The Diary of
Mr. Knowitall
How many times you see a random logo somewhere and think to yourself you can easily do it better in a half an hour?
"Well knock yourself out, Mister Knowitall", once answered somebody in my head.
The rules
Time trial —30 minutes to do the hard work, 5 more to finalize. No cheating.
Keep it real — work as if there is a real client asking for all this.
No backsies — once the timer has started, the result has to be published.
The dude
Mr. Knowitall is a side project of Filippo Gander. Web and graphic distiller from the hearth of the Swiss Westlands.

WebInstaMail
The Diary of
Mr. Knowitall
August 2019 – Public body
I'm mostly working on project funded by Europe. Their logo system bugs me, especially the European Commission.
Mine are terrible as well. I wanted to build a consistent logo system out of the triangles that form each European start, but definitely needed more time on this one.
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter
July 2019 – Small Business
One of my favourite small business in town. The logo though, not one of my favourite.
Have I had more time, a pattern with the two elements of the A – for wrapping paper, bags, and other stuff – would have been in order.
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter
June 2019 – Charity
A guy walked in at our office asking if he could hang poster for this charity. I should have said "yes, but please let me clean up this mess a bit".
This charity collect canned food in boxes and give the boxes to the less fortunate, hence my new logo. Cheesy? Maybe, but I do like me some Frankfurter!
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter
May 2019 – Research Institute
Seing this logo made me reminisce of the good old days when using the live trace mode seemed like a legit way of having everything vector.
There was for sure a easier way out, but my timer beeped up and I have to live with what I made.
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter
March 2019 – Industrial services
If you abide by the Geneva convention, you don't use Helvetica rounded.
In the spirit of the rules I made, I kept the L-as-a-framing-device thing, the only good thing about the current logo.
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter
Feb 2019 – Travel company
I wanted to show that even bad type choices can be lifted up with a proper typesetting. Turns out I'm not as good as I thought.
Shifting to Hobeaux saved my face a bit, but I was close to disaster.
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter
Jan 2019 – Distillery
Excellent gin, weird lettering.
I didn't have neither time nor skills do draw the lettering from scratch, so I let awesome Melany Lane do the heavy lifting.
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter
Dec 2018 – Hotel
Rooms are pretty overpriced, based solely on the logo.
Rooms still overpriced after my makeover though.
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter
Nov 2018 – Restaurant
From the weird "cd" ligature to the building-shaped C... it's a no go.
More literal interpretation of a chalet that might disappoint visitors seing that the building is everything but a chalet.
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter
Oct 2018 – Logistic Company
DPD has probably the cheapest logo in the delivery companies game.
Maybe to childish, but I love my delivery P-erson. A lot.
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter
Sep 2018 – Insulation company
Pretty terrible logo, I'm sure it's not waterproof.
Mine can take a monsoon and still be dry though.
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter
Aug 2018 – Small town
Town seals are a mine of gold in term of bad graphic design choices.
In case of doubt, always go with a two-coloras approach.
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter
July 2018 – Small Business
Probably not even a legit company, but I had nothing better to do.
Carpetry-inspired logo: check. Flared serif wordmark: check. We built ourselves a good logo people!
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter
Jun 2018 – Electrician
Small town's bulletin boards are hell for a graphic designer.
Probably already done, still happy with the result.
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter
May 2018 – Public transportation
The logo that inspired me to start this project. In all its glory.
MBC stands for Bière, Morges and Cossonay. Three small town that form a triangle on a map.
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter
April 2018 – Garage
Cheesy typography, cars out of swooshes,... What's not to (dis)like?
Kept the cheesiness in my version...
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter
March 2018 – Insulation Company
Everything needs a starting point. Here's mine.
The rules I set myself are clearing in the way of good graphic design.
Smarty Pants®
satisfaction meter