I’m excited to announce that this month Oxide celebrates our eighth anniversary! Feels like just yesterday I was sitting alone in a big, cold office wondering how I would make all of this work. But now I’m happy to report that eight years in, Oxide’s got a great team of designers, a solid track record of success, and we’re on pace to have our best year ever. (In the midst of a recession that bests the one that happened right when I first put out a shingle.)

Since this year saw the launch of our News site, I thought it would be an appropriate time to use this forum to showcase the concepting around Oxide’s own identity. As a designer, developing a name and logo for your own firm is probably the most difficult undertaking imaginable. But the process of designing Oxide’s identity was essentially the same process we still use today.

For the naming, I gathered the most creative people I knew (my family) around a big sheet of paper, and we brainstormed ideas over pizza. (Even at that time, I knew I wanted a firm that wouldn’t be named after me; the concept has always been to have a great team of designers under a shared banner.) No idea was discounted or dismissed; every idea got written down.

The first documented record of the Oxide name is the "iron oxide" scribble shown bottom left

While there were some strong contenders, in the end Oxide won out. It had the “hard-working, industrial” characteristic I was looking for, and a depth of meaning that’s perfectly on point. Our previous website explained the name in this way:

In chemistry, the process of oxidation involves the addition of oxygen — a vital component of life — to any other element on the periodic table. The procedure creates a compound which is more than the sum of its parts, and a product that’s entirely inimitable.

At Oxide Design Co., we add our creativity — a vital component of life — to every project we approach. The result is a design solution that is exclusively yours; a uniquely effective reaction unlike anything we’ve produced for any other client.

Compared to the challenge of creating the perfect name, the logo fell into place relatively easily. The image above shows the entire set of concept sketches for the logo. We sometimes joke here at Oxide that the very first thing you scribble on a concepting sheet ends up being the best option, even if you make 500 more sketches. That was definitely the case with the Oxide logo. I knew I wanted something bold, iconic, and solid. Almost immediately, I found a solution that symbolized the two-molecule structure of oxygen. Even better, it also hints at the cyclical nature of an infinity symbol, contains shades of my lucky number 8, and utilizes the “O” of Oxide, “D” of Design, and “C” of Co.

Full-page print advertisement from Oxide's early years

Thank you to all of our fantastic clients and vocal supporters, without whom we wouldn’t be here. I’d also like to extend a special thank you to Vic Gutman, Mindy Bush, and the talented team over at Vic Gutman & Associates, our very first client. And in appreciation of the loyal readers of our blog, we’re extending our Oxide bumper sticker giveaway.