2Fresh is a multidisciplinary design agency seated at the crossroads of many cultures. Its creative engines are clearly fueled by its Turkish culture, an exciting fusion that lives at the hub of east and west, north and south, Europe and Asia, modern and traditional.

“We have a huge cultural heritage from the Roman and Ottoman cultures—which dominated Istanbul and Anatolia—and from cultures around and prior to them. Each cultural element in our past has its characteristics, and as a designer I find it very fascinating to be able to feed my mind with this creative dust from history,?says Can Burak Bizer, 2Fresh creative director from his office in Istanbul. (2Fresh also has an office in Paris.) Traditional arts abound, including tezhip (detailed ornamentation or illumination with gold), miniatures, calligraphy, tiles and even Turkish carpets. All are ancient crafts, long appreciated for their intricacy and craftsmanship.

“I love feeding from not just Turkish culture, but other timeless icons from around the world—Roman, Ottoman, Egyptian, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and more—then creating something new, in a common, global language,?says Can Burak Bizer, whose logo design, illustration, and motion graphics are clearly influenced by such traditional art.

His team's client list includes Corona Extra, Kotex, Maxim, Snickers, Starbucks and Vodafone. Both of his offices are housed in high-rise buildings with panoramic views, but he notes that often members of his 10-person creative team do not work in the office. In-office teams handle business chores such as phone calls and accounting, but he believes the best creative output is delivered by designers who are allowed to work wherever inspiration strikes. Excellent project management is the key, says Bizer, whose business was cited in Bill Gates book, “Working at the Speed of Thought,as an organization that works in absolute tandem with the Internet.

Like poets mastering words, a logo designer should master shapes and how to create meaning with them, Bizer says. Only these abilities can make a logo valuable and make its designer respected.

Bizer feels that his office's design of the Bizer logo, which was an award winner at the 2007 EULDA competition, is a good example of how shapes can be mastered. The designers?objective was to communicate the business of HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) for this client.

“After pages of scratches, we finally came up with the very simple solution: Just twist the 'r?to create a propeller [fan]. Simplicity, uniqueness and being to the point are often keys in eliminating the noise in communication,?he says.

2Fresh's logo design for Galatasaray University Economics Day logo also shows a mastery of shapes. To communicate “economics,?they built off of the letters G and S from the organization's logo. By playing with three lines—one which was modified and two that were added—the meaning of the original logo was subtly changed to infer the monetary.

Left to right: original GSUED logo, revised GSUED logo

2Fresh's own logo offers a different instance. How to say “creative idea creation and execution?in a simple way? The team wanted their logo to be fresh, dynamic and modern; to reflect core values; and be timeless and style-less yet stylish and appealing. They began simply, with just ?F?as the logo. But they discovered that it was not recognizable as the company. So in time, the letters “RESH?were added. This finally made the mark understandable, recognizable and distinctive.

“Whatever the message, the logo should communicate it—and clearly. This philosophy might sound a little old school and weird to hear from a young generation designer. But this is what really works in communications,?says Bizer. “Communication is about humans, how we understand and perceive things. It's related to our philosophy, our biology and our DNA. And those things don't change that fast.?/p>

X-PE, a division of 2Fresh, is a lower-end alternative for creative services. There needed to be a visual tie between the original company logo and the new one. The geometry of the sans serif, all-caps typography provided that tie.

Illustration samples from the 2Fresh office in Istanbul, Turkey.

2008 Logolounge Inc.