After a year of helping other local businesses such as Prince of Whales navigate through the rough waters of COVID-19, CrackerJackFlash thought it was the perfect time to do something for its own brand.
That’s why the New Year was the time to step back, reflect and see how things could be improved upon as a brand. The goal, to have an identity that was less clunky, and more authentic and memorable, just like the CJ*F brand promise.
Prior to this year’s brand refresh, CJ*F’s Director of Visual Story, Jack Adamson did his best to marry the names of the two company brands, CrackerJack + Jack Flash, to form one entity currently known as CrackerJackFlash. But with more time to reflect over the past holiday season, Jack knew he could do better to simplify the identity to help make it more inspiring and create a greater emotional reaction with its audience, especially in its video signature.
But often, simple isn’t necessarily that simple to achieve. Pulling things apart, rejigging, removing and/or adding elements can lead to a long and dangerous rabbit hole. So rather than trying to solve the puzzle in one sitting, Jack took his time over a period of weeks to muse. Taking time to step away and craft, then coming back with a fresh perspective the next day, tinker a little more, then repeat, proved to be very effective when working on its own brand.
In the end, the refresh didn’t look like a complete departure from its predecessor. In fact, most of the elements did stay the same, with lots of repositioning and the addition of a grungy layer of black steel to the background of the logo. But, CJ*F’s iconic yellow asterisk (which symbolizes a camera “flash”) came dangerously close to being given the boot. It was the one element that seemed to add an unnecessary layer to the logo once the wordmark was refined to the two separate lines. And almost by accident, when moving the asterisk out of the way and half off the design page, it was then when it all came together to create a more balanced union between the elements, creating the perfect excuse to have the asterisk still be part of the CJ*F brand story.
Please, let me know what you think. Or better yet, let me know which of my service offerings can help grow your business.