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Fun Run
Logo Design
Intro
The Brett Gelbach Memorial Foundation is an organization that puts together an annual boating fun run to honor Brett's life and fundraise a scholarship toward the trades. Being a close person to Brett, I could not refuse the offer to design the logo for the fun run. This opportunity would help me grow in my design career and contribute my time to a good cause.
I started by discussing with the committee what the event was going to be. They made it clear they wanted to look and be different than the other boating poker runs that take place in the area (Poker Runs are the traditional name for these boating events). The business strategy- raise money to go to a scholarship for the trades. The design strategy- create a logo that portrays Brett’s life while looking professional enough to get sponsors to donate to the cause and look inviting to bring in participants.
Learning About The Event
Design Brief
The design process began with talking to the committee about what types of things they wanted to see in the logo, and the nouns we came up with for possible logo options were prop, plane, boat, wave, engine (Brett loved boating and flying his plane).
Designing
I played around with half a plane and half a prop for the initial design, but the committee wasn't feeling that vibe. I suggested a full boat and full plane, the plane flying over the boat. The next rendering was a plane flying over a boat with the name going around the top in a semi-circle. I chose the color scheme off Brett’s boat and plane colors, both being red, black, and white. I chose typography that looked like it was in fast motion; this tied in with the theme of the plane and boat in motion. The committee loved what I had come up with for the final design logo. (Committee changed the name of the fun run during the design process)
I created a word mark and a pattern for the fun run so that the committee could spice up their facebook page and the forms they were sending out. For the pattern I decided to just do the boat and plane in black and white, I was afraid it would be too busy with color. The word mark ended up going on the front of the shirt.
Extended Logo
After the logo was established, sponsorships came in, and I needed to merge the presenting sponsors logo with the newly designed fun run logo. I gave the committee three options to choose from. This would be the temporary logo for 2026. The merged logo will change every year depending on who the presenting sponsor is. The merged logo appears on the t-shirts and banners for the event.
Temporary Logo 2026
The mock ups for the shirt and banners helped the committee visualize how the logo would look on their event attire. The t-shirt mockup helped them determine which merged logo to go with.
Mock Ups
Take Away
Overall, the project was great experience working with a committee. This logo project became more than just a logo. I was able to grow my knowledge in Adobe Illustrator, use new tools, and create another logo from scratch! Logo projects are something I love to do and am passionate about!