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- BORSUB
- DEMTA
- ART BOX
- TASTE SPAIN
- GRILA
- CLOUD1
- WINSON
- LA NAO
- CDSO
- HAVANA
BORSUB INTERNATIONAL is a Spanish import-export company operating between China and Spain. The main motif is the character hu (互) which means 'reciprocal' o 'mutual' and in one of it's combinations, 'hu huan' (互换), means also 'exchange'. Etymologically it represents two hooks gripping each other.
The schematic treatment of the character as it's main motif also serves as a representation of the interweaving of both 'b' on the company's name. Finally the treatment of the logo is of the type: 'the eye fills what it cannot see', using for it the stylized strokes similar to those used in chinese characters, which gives it a clean and elegant look. Following we show several variations of the same concept:

DEMTA IMPORT-EXPORT is a Spanish company whose main activity is stone blocks trading. The logo's constuction has the shape of a stone block, obvious for those involved in the natural stone sector, while for others remains a generic form, rectangular in shape, which could be also associated with the containers used in maritime transport. The other secondary activities in which the company is involved and which are very well differentiated from the core business, are represented in the different colors that complete the figure.


ART BOX is an Art Gallery in Beijing. Both the gallery name an it's design have been created by Pavillard Design. In this case de mandarin version had to come before the english one. The gallery works also as a cafe and a multi-disciplinar space were installations, projections and other cutural activities can be held.
This multi-porpouse aspect is represented in it's top half: in the different colours framed by the strokes of the caracter 术 (shu), which means 'art'. Also the term 'box' refers to it's multi-function capacity and is visualy represented in the frame that surrounds the character 术 'shu'.
The character at the bottom half, 盒 (he), means 'box' and it has been treated to represent the profile of the singular building were the gallery is located, an old granary several bundred years old. Here we show the character in it's original form, it's modified version and the building wich is meant to represent:


TASTE SPAIN is a food stuff importer from Spain, based in China. The olive branch and the wine color represent two products that are best known as Spain's most typical agricultural exports. The Chinese name is a literal translation of its name.
GRILA is an association of iberoamerican residents in Beijing. We did a straight translation of its meaning in chinese. The logo itself aims to represent a traditional chinese dwelling, that both explains its chinese aspect and the fact that the association is meant as common house for the said residents in China.
CLOUD 1 is the Mexican-American company with whom I often team up for the development of WEB sites. I have made several versions of its company logo for use in commercial advertising. Below is an example in which a cloud rains binary code, which then transforms into the company's name. Finally the thunder coming out of a cloud, representing its 'electrical' aspect, is visually more positive and attractive.
We also made for it a straight translation of the company's name and the description of it's activity.


For WINSON ENTERPRISE, a multisectorial trading company registered in Hong Kong with a name without a specific meaning and which had been using another name previously, it was necessary a brand where the name itself would have the maximum exposure, so it could be quickly and permanently fixed with its clients in China, where names in foreign languages are easily forgotten.
At the same time we looked for a phonetic equivalence with Chinese characters and we fixed them to the logo itself so that the association between them would become permanent. The client had chosen the denomination 'enterprise' as a means of differentiating the company from the myriad of such companies which are using the suffix 'trading' or 'import-export'.
For that reason we also chose to give the suffix 'enterprise' a relative importance which otherwise wouldn't have. Also the W represents the trading activity flow as well as positive returns (upward always). Once the asociation between the logo and the W has been made it can be used alone to represent the whole.

LA NAO DE CHINA S.L. is a Spanish company that exports handicrafts made in China. The main motif is the schematic representaion of a Nao, the commercial spanish galleon from the XVI and XVII centuries to which the company's name refers.
Since the company's name and registered commercial brand makes specific reference to the Nao of China, we have substituted the Cross of Calatrava, which usually adorned its sails, with the character 'zhong' (中) wich means 'middle' and which has the form of a cross, and which is also the first character that forms the word 'zhong guo' (中国), meaning 'China'.
We did not search for a phonetic equivalent of the name itself but just a proper translation of its activity descrpition: 'yi shu pin' (艺术品) (art products) y 'gong yi pin' (工艺品) (handicrafts).
I purposedly conceived the logo for Cajón de Sastre Oriental, my own site on chinese culture, to be non-conventional. Its not meant to be schematic or summarized but to the contrary, something crowded, since that is the web's purpose, a 'tailor's drawer' where many and very varied contents may be found, all linked by a common thread: chinese culture ('tailor's drawer' or 'cajón de sastre'', comes from a common expresion used in spanish meaning a 'heterogeneous group of things or place where they are kept').
I chose for it the same color palette I used for the web itself, pastels mainly, which are not commonly used in web design, where bright colors that easily attract the attention of the viewer are often used. These are colors and textures more commonly associated with printed material, not for documents meant to be seen on screen.
The motifs try to represent all the topics that are dealt with in the site: the lotus flower represents Buddhism, over the color of the 'loess' earth. The character 'zhong' represents actuality since it uses the colors of today's flag and the character itself is part of the chinese word for 'China'. Grey is the color of old Peking, over it a Qing Dinasty coin talks about money and history at the same time. The inscription on it, in mandarin and manchu, speaks of its ethnic cultural variety. In one corner a 'Pai Lou', the traditional arch used in China, makes reference to its traditional architecture while over green the 8 trigrams, the 'Ba Gua', used in the classical oracle 'Yi Jing', speak of China's classical literature and of Daoism and so many other branches of chinese culture that are related to the basic tenets of its philosohy.

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