Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
If you’ve ever looked at a collection of logos from various float centers, they can start to look a little similar. How do you avoid this when designing your own float center logo? Is it a big deal?
Graham and Ashkahn dish on logo design, the importance of simplicity, and a not so subtle reminder that the “don’t be an asshole” rule exists for a reason.
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Ashkahn: All right. Hey everybody.
Graham: Hi there.
Ashkahn: Welcome.
Graham: Hi.
Ashkahn: How are you today?
Graham: I’m doing good.
Ashkahn: Oh, great.
Graham: Yeah, and speaking for the audience, I think-
Ashkahn: I think they’re doing good.
Graham: I think they’re doing great.
Ashkahn: I think they doing good now, is what they would say. Like, doing good now.
Graham: Yeah, better now.
Ashkahn: Right.
Graham: That you guys are on. Am I right?
Ashkahn: Thanks. I appreciate that, all of you.
Graham: Nudging the person next to them.
Ashkahn: I picture everybody listening together in a giant room. Is that what you’re picturing?
Graham: I’m Graham.
Ashkahn: Oh, yeah. I’m Ashkahn. Is that how you say that? I’m Ashkahn.
Graham: You didn’t, no.
Ashkahn: No.
Graham: You just started talking-
Ashkahn: I did yesterday.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: All right.
Graham: Today’s question is-
Ashkahn: Yeah, what is it?
Graham: “I’m working on logo design for my new center, and I’m worried that it looks like a bunch of other float center logos, including yours. Is this a problem?”
Ashkahn: Well, yeah, there are a lot of logos that look-
Graham: And a lot of them look like ours, too. We’re gonna take them to court.
Ashkahn: Well, yeah, or ours look like other ones do. I’m not gonna go ahead and claim we are the first people to come up with …
Graham: A face floating?
Ashkahn: A face, I think that would …
Graham: That’s the old FTA logo even kind of looks like that.
Ashkahn: Yeah, there’s a lot of face, there’s a lot of-
Graham: There’s a lot of face.
Ashkahn: There’s a lot of kind of lotus flower.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: There’s a lot of sort of drop, water drop sort of thing is very common.
Graham: The-
Ashkahn: They’re all blue.
Graham: Some of the letters, or all of the letters kind of floating.
Ashkahn: Yeah, especially the O.
Graham: In something. Yeah, yeah, the O floating.
Ashkahn: The O floating, or something going on with the O.
Graham: It’s very centered and-
Ashkahn: The float conference is the same thing.
Graham: It just, it works really well.
Ashkahn: Yeah, it’s an O.
Graham: That sort of design, yeah.
Ashkahn: It’s a good letter.
Graham: Theta, like a theta kind of design.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: Like the float conference logo, for example. Which a lot of people ripped off.
Ashkahn: This episode is a warning that we’re coming after you.
Graham: So, design it like any other center’s logo except ours. Oh, Anicca, it looks like our logo but four times.
Ashkahn: Multiplied and bigger?
Graham: Or our logo looks like theirs, but one fourth of it.
Ashkahn: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and it’s all just blues or green, mostly blue. It’s pretty much all blue.
Graham: Lots of blue.
Ashkahn: Lots of blue.
Graham: We realize this when you do all of the Helm customers or something like that for software and lay them out next to each other. Just like, oh, these all just kind of look like the same center.
Ashkahn: Yeah, it’s just a lot of similarity in the names, too. The word float is in almost all of them
Graham: 90%, yeah, yeah.
Ashkahn: Or REST, or, you know what I mean?
Graham: So, should you worry about it, I guess is the question, right?
Ashkahn: Yeah. It’s more perceptive to you and us than any of your customers.
Graham: Yeah, I kind of think that ship has sailed where anyone should be worried about float logos looking too similar. Don’t copy something exactly.
Ashkahn: Yeah, well, yeah.
Graham: Of course.
Ashkahn: That would be weird of you to do that. Why would you do that? But specifically, unless in your mind you’re immediately thinking that you’re about to open a nationwide franchise, I would be most concerned about the other float centers around you somewhere.
Graham: Yeah, yeah.
Ashkahn: Try to look a little distinguished from the places that literally in the same city as you, but no customer is gonna look up, is gonna know that your logo looks the same as some other float center’s logo in a different state thousands of miles away.
Graham: Especially although there are a lot of similar logos, and there are a lot of similar names, obviously don’t, if someone shares a name with you, you’re really close. Make sure you’re not doing both, because having almost the same name and almost the same logo as someone sounds a lot worse to me as well.
Ashkahn: Yeah, it’s just like, don’t be weird about it.
Graham: The no asshole rule is kind of in effect.
Ashkahn: Yeah. It’s like fashion. There’s a lot of similar trends in everybody’s winter coats, but if you sit down next to somebody and you’re wearing the exact same thing as them, they’re gonna look at you and be like, “What are you doing? Why are you dressed just like me?”
Graham: Especially if that’s their coat and they’ve been wearing that coat around for three years.
Ashkahn: But there are just a lot of similarities in the world.
Graham: Logo design itself is about breaking things down to their simplest elements. Good logo design is something that you can identify from a distance, it’s really simple. So, at some point, what do you associate with floating, right? You only have a list of maybe a dozen kind of simple things you associate with the act of floating, and then it’s all variations on that.
Or they just choose a different name, like Puma Flotation, and they have a picture of a puma. As an example.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: We’re looking at you, Puma Floats, really.
Graham: So, I don’t know. Being creative is good, but if it kind of is a face floating-
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: We’re gonna be the only ones coming after you. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
Ashkahn: Trying to be very unique is at odds with trying to probably have a good logo for your business. If you’re like, “I’m gonna make my logo red, and it’s gonna have fire in the background”, at that point, your customers are gonna be like, what? “I don’t understand. Why is this your logo?”
Graham: Ra, so, yeah. I guess that’s it.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: Don’t be a jerk, but don’t worry about it too much.
Ashkahn: Yeah, don’t worry about it, and just don’t be a weirdo and that’s it.
Graham: All right. If you have your own questions, go to float-
Ashkahn: I don’t know where else you’d find advice like this.
Graham: Yeah. If you want the down, we’ll give you the real-
Ashkahn: We’ll give it. We’re giving it to you fresh.
Graham: Honest, straightforward answers.
Ashkahn: All right. Go to our website.
Graham: To very complicated questions.
Ashkahn: It’s floattanksolutions.com-
Graham: /podcast.
Ashkahn: That’s it. That’s it. That’s the one.
Graham: Okay bye.
Ashkahn: Okay bye.
Recent Podcast Episodes
How to get your Water Tested – DSP 359
Every once in a while during float industry events, during this podcast, or talks given by health department professionals and the like, they’ll say something like “if you get your water tested and…”. But how does a float center do that? Where should they look? Is there just a lab that they can send their float solution to? Are all labs the same? How much does it cost?
Ashkahn and Graham take on the difficult task of making sense of microbiology testing laboratories, regulatory institutions, and acronyms, all so you don’t have to.
A Few of Our Favorite Things – DSP 358
Graham and Ashkahn take a break from all the doom and gloom of the float world to talk about the amazing things that floating has brought them. What they love, the things that surprised them, and the many ways in which they’re inspired to stick with it and pioneer in this wild and crazy industry.
Learning to Trust Your Gut in Business – DSP 357
Sometimes, the hardest part of starting any project is to just take the leap of faith complete step one.
With some words of encouragement and caution, Graham & Ashkahn channel their inner Tony Robbins and encourage a highly knowledgeable aspiring float center owner, to trust their gut and start their float center.
How Long to Run a Filter Between Floats – DSP 356
How long should you run the filtration system for between floats? It’s an eternal question that has plagued float center owners since the dawn of time (Or at least until 1978 when the first float center opened up).
Ashkahn and Graham break down the science behind why you should filter for as long as you do and how to properly plan for it. This densely packed episode is filled to the brim with a summary of knowledge on water dilution, filtration, flow meters, and water sanitation brought over to float tanks from the pool and spa world. Take notes as you listen, there’s a lot to assess.
How to Reward your Employees – DSP 355
Recognizing that your employees rock is one of the most valuable traits an employer can have, but only as long as said employer is able to properly acknowledge that appreciation.
Graham and Ashkahn share their take on rewarding employees for their hard work and how to make it count when you want to give them a gift. The duo has no shortage of examples of how they’ve shown their appreciation at Float On, and this episode is dense with examples of nice gifts and rewards to provide staff, from the practical to the symbolic.
Latest Blog Posts
B-Gray’s School on Nothing
I Got Nothing to Say! Okay, so here’s the thing. Floating is often associated with meditation and ultimately achieving this state of void, commonly and perhaps glibly referred to as “Nothing” by salty tank proprietors everywhere. And listen, I’m totally on board with...
The Daily Solutions Podcast – Our Top 5 Episodes for October
October was a hell of a floaty month. Between the float conference non-profit, Float On’s birthday, Ashkahn’s birthday, and Halloween, let’s just be a little grateful that the ol’ Grashkahmn duo didn’t miss a day on here. Especially since these episodes are so killer....
When (and how) Salt Attacks!
This post was spurred on by work that I did illustrating hundreds of pages for our Construction Packet. As an illustrator, I spend extra time nailing down details, just to eliminate potential sources of confusion. While looking into salt weathering, I came across some...
The Daily Solutions Podcast – Our Top 5 Episodes from September
September came and went like a flash, while everyone was recovering from the whirlwind that was the Float Conference, Graham and Ashkahn were fielding questions about all things great and small in the industry. Here’s a handful of our favorites. When is the Best Time...
