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Meaning of ORIZURU
Orizuru is the Japanese word for paper crane.
It shares the same "ori" from origami, a.k.a. the art of folding paper.
ORI (おり / 折) means "folding" / "to fold", and ZURU (づる / 鶴) -- ordinarily spelled tsuru¹ -- means "crane". So together² ³, it is literally "folding crane".
¹ modified as an instance of rendaku ² in hiragana: おりづる ³ in kanji: 折鶴
Brand rationale
The orizuru is a combination of geometry, precision, and creativity, all wrapped up in a tidy package; something I strive for in the delivery of CAD plans. Not to mention, origami and plans are both (typically) products of paper, made slightly ironic in the operating of a paperless business, go figure!
There is something very calming about folding squares of paper into intricate shapes and designs. You detach yourself from the world for a few minutes, fully engaged in this mindful, dexterous activity. The end result is a product that's pleasant to look at, but only possible from the careful, deliberate steps along the way, and it's in these moments that fulfilment can be found.
I try to imbue the above principles into my work:
exactitude
aesthetics
engagement
enjoyment
Too simple!
Orizuru, by the way, are quite easy to fold! It does take a little patience at first, especially since there's no immediate feedback that says "you've done the right thing" at each step. But pay attention to the diagrams and follow them one by one. The output (and the process) is rewarding. I highly recommend it!
Find yourself a square of paper and start with the instructions here.
Logo origin
These two orizuru were the original images I created for a tangentially crane-related idea. Aren't they great?! (The answer is yes.)
H O W E V E R . . .
They are not logos!
They are quite literally paper cranes. A true-to-life graphic is not a logo.
The funny thing is, in order to get to this point, I had to model these units from scratch in SketchUp, because I don't know how to actually draw things by hand. I mean, sure I can hold a pencil, but the best I can do is kinda wobble it around on a piece of paper like a drunken spinning top. So you can understand, my freehand illustration skills are... not great. To compensate for that, I know how to make 3D vector models! And models are versatile. You can orbit around, zoom out, pan across, and suddenly you have an entirely new point of view:
With a 3D model, it's a simple matter of picking a perspective that looks halfway decent. Here I played with the lineweights and shadows, threw a few extra pixels on the outline, and BAM, all done, Robert's your father's brother:
Uncle Bob
Logo development
As much as I really like the 3D design, like I say, the graphic is too literal. What would make this work better as a logo, I think, is a simpler representation of a paper crane (and not the actual thing).
So I returned to the 2D plane, and played around with a few concepts:
Having worked through a few contenders, I ran into the next obstacle: MAKING A DECISION. And this is hard, because I very much like them all. It's a classic a case of "kill your darlings" where you have to ruthlessly eliminate something that you're attached to. Then again, you don't literally have to destroy them. Maybe you park them for now, put them into cryogenic storage to visit at a later date. The metaphor is getting a little mixed. Whatever the case...
I committed to a design and picked the one with overlapping lines (that kind of share some semblance to a bent paper clip):
Logo finalisation
Why choose the "paper clip" design over the others?
In this case, I like that the logo is simple, conceptual and is (semi) composed of a single line.
It's guaranteed to work on both light and dark backgrounds, making it flexible on digital and print mediums. And it looks dope.
The concept shown is not quite finished though, and the last step is all about refinement. The linework is a little loose and rounded, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing ( it looks really neat!), it doesn't quite fit the aesthetic I'm going for. Like the brand ethos, I want something with geometric exactness, something that's more purposeful and precise.
Enter this guy:
Ohhhh yeahhh
And here they are side by side:
Much better right?
Deft, flat and simple. Quasi-reproduceable from a single line. I'm positively chuffed with how this log-o turned out.
And because I come from a land surveying background, of course I had to add a little geometric flair:
Did someone order a comically over-engineered logo?
Overkill? Maybe!
But trust me, in the line of drafting, this level of attention-to-geometric-precision is important.
And THAT is why you should hire me!
Get in touch.