Anchor Plastics, INC - Internship
A small plastic manufacturing business located in Golden Valley, MN. I redesign their old anchor logo to a more modern/sharper design to help maintain relevance in the market, enhance recognition, and have a competitive edge over its competitors. Some additional tasks were to update their website, booklets, business cards, and training videos.
About Anchor Plastic
Anchor Plastics, INC, is a plastic manufacturing business that produces high-quality plastic and services located in Golden Valley, MN. They needed a redesign due to readability and accessibility of the old logo which was created in 2007.
I kicked off the project by asking the owner questions about his company and what they look forward for. It helps both the client and me uncover aspects of their business that they may not have clearly articulated before.
Learning what they do, their message, and purpose is what gets me excited about parts of a project. The owner and staff did a great job answering and was very clear and consistent.
I summarized key ideas, created a list of questions, and searched the internet for ideas.
In our meetings, we needed to redesign the old logo but kept it relatively the same to have a sleeker and sharper manufacturing style however not overly exaggerated. More cold, not warm with a symbol that could be used separately from the word mark.
We explored six unique anchor styles, incorporating sharp, angular edges, fluid curves, and a bold sword-inspired concept.
Each anchor design had different font choices to see what fits the anchor the best. We decided to go with #3:Times New Roman because of serif font style and graceful appearance.
We decided to go along with the design 6.
We developed six anchor variations, each featuring different visual highlights to evaluate the strongest design.
For each mock up, I presented the primary logo, reversed color variations, vertical and horizontal lockups, and a social profile application. During concept testing, we found the design was missing a unifying element. To enhance the overall style and improve spacing, we introduced a rope wrapping around the anchor.
After integrating the rope, we established it as a core element of the mark to reinforce the concept and improve visual cohesion. We iterated on rope thickness to refine hierarchy, line weight balance, and overall readability at scale. A midpoint between options 1a and 1b provided the most consistent stroke relationship with the anchor form. We also shifted the rope to a lighter, higher-contrast color to enhance separation, improve legibility, and create a stronger focal point within the composition.
We wanted to see how it would look when there’s no colors as the client wanted it to be versatile: on t-shirts, mugs, or other applications.
With the updated anchor, we introduced the company name and slogan within the center of the mark, experimenting with typographic hierarchy and scale (set in Times New Roman) to evaluate optimal composition. However, the initial iterations revealed legibility and spatial constraints due to the reduced vertical height of the anchor. To resolve this, we increased the overall scale of the anchor to improve typographic placement and balance. Ultimately, version 1a was selected, as it provided the most complete representation of the anchor form and the strongest overall composition.
We enlarge it by 1/4 to see if the edit would look better along with the rope.
Following concept 1a, we played around the size of the text/placement. We went with small text version because of readability and compact size.
Playing around what the redesign could look like in a vertical and horizontal lockup, emblem, and color variations.
In the final direction, we retained much of the original concept while refining its execution. The sharper, sleeker form was chosen for its precision and bold presence, while still preserving the subtle highlight details and rope element that add character and depth to the mark.
To improve composition and readability, dividing lines were introduced to separate the company name from the anchor symbol, creating clearer visual hierarchy and spacing. The slogan was incorporated to communicate the mission of Anchor Plastics more effectively within the identity system.
Although outside the original scope, I also redesigned the website to align with the updated branding direction, ensuring a more cohesive representation of Anchor Plastics, Inc. and its services.
It was a pleasure collaborating with the Anchor Plastics team, and I look forward to seeing the redesign implemented.
Sales Video Presentation
One of the videos we created to help improve the sales department with the new redesign logo to maintain relevance in the market and its customers. It greatly help customers on subjects that Anchor Plastics specialize in.