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Friday, December 30, 2011

Royal Enfields blog gets a 'vintage' new look

Royal Enfield Motorcycles, the new banner.
Royal Enfield Motorcycles (this blog!) has a new banner, professionally designed to make you think of vintage British motorcycles.

The banner was my Christmas gift from daughter Erin, who gave the designer this guidance:

"My dad has this blog that he really pours a lot of time into. He's a professional newspaper journalist who now blogs — pretty much every single day — about his favorite motorcycle, Royal Enfields.

"Don't worry, it's not some macho Harley Davidson type thing. It's a vintage British motorcycle that appeals to more sophisticated motorcycle fans — or at least the ones willing to spend more time fixing and understanding the temperamental machine than riding around showing off."

I love the result, and asked designer Ariel Tyndell of Velocity Vectors where she got her inspiration. She responded:

Ariel Tyndell of
Velocity Vectors.
"I had no previous knowledge about motorcycles before starting this project. The first thing I do when beginning a project is do some basic background research on the product I’m designing for. I pulled inspiration from vintage British advertisements, vintage motorcycle ads, and the Royal Enfield website itself. I knew that the banner needed to have a very vintage weathered feel, so I went with a grungy paper textured background and then overlayed British flag patterns. I felt that it was absolutely necessary to have a British flag somewhere in the design."

Ariel's website describes her as "a junior at Middle Tennessee State University working on my BFA in Graphic Design. I started my logo design business in January of 2011 with a shop on Etsy.

"Since then, business has been rapidly expanding. This is currently my only job and I feel blessed to be able to do something that I love every day."

Velocity Vectors does website design, banners, logos and branding.
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7 comments:

  1. Chuck D12/30/2011

    Love the fresh banner design. Seems as though the designer should have worked an Indian flag into it as well. In fact, in not so subtle ways, it seems as if Bullet enthusiasts try to downplay the origins of their bikes by emphasizing their British heritage with Union Jack stickers and the like. Where's the shame in riding a motorcycle built in India? But I guess that's a topic for another column.

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  2. Dave12/30/2011

    Nice new logo. And how fitting is it that the designer's name is Ariel??

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  3. Anonymous12/31/2011

    "Chuch D said... Seems as though the designer should have worked an Indian flag into it as well. ...."

    Absolutely! without the Indian unit, RE would just have been just another extinct British marque. In fact the Indian connection which testifies the tough nature of the machine should be included here. & what is this 'Vintage' thing got to do with this blog? A'int we here discussing anything & everything Enfield. No wonder the design is as ill fitting as the name.

    cheers, Crankie.

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  4. Matt Law12/31/2011

    Well...I like it!

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  5. sorennelson1/02/2012

    I like the new banner! I also noticed that the latest editon (Jan/Feb 2012) of Motorcycle Classics, has an awesome article on the Bullet. The author refrences this website as a great refrence for anything Royal Enfield. Congratulations on a wonderful site, David!

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  6. Anonymous1/04/2012

    Not bad Blasco ,not bad at all .
    I think the filly has done a fine job ,even managed to get the flag the right way up- don't yer know .
    You should give some credit to our Indian chums though - eh what ? The poor blighters must be feeling quite left out ,having made the ruddy bikes ,haar haaaaar haaaaaaaaaar !

    Oh by the way ,"Happy New Year".
    Tally Ho !
    Bunty .

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  7. Anonymous1/05/2012

    I love it!

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