach.

The golden ratio was also applied to the lock up with the name.

Here’s how it all looks in context.

Next, I want to show you how to bring some magick into your own life. I’m going to teach you how to make a sigil.A sigil is like a magical logo.It is a symbol you create with the intention of changing your reality in accordance with your will.

The type of sigil I’m going to demonstrate uses a traditional approach involving letter forms. When my neighbors’ dog died a few years ago, I wanted to make a tribute to her. For inspiration, here is the deck where she hung out and the view. Her name was CHARLI

I’ve been making Talismans and Sigils for many years and usually use a classic sigil building technique which converts the letter forms of a message or intention into an abstract symbol. They’re like magical logos.
 For this talisman, I started by writing out the intention “Charlie is at peace”

Then I removed all the vowels.

Then I removed any repeating consonants ( in this case an extra “C”)

This left a string of non-repeating consonants. Now come the fun part: taking the shapes, curves, and angles of these letterforms and merging them into an abstract symbol.

I often start with a circle, as I like how it contains the energy of the intention.

The C can be referenced in this initial circle.

Here’s the H

And now the R. Notice the golden ratio in the spacing.

Now the L

An S, again using the spirals of the golden ratio

The T

And the P

With the swirls of the S, I saw waves, and thought of Charli’s view from her deck overlooking the ocean. I extended the line to emphasise the horizon and then added a sun to represent the sunrise in the east.

An additional angled line conveys the suns movement and the passage of time.

I then decided to try filling in the sections with colours corresponding to the four elements: First there is Sun and Fire

Sea and Water

Sky and Air

Mountain and Earth With the addition of the green, I noticed something magical. The shape is very similar to the silhouettes of Lions Head and Table Mountain, which lie directly behind Charli’s deck.

I gave the sigil to our neighbors as a gift and it happened that the daughter had been thinking about getting a tattoo in tribute to Charli. This sigil for Charli is now at her ankle.