Design a logo and brand identity for an ADV legend

OK, go-on, indulge me for a second and let me give you a little backstory and context to this commision...

Chris Scott, is the man who coined the phrase 'adventure motorcycling' a term now synonymous with the fastest growing sector of the motorcycling industry world-wide. With adventure motorcycling in its infancy, Lisa and I prepared for our own around the world journey by consuming every word, phrase and chapter of one of the biggest selling and most influential motorcycle books in the world: The Adventure Motorcycling Handbook, written by Chris Scott.

In an interview Ewan Mcgregor was asked what he did when he and Charley Boorman decided to embark on their now famous around-the-world motorcycle ride "The Long Way Round". Ewan replied, "the first thing we did was buy a copy of the Adventure Motorcycling handbook.

Lisa and I still get a buzz when we see a copy of the AMH 7th Edition on the shelves of book stores or friends. Maybe you can spot why.

I mention all of this because, well, Chris is Mr Adventure Motorcycling, so it meant a lot to me when he got in touch and asked me to create and design a new brand and logo for his latest and boldest project the 'TRANS-MOROCCO-TRAIL'.

The TMT (as we'll refer to it going forward) is a brilliant initiative from Chris and long-term friend Ed Gill. Their project and passion is to create a detailed and reliable information portal and route, accessible to anyone who wants to explore the best of Morocco, be it on two wheels or four, with a motor or without. Decades of routes, riding, and hard-fought experience has gone into creating the TMT.

Honestly to be a small of part of this project is an honour.

So, it went like this.

Chris is a man of few words and his initial contact with me was via Lisa. His email went like this...

"Hi Lisa, I see your Simon did a nice logo for the Lightweights. Such talent he has!

Could he do me one - got ideas but no skills in that area ;-)"

A few emails went back and forth until I got a firm idea from Chris and Ed as to what they had in mind for their new brand.

This is what I got from them both:

• The TMT is Like BDR, TET and TAT: a resource of free .gpx files from Nador (Med) to Cap Draa (Atlantic) via Atlas and desert. Morocco coast to coast. - Sea to Ocean.

• Logo should be simple and clear to understand.

• Retro Poster/Graphic look prefered.

• Project for all vehicle types so no motorcycle in the design.

• Circular logo prefered, ideally with black ring and clear text.

• Logo should include sea design, sand dunes and mountains and reference the culture of Morocco.

• Ideally the design should visually reference a journey. Got no clue what that might look like?

• Can you squeeze in some blue sky?

Now, as briefs go, there is a lot of specific info in their and it was clear from phone chats that Chris and Ed also wanted whatever design I created, to feel somewhat familiar to Chris's past projects, book and general vibe. Lastly, Chis said on the phone..."how soon can we have it?" Those are the words that no graphics guy wants to hear, ever. But hey, it was Chris Scott asking and I couldn't wait to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in.

I initially sat down with a black bic and a blank bit of paper and just started doodling what I thought Chris would look like on a retro style bike. It's worth pointing out that I received the "we don't want any vehicles in the design" message after I'd already started to scribble down designs. I think these would make awesome T-shirt's or merch designs, hey, I'm just saying.

Here's a few of designs that I liked enough to transfer from paper to computer via my graphic tablet and pen.

So, with emails received it was clear that vehicles were not going to be the focus of this brand, but what Chris and Ed were sure about was, that the retro style logo they wanted should be powerful, flexible in it's design cues and convey the Moroccan culture and the idea of a journey.

Several emails later, it was also decided that the readability of the text that Chris and Ed wanted to incorporate into the design was a key factor. And, that they prefered a utilitarian font style, which would help convey the no-nonsense vibe of the resources that the 'TMT project' would be providing.

...With that nugget tucked away in my grey matter, I changed things up, created 4 more concepts and edited my designs.

With a look through Chris's back catalogue via his website: www.sahara-overland.com

I quickly got a sense of the vibe and style that Chris wanted to echo in whatever design I created for the TMT.

You can see some of Chris's book below:

Sadly, at the start of December 2024 I suffered a significant IT crash and although I've lost very little digital work,(it's backed up on external hard drives) the initial rough designs and working digital sketches I'd done for the TMT project did get erased.

So, I'm going to share the final design that Chris and Ed selected and a few of the images and files that are now live and online.

I think i got as close to their exacting brief as I could while creating a simple and flexible design that convey the colour and culture of Morocco. I'd love to hear what you think.

The finished logo and brand design.

TMT Logo colour variations and theme.

Sticker Designs

Merchandise

SUB Logo Design

Thanks for reading this far.

If you feel you want to I'd love to hear what you think and If I created something that connects with the brief from Ed and Chris.

As always, travel far and enjoy the ride.