CONTINENTAL DENTAL LABORATORIES
Overcoming limitations to cap off a logo makeover
Designer: Ati Peterson
Designer Ati Peterson was given a long list of
limitations for making over Continental Dental
Laboratories’ logo: no embossing, foils, serif fonts,
display fonts, sharp corners, sharp corner shapes,
primary colors or pinks. The logo has to be fresh
and original. No continental globes or maps, no
gimmicks. Continental’s management tends to like
curves and swirls. The logo should be two colors
and also work in black and white.
Continental makes crowns, partials, dentures,
inlays and overlays sold to dentists. Continental’s art
director Donald Wragg recognizes that the current
logo is “way too much like the Nike logo. It’s weak.
It doesn’t apply to the industry, and the way it’s tied
to the name makes it hard to center and work with.
And the font—yuck.” He wants the design to have a
hi-tech look with a curve or swirl.
With all this in mind, Peterson started with
variations of swirl and line logos. Peterson explains
why she discarded this direction: “The curves and
swirls don’t really say anything about what kind of
company it is. Most waves look like a DNA helix,
data charts or sports product logos. Any shiny and
sparkly swirls would have been a bit much, and I
didn’t want to step into the territory of toothpaste
manufacturers.” The designer next explored how to
better connect with the industry. “I thought subtle
icons might help. The dotted O could be a symbol
for an impression of teeth … without being too
detailed for a logo. It could also make the logo look
more hi-tech, like an LCD display.”
Peterson’s final logo connects easily to the industry,
and the modern fonts Neuropol for Continental
and Jocelyn for Dental Laboratories, along with the
clean, refreshing, two-color blue palette, closely fills
Continental’s long list of requirements. Peterson illustrated
the tooth icon herself. “In the end, any blue
tone works well because it seems very clean—what
everyone wishes their teeth to be.” Peterson cautions,
“the striped circle is supposed to be a design element
supporting the tooth, and is not intended to represent
a globe.” She also created a similar striped background
in a square shape, but the softer circle works
better with the tooth illustration.
