I couldn't believe it when Ryan and Mark Plewis (Standard Motors) approached me about doing a 'top secret' project. Almost no one knew about their upcoming dealership acquisitions at the time. Once Ryan had told me in confidence, I naturally blabbed it to the entire South West ;P
Seriously though, I had updated their Standard Motors logo a couple years prior, and created a Standard Shaunavon one as well; but they were planning to put a group name behind their dealerships now, including these top secret acquisitions. (Knight Dodge, Knight Nissan, and Knight Jackson Dodge in Medicine Hat).
Since the Dodge dealership in Swift Current became Knight Dodge, I had looked at that logo and thought 'I wish I could do something like that—a dealership/group logo—and I could probably do a better job.' (Years later, Knight updated their logo and it became quite terrific).
Flash forward to today, and when I drive by the former Knight Dodge, I now see Standard Dodge (a logo that I got to update) and the Plewis Automotive Group logo; the dealership group logo I had dreamed of building for years. Funny that it would end up on the exact building that had given me the desire in the first place.
The Plewis' believe in giving back to their community, and they do an incredible job of it. Not only do they sponsor a ton of local events, but they've also donated a wheelchair accessible vehicle to a family that needed one, and Ryan is a City Councillor, which means he's involved in decisions that affect our community on a monthly basis. They truly lead by example and now have more makes and models behind their name than ever before.
I'll likely be grateful for the opportunity to create the Plewis Automotive Group for the rest of my life; and working with Ryan was incredible. I was so excited about my first version of the logo that I thought I'd be relatively comfortable getting a tattoo of it. Once version 2 and 3 came around, in large part thanks to Ryan's suggestions and tweaks, version one was looking awful! Add a couple more versions on top of version 3, and we have an incredible end product that I believe will stand up for for many years. (And would actually look good as a tattoo).
I don't think the design itself requires too much explanation, but it's a buffalo/bison head in a crest, with a semi-hidden P for Plewis under the nose. The initial motivation for the design language was to carry the swooshes from the Standard Motors logo over into the shapes of the buffalo. The swooshes became less pronounced, but you can still see their inspiration; most notably in the shape of the horns and the 'hairdo'. You won't find any straight lines in the crest—this is to stylistically honour the swooshes and roundedness of the Standard Motors logo. Although not necessary, it's nice to be able to give a nod to the past and present in a new logo when you can.
The wordmark uses fonts that are strong, corporate, and professional. I like to think it says 'hey, we're kind of a big deal here.'
Thanks for trusting me with this Ryan and Mark. This is one of the top logos of my career.
(Logos below contact info)
Standard Motors:
(306) 773-3131
Standard Dodge:
(306) 773-9301
Standard Nissan:
(306) 778-7000
Standard Shaunavon:
(306) 297-2772
Standard Jeep Ram (Medicine Hat):
(403) 527-5581
