Skip to content

Battle Ram

  • Home
  • About
  • Acknowledgements
  • Links
  • Support the blog!

Recent Posts

  • 1987 Swiss Consumer Association Toy Reviews
  • Beam-Blaster & Artilleray (1987)
  • Blade: Evil Master of Swords (1987)
  • Patrick McDonald: Child Actor & Star of Two Bad Commercial
  • Masters of the Universe Advertising Timeline

Recent Comments

  • Adam on 1987 Swiss Consumer Association Toy Reviews
  • New Eternia Masterverse Deluxe Ram Man & Clawful Details on Ram Man: Heroic human battering ram! (1983)
  • New Eternia Masterverse Deluxe Ram Man & Clawful Details on Clawful: Warrior with the grip of evil! (1984)
  • Bad 2 the Bone by Ramen Toy - on Battle Bones: Collector’s Carry Case (1985)
  • Bad to the Bone by Ramen Toy - on Dragon Walker: Sidewinding Beast/Vehicle (1984)

Archives

  • March 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015

Categories

  • Artwork
  • Books
  • Catalogs
  • Coloring Books
  • Comics
  • Commercials
  • Customs
  • Evil Beasts
  • Evil Horde
  • Evil Mutants
  • Evil Vehicles
  • Evil Warriors
  • Galactic Guardians
  • Games
  • Heroic Beasts
  • Heroic Vehicles
  • Heroic Warriors
  • History
  • Interviews
  • Lists
  • Lords of Power
  • Masters of the Universe Revelation
  • Milestones
  • Mini Comics
  • Minicomics
  • MOTU Classics
  • MOTU History
  • MOTU Origins
  • Newspapers
  • Playsets
  • Powers of Grayskull
  • Production Variants
  • Promotional Items
  • Resource
  • Reviews
  • Seasonal
  • Snake Men
  • Stickers
  • Stories
  • Super7
  • Super7 5.5" Figures
  • Technical Drawings & Patents
  • Trademarks
  • Vehicles
  • Videos

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
Skip to content

Battle Ram

A He-Man Blog

Category: Masters of the Universe Revelation

Interviews, Masters of the Universe Revelation, MOTU History

Interview with Netflix MOTU logo creator – Bill Concannon

Posted on November 22, 2022March 16, 2023 by Jukka Issakainen

While we are still waiting for season 2 of the Masters of the Universe Revelation (the upcoming 5 episodes under new title Masters of the Universe Revolution to arrive in early 2024), here is an interview with the person behind the secrets of the Netflix He-Man and Revelation logos!

Hello and thank you so much for taking the time for an interview! Tell us about yourself.

My name is Bill Concannon, I am a graphic designer, owner and creative director for Concannon Art, a new graphic arts company in LA. I have been designing in the toy and game space for the past twenty two years and have had the pleasure of designing for many iconic brands. In particular Im proud to have completed the re-designs for Hot Wheels, circa 2010, Transformers, circa 2014 and the latest Masters of the Universe including ‘He-Man’ and ‘Revelation’, circa 2019. These iconic logos represent brands with great stories to tell. Recently their stories were illuminated in features like ‘The Toys that Built America’ (History Channel, HULU) and ‘The Toys That Made Us’ (Netflix).

Bill Concannon

Did you grow up with Masters of the Universe?

I was twenty when they came out but would have loved to have had them in my days of GI Joe.

Do you have a favorite character? 

I dig Man-E-Faces and Battle Cat of course!

Your company Concannon Art has many functions. Can you describe your work to someone unfamiliar with it?

Brand development is what we do as a graphic arts company. Identities, packaging, merchandising, licensing guides are the bread and butter of our work. I do the majority of the graphic design along with a team of other designers and illustrators. The packaging work that I have done for ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Transformers’ properties helped to establish a reputation within the industry. I’m very proud of the recent logo work I completed for the Masters of the Universe franchise. 

STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES packaging by Bill Concannon

Can you describe your work process in general? What is a typical day look like?

Running your own shop requires a process that balances time for the business and design work. I plan each day the night before. Some days are pure design work while others are maintaining client communication and project management. There is a lot of time dedicated to delegating and collaborating with other designers and illustrators. I enjoy it all tremendously but I really love the early days of design work where the initial ideas are being formed.

How did you get the job on creating the current Netflix MOTU logo-family?

I had done a lot of packaging work for Mattel which had included logo design work. I had worked on their Battle Force 5 property and in 2010 the significant refresh of the Hot Wheels brand logo.

How many designs did you go through and what was the process like?

The project began in March 2019 and included the Masters of the Universe, MOTU Revelation and HE-MAN MOTU logos.  The project wrapped up a year later with the majority of the design work completed in December 2019 with about twenty iterations explored.

Masters of the Universe 2020 logo
Masters of the Universe Revelation logo
NETFLIX (CGI series) He-Man and the Masters of the Universe logo

What designs are your inspirations? Or possible people in the field?

I am inspired by classic designers like Saul Bass. I recently watched a documentary that discussed the movie poster designs and 007 logo done by Joe Caroff. These classic poster designers are an endless source of inspiration. Seeing great design creates a kind of work energy that makes you raise the bar on your next project. The best project is always the one you’re currently working on because it’s unfinished and has limitless potential.

Were you given any specific guidelines? Or restrictions?

There were many considerations. The equity of the property was very important to Mattel while the studios wanted to ensure it could carry a cinematic feel. Cohesion between the three logos (MOTU, MOTU Revelation and HE-MAN MOTU ) was another key consideration. Netflix has very strict design and production specifications that entertainment logos need to adhere to. Many of these are in place to ensure quality assurance for the many production uses of the logos. 

Early logo for Masters of the Universe (2019)

Of all your unused designs, which is your favorite and why?

The approved logo is shown straight on with an extruded base. The letterforms are perpendicular to the baseline. There was a version where the same logo is rendered in perspective to match the original 80’s logo. That version was deliberated over quite a bit. 

Select early designs of the logo

When designing for something like MOTU that has so much nostalgia tied to it, how difficult is it to keep that nostalgic design while also pushing for something new?

Interestingly it was this aspect which drove the alternate logo in perspective. It was very important to design something that respected the past but could carry the logo into the future. Having the logo built in a straight on perspective allows for more variation in how it’s rendered going forward. Sometimes you can be too “on the nose” with a design and it won’t have enough of a fresh look. So although the logo in perspective was closer to the original the approved logo presents something new.

Masters of the Universe Revelation poster art

In the Poster reveal for REVELATION we got to see the new logo for the first time proper. In the MASTERS portion the ”A” and ”R” stand out in a curious fashion in particular. What was the thought process behind that?

The iconic nature of Castle Grayskull was a strong influence on me. I used paintings of the castle to create mock movie posters to test new logo designs. I like to see how a potential logo will look in use, in a layout. During one of those studies I saw a visual connection with the descenders of the “A” and “R”.  I pulled them down into the layout as representations of the towers of the castle. Flipping the “A” also created better symmetry and matched the towers better. The flipped letter also created a unique and more own-able shape for the “A” which is always a plus for a new logo.

How do you feel about the original 80s logo design by Bob Nall?

It’s a classic for the time it was designed. A time before the advent of the Mac and Adobe. And I love that it was airbrushed by John Hamagami. 

Masters of the Universe 1982 logo by Bob Nall

Is there anything you would have wanted to add or tweak of the final logo?

I would have wanted to explore more render and FX variations for theatrical branding. Similar to how the Star Wars logo is rendered differently for each cinematic episode – the new MOTU logo has a solid base that can be rendered to meet the needs of its many publications, products and entertainment.

How does it feel to see your logo design on toy packaging and on the TV screen?

It’s always a thrill to see your work published and you want to feel good that the mark is serving the story well. For MOTU I think it’s a mark that will strongly represent the franchise.

Do you have any advice for people looking to get into graphic/logo design?

It’s definitely a work of passion and love of typography. If you have the passion, always be sketching and archiving the work that inspires you. Remember that every logo is a visual expression of a story and you should make sure that all of your layout, type, graphic and color decisions serve that story.

Thank you very much for answering these questions!

Thank you!

BC


[special thanks to Adam McCombs and Colt Crane for helping with the interview questions]

Return to Table of Contents.

0
Proudly powered by WordPress ~ Theme: Satellite by WordPress.com.
 

Loading Comments...