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We’ve moved. Back40’s new address is 2513 S. Kelly Suite 120 Edmond, OK 73013

A Decade of Back40 Logo Designs

I like to say I started Back40 Design looking out over the back forty (acres) of my house in Prague, Oklahoma. But I really didn’t have 40 acres, I lived in the city. I had a backyard. That backyard did back up to the town rodeo club, so it had that ‘back forty’ feel. And I had recently relocated from New England and I was immediately enamored with cowboys, overall wearin’ town folk and those cute little ‘curly Q’ hay bales in all the fields. A transplanted Yankee starting a web design company – yes, I was suspect.

So the first logo design has the snazzy tag line “A Rural Web Design and Hosting Company” – I’m grateful the company outlasted the tag line.

Logo Progression 1

The second logo design is a tribute to the DIN Schriften font and an altered image of a plow from an old Sears catalog. I actually liked this one a lot. I think it lasted into the Shawnee years (moved Back40 from Prague and rented an office in Shawnee).

Logo Progression 2

The third logo design continued my tribute to DIN Schriften. Ah, what a lovely Germanic font. Note the absence of an icon. We were expanding our services quite a bit at that time. We started a magazine and took on more print and graphic design work. I think the text logo was flexible enough to accommodate our expanding services.

Logo Progression 3

The fourth logo design marks our company’s move in Edmond. And our focus of developing a proprietary CMS product, Javelin. I coupled a swoosh abstract icon with a classic Helvetica font. The icon was actually a mutated shape of Oklahoma. Peyton Hutchison helped me design this icon. She’s now the print project manager for Ackerman McQueen.

Logo Progression 4

The fifth logo design was created by me with guidance of Amy Sharp, a designer here at Back40. I think it’s a keeper. Hiding the bottom edge of the word ‘BACK’ behind an imaginary horizon line helped establish depth – like the word was out back behind the back forty. With a bold combination of letters and numbers, it didn’t need any additional art -hence, no icon. We did add the word ‘Group’ which I think helps communicate that we are a multi-discipline design firm. Adding ‘Group’ also broadcasts our belief in team design environment.

Logo Progression 5

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