The Apprentice logo challenge – the final s18
19th April 2024
posted 19th April 2024
It's the final! We've enjoyed series 18 of The Apprentice and have loved redesigning the logos! For the final episode, we've assembled our design team for the last time for the re-design challenge!
In this blog, we'll look at the logos from The Apprentice 2024 Final . We'll analyse both the team's logos from the episode, giving the pros and cons of each design. Our designers will then take on the challenge of redesigning them. We appreciate that designing under a short time scale isn't easy - so, we've set ourselves a similar time frame.
The Task
This series' finalists were Phil Turner and Rachel Woolford. Both candidates have established businesses and want to expand with Lord Sugars' investment. In this week's task, they needed to rebrand their business and pitch their proposal.
Phil Turner - 'Prestige Pies'
Phil Turner is in the business of pie-making. He's the Managing Director of 'Turners Pies', a family-run pie company based in West Sussex. Founded in 1933 by his grandparents, Phil is the third generation to run the business. The company owns 5 stores and an online pie delivery business, Pies to Post. With Lord Sugars' investment, he hopes to expand the online side of his business.
For the rebrand, he came up with the name 'Prestige Pies'.
For the logo design, he wanted to create something that would show the history and quality of the pies. He used a black script font, paired with two hands holding a pie in a purple pie tin.
Image: 'Prestige Pies' logo design from The Apprentice Final
Text: For the text, he chose a script-style font for both the name and tagline. This isn't a bad font for its purpose. This style of font can be seen as elegant, friendly, and welcoming. This signifies that the business is welcoming and well-established. However, the colour choice and its harsh outline removes the connotation of friendliness.
Colour: For the colour scheme, he chose gold and purple, with black for the text. The golden colour gives positive connotations to the design. Gold gives connotations of warmth, sophistication, and elegance. This signifies the warmth of the pastries and the bakery. Suggesting a warm and inviting welcome. The use of purple gives connotations of nobility, luxury, and wealth - all great associations for an established pie company. This signifies that the company have a wealth of knowledge and experience. Rightly earning their place as an award-winning pie maker.
Icon: For the icon, he chose a pair of hands holding a freshly baked pie. The pie represents the business itself, which makes the messaging clear. The steam lines add a sense of warmth. The hands signify the pies to post aspect of the business. The pies are fresh and delivered directly to you.
The style of the icons lets the logo down. The hands and the pie are both in different illustrative styles. The pie looks very cartoony, which cheapens the design and gives a 'clip art' appearance to the logo.
In conclusion, some of the choices were heading in the right direction, but overall, the logo was poor. The balance of the colour cheapened the look of the design. With the logo being mostly white with splashes of colour, the positive meanings get lost. The clashing illustration types look messy. The outlined black text looks like it doesn't belong with the rest of the logo design.
Webfactory's take on Prestige Pies
Image: Webfactory's logo design for 'Prestige Pies'.
Image: Packaging design pattern using the monogram.
For the colour palette, we've used a dark reddish-brown colour to give a sense of warmth and indulgence. This is then paired with an old gold colour, to help give a sense of prestige to the logo - without being too brash and cheap.
For the text, we've used a serif font, to help give a traditional feel to the logo. Picking a serif font with a slightly softer and rounded feel matches the curves of the pie shape in the middle. This gives a sense of comfort to the logo. Giving the logo a homely comfort food feel.
The logo is predominantly text-based, but the company name and tagline encompass a monogram within a pie shape. A monogram is something that is associated with luxury and high-quality brands. This is also a useful asset that can be used in addition to the full logo. It can be used on signage or packaging for the pies.
Rachel Woolford- 'Studio Build' (Winner)
Rachel's business specialises in fitness. She owns 'North Studio', a boutique wellness space that offers a range of classes and workshops for all. With two successful studios in Harrogate and Leeds, with Lord Sugar's help, she wants to expand into more locations in the North of England.
For the rebrand, she came up with the name 'Studio Build'. For the logo design, she kept it simple with a black and blue colour scheme with a bold sans-serif font.
Image: 'Studio builds' logo design from The Apprentice Final
Text: Focusing on the text, she chose a bold sans-serif font. Sans-serif fonts give connotations of strength, stability, and progress. All great connotations for a gym. This signifies that the gym is different compared to the usual gym types. You'll also become stronger, more consistent and better after joining their gym.
Colour: For the colour of the logo, she chose a soft black and cobalt blue. The black gives connotations of being bold, powerful, and dramatic. With the tone being soft, it adds an approachable and friendly feel to the design. This signifies the inclusive aspect of the business. You won't feel awkward going to the gym there. The use of blue gives connotations of dependability, loyalty, and trustworthiness. Signifying a bond between the business and the consumer. You can trust and depend on the trainers to be there when you need them. However, blue can also give connotations of peace, tranquillity, and calmness. Which when associated with a high-energy and social fitness brand doesn't work well.
Icon: The icon, they have used a water droplet within the 'O' of 'Studio'. This is a nice little design feature, but not super obvious in its messaging. With the name being 'Studio build', the icon can be mistaken for water. This gives the logo a builder or plumber feel to it.
Overall, the design is simple and probably one of the better logos of the series visually. In terms of it being fit for purpose, it missed the mark. With the name and icon choice, the messaging isn't clear. The use of blue lowers the overall energy of the design. With being a fitness business, a high-energy colour might have been more appropriate.
Webfactory's take on 'Studio Build'
Image: Webfactory's logo design for 'Studio Build'.
Image: Logo on merchandise.
Image : Webfactory's take on 'Studio Build'
The logo was designed using an uppercase sans-serif font to create a professional and contemporary look. The logo's simple and bold typeface provides a solid foundation that is easy to read at various sizes, making it suitable for use on business cards, flyers, gym signage, and other materials.
The logo icon is inspired by the human body and the movements made when exercising, with a fluent 'stroke' creating a sense of dynamism and energy to form the letter 'S'. The hand-drawn style of the icon also gives the logo an approachable image, which appeals to the 'social fitness' aspect of the business.
The primary logo colour is a bright, pastel shade of blue/green, which stands out against the darker navy blue secondary colour. This pastel shade was chosen to appeal to the business's primary female target audience while remaining neutral enough to attract male users.
Like this blog post?
You can check out the rest of our S18 Apprentice logo redesigns below: