The brief that was given to me for the logo for Circuit Breaker was pretty much the same as every other design and photographic project at The Verge: make it awesome. That kind of brief is equally exhilarating and terrifying. So the best first step is to look for inspiration.

For Circuit Breaker I found influence in electrical diagrams and symbols: Tron (the 1982 original version, of course); the conceptual artwork of Syd Mead, who was instrumental in creating the look and feel for Tron as well as Blade Runner and Tomorrowland; and Nilay Patel's completely understandable and enviable dream of one day owning a beach bar.

Once I'd decided on the overall look and feel, I began to work on multiple iterations of the logo. Starting out with a simple minimalist "diagram" approach that developed into a more literal circuit board look, it was then stripped back down to the finished final version you see on the page.

That process took days. And multiple meetings during which Nilay, Dieter, and I would discuss each iteration: how it worked at various different sizes, how it would look on the Circuit Breaker site (and on mobile and Facebook and Twitter), and trying umpteen different subtle color variations until we eventually settled on a design we all loved.

I think the final version of the Circuit Breaker logo is best described as the fusion of a sci-fi, neon, digital comic book cover combined with a sign for a post-apocalyptic tiki bar. Which is kind of awesome.