BRANDING: Design choice - seibu logo

My design choice is indeed a very personal one as I fondly remember my opportunity to work with Alan Chan Design Company on two short occasions over 10 years ago. To this day I am exposed to so-called East-meets-West designs in various places around Asia but none of them match the sophistication and genuineness of the designs that come from Alan and his team.

My personal favourite, and truly a benchmark in this category, has always been the Seibu Hong Kong logo. Designed at a time when computers and computer modified type elements started to dictate the logo design process, it dominates with a free flowing, single brush stroke and three aligned dots to form the shape of two intertwining carp and the letter 'S'.

The logo carries itself with a perfect balance, visually and symbolically.

A task well achieved considering the circumstances of having to please a Japanese client and a local consumer group alike beyond trying to express the importance of Hong Kong itself as the meeting point of Eastern and Western influences.

From a Chinese view point it offers the sensitive connotations of prosperity and the lucky number '2', to a Western observer it may just be a downright elegant logo that pleases the eye on a very aesthetic level. To both, however, it lures with a magnetic draw, an invitation to follow the lines over and over again.

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