Lemon Bay Golf Club.
Agency:
This project was completed while working as a Senior Designer at Sussner.
Lemon Bay Golf Club had the right instincts and the wrong logo. A clip art eagle was never going to carry a club this proud of its place on the southwestern Gulf Coast. Here's how we built them something that could. LogoLounge Sussner was recognized by LogoLounge for creating Lemon Bay’s logo. AdFed Award Sussner was recognized by “The Show” for branding Lemon Bay Golf Club.
Clip art isn't hard to beat.
Lemon Bay holds an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary certification, and eagles are part of the story. The symbolism was right. The execution was literally clip art. There was nowhere to go but up.
Obvious isn't always the wrong answer.
Lemon. Bay. Golf. My first sketch combined all three into a single mark. Sometimes the first napkin sketch isn't wrong, but there's always a lot more work to come afterwards.
A risky payoff.
Trusting your gut doesn't mean skipping the work. After landing on the lemon tree, we explored dozens of alternate directions to prove that we weren't leaving any stone unturned. We presented a 6x6 grid (terrible idea, I know) of concepts in front of a smaller committee to further prove the concept's strength. Doing this gained their trust and respect for the craft. They got it. When the detractors showed up at the board meeting, that committee backed us up in the room. That's the kind of client relationship that makes work like this possible.
Visual rhyming.
Their identity system shows up in new ways through a technique I call "visual rhyming" and is tied to the living ecosystem that makes up the logo. It's unique to their brand, and is not something you buy off a shelf. I took the leaves and lemons from the logo and built a lemon mangrove pattern, and many other assets. Simple idea, expandable execution.
Nothing wasted.
During the logo exploration I sketched two eagles nested within a lemon shape. It didn't make the cut for the main mark. But it sparked something bigger. What if we built out a full set of marks for every animal in the Audubon sanctuary? One throwaway concept turned into an entire wildlife illustration system. Built for merchandise, built for Lemon Bay and no one else. We even pulled one of the discarded concepts back out for their tournament called the Lemon Drop. Nothing goes to waste.
Love People. Love Golf.
A motto their members have believed in since 1989, and it shows.
One of a kind.
Lemon Bay was a treat from start to finish. Warm, genuine, and deeply proud of what they built. They trusted the process, went to bat for the work, and ended up with a brand that finally looks like the club it represents. This one will always stick with me.
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