Archie Thompson is a producer, songwriter, and musician from San Diego with hundreds of songs in his catalog. His unique sound blends jazz, blues, funk, R&B, and soul into something timeless and classic, but at the same time is fresh and new. His music has been featured in over a hundred movies and TV shows, such as the FX series Archer, the Netflix movie Old Dad's, and Tyler Perry's Boo! A Medea Halloween.
SCOPE OF PROJECT: This was an ongoing project on and off, spanning a period of a year or two. Archie first contacted me for a pair of logos for his parallel businesses, Archie Thompson Entertainment and Higher Calling Records, and a double-sided business card with the two logos on opposing sides. As his businesses changed and expanded, he had me do some variations and updates.
CHALLENGE: The challenge was to create two logos that looked related, without looking like rip-offs of each other. In other words, he wanted each to be able to stand alone and be its own thing. Then, as his businesses changed and expanded, he needed variations that looked new without altering the originals.
SOLUTION: Archie knew he wanted a vintage microphone as part of the logo for ATE, but he just wasn't sure which vintage microphone. Man Alive! I had no idea there were so many different ones. Together, we narrowed down what he was looking for, then I did some sketches, and then found the winner. Then it was just a matter of making a digital version. The one thing I do wish I had done differently was to do the black & white versions first. As for the HCR logo, as I recall, Archie didn't have anything specific in mind. I looked at tons of cool old record labels and logos, but in the end chose an abstract record design that was inspired by something I remembered from my childhood. As it turned out, the logo I thought I was thinking of, wasn't actually wasn't the one I remembered, so I'm not sure where it came from. The two logos themselves were quite different, but we'd decided early on that I would use the same fonts and the same color scheme to tie them together.
A set of details featuring the original Archie Thompson Entertainment logo, a mockup of the most recent business card iteration, and the original Higher Calling Records logo.
The color version of the Archie Thompson Entertainment logo.
The black & white version of the Archie Thompson Entertainment logo.
The color version of the Higher Calling Records logo.
The black & white version of the Higher Calling Records logo.
The original business cards had both logos, one on each side.
This is a later iteration of the original cards, but in glorious black & white.
This is the most recent version, made when he became more involved in television and film; it's all Archie Thompson Entertainment now.