Sean Heisler and Brett Layton

Sean Heisler is a graphic artist who specializes in logos and "brand identity." He has been working in graphic design for approximately 13 years. His work is defined by the simple colors and lines that he uses. Visually, they have more of an impact then they would if they were more complex. I could find very little history on his work or his background and what I did find, I paraphrased for above.

Sean's logos work because they are clever and take ordinary images and ideas to be combined into something completely different. I have found that through art and poetry, etc. my favorite work is that which makes us think about things in different ways. Sean creates logos that appear to be one thing when they are looked at as a whole and another when focusing on the details. He makes up the main image with related images that connect to the main concept.

This image, like many of Sean's work, is a very strong logo. It is essentially monochromatic, but it works because of the different in value. Also, it is clearing read and recognized as the word "killed" but it is changed in a way that would make one pause and chuckle because in the overall context of the work, it makes sense. Oftentimes the letter "i" can be equated to a person. The fact that this is the letter that is knocked over is not an accident. It would have made less sense for him to knock over an l or twist the e. This clever yet subtle manipulation of meaning is what makes Sean's work fabulous, creative and noteworthy (though there is not much history about him).

Once again, the logo sticks to two main colors. This refrains from distracting the viewer with colors and directing the focus to the actual visual image. A beer bottle and a flower are two images that could very easily be (and have been) placed in juxtaposition to each other. It gives the words and name more weight by placing emphasis on their taken-for-granted irony. I would say that Sean's body of work as a whole relies on his play on words and clever way of approaching the written word and its relationship to an image that makes his work so fantastic.

 

Again with the two main colors, and again with the simple imagery. Whether the colors are in the same family or not, he sticks to two colors. In this image the words play directly into the image. A rocket is the first image that you see and then the golf tees are the second. In this image and the last, he directly correlates the words to the image. The first word you read is the first image you see and likewise with the second word and image. Sean Heisler's work is not so much about the complexity of the process in making the graphic, but about the cleverness it takes to support such work as logo design.

I think that the same concepts emphasized in this analysis of Sean Heisler's work can apply very easily to our projects now and the creative process as a whole. As reiterated again and again, it is not necessarily the complexity or difficulty of the project that makes it significant. Sometimes a work can be simple, but it must be supported with a solid underpinning idea. In Sean Heisler's work it is his creative cleverness and revealing of irony.

1. http://creattica.com/creatives/ethereal-sean-heisler/14871
2.http://logopond.com/members/profile/showcase/22632&page=1
3. http://www.etherealbrands.com/
4. http://weburbanist.com/2010/08/02/illustrated-logos-bringing-a-brand-to-life/


Brett Layton is also super cool: http://www.behance.net/blayton

also sean heisler!!!