Kaxalot: Part I
Illustration by Ernest H. Shepard
“…There is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
- Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
Alongside earning our boating licenses in 2022, Evgeny and I conceived an idea to find, purchase, acquire, fix up, customize, christen, berth and then sail our own vessel.
While living in Berlin years ago, I bought an inflatable dinghy to messabout in on the Spree during summer months. I christened it The Ding-A-Ling (named after the classic Chuck Berry song), and enjoyed the hell out of that thing with various friends as often as possible. One day after work (during the time Evgeny and I were making videogames at GameDuell and then Studio49), we made a simple little Ding-A-Ling flag 🙂, painted in white acrylic upon a scrap of black fabric. From then onward, The Ding-A-Ling sailed proudly with this flag raised upon a stick of bamboo, resting comfortably in one of the drink holders built into the craft. Sadly, some time during 2018, The Ding-A-Ling was [apparently] stolen from it’s storage location in Neukölln, never to be seen again.
Evgeny eventually moved from Berlin to Malta in 2018 after Studio49 imploded, and later moved to Barcelona with his family. During this time, we rarely saw each other until I eventually moved to Barcelona with my partner in the winter of 2021. By that time, Evgeny was working toward establishing his own games studio, and upon reflecting on this achievement, we eventually got into a conversation about goals. It was then that we realized that we both shared the sincere interest in learning to sail (beyond just floating down a river in a dinghy).
Together, We resolved to earn our licenses, buy a boat, and customize it to realize our dream our own floating man-cave on the sea - AN ACCESSIBLE outlet of ESCAPE from both cold northern winters and the stressES of modern urban life.
After researching sailing regulations and licenses, choosing a school and committing to our Day Skipper course here in Barcelona, we began learning to sail in the summer of 2022. By December, we finally earned our RYA Day Skipper licenses and began accumulating hours, miles, experience… and ideas.
We ordered captain hats in anticipation (black for whomever is the Skipper and white for the First Mate), and on January 3 2023, we chartered the same yacht we learned on and took our first licensed, unsupervised voyage.
After completing this first step of our dream, Evgeny and I doubled down on the custom elements we could immediately define, and got to work defining an identity.
Together, we made a list of stuff to do, create, organize and buy for our eventual boat, even doodling it out on the windows of his games studio. We casually concepted how we imagined this idealized nautical hobby, from boat names to watercraft types, uniforms, hardware modifications, terminology, decor and, of course, brand and identity. Repurposing some silly white sailor hats from a bachelor party earlier that year, we realized that even after learning to sail, we would need some time and experience to responsibly purchase, pilot, customize and truly enjoy our own vessel, and decided to work toward this.
Initial concepts iterated further upon the original Ding-A-Ling flag, exploring ways it could be used (all puns intended). Most of these design treatments were a bit too literal, overwhelmingly phallic or sexual (hahaha, ‘seamen’), sidestepping nautical elements and not really representing the freedom, satisfaction and spirit of adventure that sailing provides. I thus elaborated on other concepts, striving to condense things into a simple, recognizable visualization. I explored visual concepts of relaxation, satisfaction and the simplicity of a connection to nature through representations of sea life, nautical traditions, history and symbols, cartography, meteorology, maritime tropes, marine luminaries, characters, mythology and legends.
After throwing around a few names, we settled on ‘Kaxalot,’ a bastardized spelling of Catxalot, the Catalan name for Sperm Whale.
A formidable, mysterious (and suspiciously named) predator, the sperm whale is an apt designation, as we’re also both large, loud, hungry and often misunderstood carnivores. Avoiding the archetypal yet antagonistic character of Moby Dick, I got to work on identity design, combining elements of modern bromance, pop culture and a very uninhibited/unapologetic male sense of humour with traditional nautical discipline, history, refinement (and, if possible, class).
Eventually, we concluded on a minimalist wordmark treatment that also worked as an effective logo, and could thus easily lend itself to a variety of usages and representations. (As a sidenote, I think the K was an unintentional spelling error, influenced by both beer and lingering German language influences, where there are no hard C’s).
After settling on the most simplified essence of this concept, I worked out the math and aesthetics of combining A K character with the traditional shape of an anchor icon.
I chose a Black Grotesk font to work with, maintaining stroke thickness in all but the eye of the anchor, following the natural angle of the K leg to form the anchor base. Rounded corners softened (most) sharp edges, providing a less aggressive representation. The wordmark took some effort to refine, as the negative space of the A did not exactly fit the geometry of the anchor shape, but I adjusted the crossbar of the letter to accommodate the idea without compromising ledgibility.
This treatment is effective when monochromatic, but also effective with metallic accents; I then created an alternative logo by following the rounded edges and stroke thickness of the monogram, outlining the shape of it and articulating this with a slightly thinner, colourized stroke.
🥇🏆⚜️ 🔱 👑 👨✈️
We chose with gold as the accent colour, as it provides striking contrast and is historically a standard finish often seen upon nautical paraphernalia, indicating authenticity, rank, refinement and aptitude.
Final Logo Monogram
Full Wordmark
Furthermore, future analog iterations can effectively utilize this treatment via metallic gold threads, finishes, materials and presentation.
We thus used this secondary logo variant to order a batch of small iron-on badges, which will be placed upon our respective sailing attire to indicate allegiance to this unique personalized brand.
Kaxalot Logo Variant (white on black with gold outline, on white background)
Kaxalot logo badge
Of course, I already had a flag.
Recycled from previous creation for Dankomade, the D Nut is a simple symbol that very effectively represents my DANKO branding, ingenuity and hard work. Continuing our DIY traditions, Evgeny and I gathered materials and stitched our own respective flags to hoist whenever we set sail. These will fly under the boat’s flag, above additional country flags (as per nautical tradition).
The DANKOMADE flag
Now, after years of maturation, things are coming together. We’ve begun planning further trips, crossings and voyages for later this year and beyond… and we don’t even have our own boat yet. Until then, our adventures continue.
💧
“The cure for anything is salt water - tears, sweat, or the sea.”
— Isak Dinesen
Update: Summer 2023 VOYAGE TO MALLORCA
Updated Autumn 2023
During this summer, Evgeny, Jordi, Gleb and I chartered our own vessel, charted a course from Barcelona to Mallorca, then took ourselves on our first independent voyage. The distance is about 200 km (about 110 nautical miles), and took about 24 hours to traverse one way (from port to port) with consistent fair winds, two pods of curious dolphins, and no serious weather. (The way back was a little more intense, but included a surprise meeting with a pilot whale among 4-meter swells under the Milky Way).
We sailed from Port Vell in Barcelona out to Port de Pollenca, then Alcudia and back to Barna.
We fished, we swam, we drank, we learned, and we ate our way through our first voyage as Skippers - an adventure that none of us will soon forget.
