The Client

The Head Professional and General Manager of River Bend Golf Course & Recreation Area reached out to me in early October after seeing the logo design for Hawk’s Alley. They were looking to develop a new logo and brand that was more exciting than their existing logo. River Bend is a city-owned, public, golf facility located just off the Red Deer River. It has an 18 hole, par 72 championship course, a 9 hole Mini-Links course, a large Driving Range with matt and grass tees, two pitching greens, and a large putting green.

Conceptualize

Our initial conversation provided some valuable information about the direction the club was looking to go with the new logo design. They had recently spent a bit of money on two large logo inclusions behind the 9th and 18th greens at their facility – so they needed the logo to include some elements of those.

The photo shown here was sent by Phil and Rob as a reference prior to me starting the design process (photo credit: Red Deer Advocate). They were adamant about certain aspects being included in the design, including the idea of the initials ‘RB’, the colour scheme and the shield. After that, we discussed the elements they wanted to include including more golf and water or the river itself. 

CREATE

The creation process started by designing the shield and creating different elements to be housed within the shield. I created a few different versions of the initials and one concept that abandoned that idea entirely, just to give them another perspective. Usually, in my design process, I start in greyscale, but with a colour scheme already being determined I skipped that step here.

After these concepts were gone through by the staff at River Bend, they were very excited about the 4th one but it needed some alterations. We needed to bring some more visual interest to the design as well as drop all the elements into the shield to make branding (clothing, bags, balls, etc.) the logo easier. I set out by creating more perspective depth in the river, placing the club inside the shield, curving it slightly to create a sense of motion, and cleaning up the proportions of the ‘golfer’ in relation to the ‘RB’.

The 3rd design was something that really spoke to Phil and the staff at the club. The increased visual interest in the river and the golfer itself was exactly what they were looking for. The final edition of the logo (seen at the top of the page) had some further depth created using shadowing and outlines around the initials. 

From there it was a matter of pairing the logo design with the right typefaces to create a finished product. I again referenced the original photo they supplied to use as the main type of the logo. The old-feeling serif font (Baskerville) is a perfect fit as it is similar to the ‘RB’ found in the large logos found on the golf course. I paired it with a more modern supporting font (Century Gothic) to tie the whole idea together.

Communicate

The final design (shown at the top) perfectly paired the existing ‘must-haves’ with more modern design elements as a representation of both the river and golf. The logo will be easy to use across a variety of platforms, including social media, web design, and branding of merchandise. The blue colour palette gives off a sense of relaxation, professionalism and loyalty. It instantaneously builds trust in the River Bend brand, which is essential for their recreation business.