George Bokhua is a self-taught graphic designer who has been creating logos for over 17 years. He's worked with clients from around the world, ranging from small startups to big names like Disney, New Balance, NFL, Sonic, and Wired magazine.
George Bokhua's path to becoming a graphic designer is truly intriguing. The artist shared that, in 2006, he faced financial struggles and played online poker. Unfortunately, he didn't do well and ended up with no money. Needing a job, he lived in Ukraine, Kyiv, and started looking for work. Ian Tishenko, an art director, invited him to his studio and decided to teach him logo design. This marked the beginning of George's journey into logo design in 2007.
When Bokhua receives a design project, he takes some time to read and absorb the brief. After that, he sits down or relaxes to get into the creative zone. He spends several days sketching, allowing ideas to percolate in his mind. Sometimes, he takes a few days to let the ideas settle before taking any action.
He follows a ten-day period before the initial presentation. The artist shared that ideas start popping up during this time, and he begins creating rough sketches. Despite the sketches being rough and not meticulously detailed, Bokhua has accumulated over a hundred notebooks filled with them. He focuses more on the overall concept and the potential for aesthetic elements. Once satisfied with the sketches, he captures them through photos or scans and imports them into Illustrator for execution.
"Logos are meant to make an impact right away," Bokhua says. Recognizing and remembering logos is crucial to avoid unintentional copying in a crowded logo landscape. While many may claim ownership of similar designs, Bokhua emphasizes the importance of originality. He highlights his approach, like the negative space animals, through which he discovered a unique folding technique. Expanding and mastering such techniques is key for a designer. So, if you're a designer yourself, Bokhua says to find what you're good at, learn more about it, and make it your own.
