Initials - Week 2

This weeks exercise followed on from the alphabet task I produced earlier in the week. Alongside is my rough sketches and some initial designs on Illustrator, this allowed me to see which designs worked and which didn't all on the same spreadsheet. 

<- the image on the left shows some rough experimentation before I began my final designs on Illustrator, the designs in the bottom right of the sketch book are the typefaces you should never use unless its for a child's advertisement campaign e.g. swirly types or serif types.

Below are my final designs I produced on Illustrator, although we had the option to use a shade of grey I really felt for me since my initials are 'R' and 'A' they had quite symmetrical features allowing the black and white to easily compliment each other. I also wanted to add in two lower case designs to show that I didn't disregard them completely, for me even though they did show some potential they didn't inject the same eye catching angular features of the capital versions. 

I also noticed that the counter of the 'R' and 'A' could easily connect which is why for a few designs I tried to incorporate the triangle of the 'A' into the 'R'.          (Right image, bottom left design)

(left image) Is my favourite design which I decided to choose as the focal point of the page. The reasons for this are that to begin with it almost creates a square shape, meaning it could be used well on products or advertisements well. Secondly I thought it was the best design for incorporating the word 'DESIGN' as it fitted under the arch of the 'A' and fitted well in the bottom corner which in the 'Basic Design 07 Grids' by Gavin Ambrose/Paul Harris is the final point the eye would look; which is what I want to happen.  I also felt that the boldness of the 'R' made it look like a shadow of the 'A', creating a link between the two. Overall I am happy with the way my designs turned out as I only had the basic knowledge of Illustrator which after this task has now grown, allowing me to learn new techniques when it comes to this software. 

Alphabet Practice

Monday 7th - Practical

In this my second practical session we were set the task of designing images out of letters. For example ->
I created an alien for the letter 'A' and a giraffe for the letter 'G'. This task for me was something completely new which I had never experimented with before as I'm just used to drawing an alien of giraffe..
By only being able to use the typefaces we were given it was a lot harder to integrate and combine some letters to make a clear image. The 'E' for example featured in the bottom right image was created using three letters (d, j and a c) I realised after this attempt that the simpler the idea i.e. the less letters used the more effective the image. 
This task really made me appreciate that literally anything can be used to create an image, thus increasing my fascination and interest for the are of typography. 

OBEY

Shepard Fairey the creator and brains behind these amazing pieces of art and has to be by far one of my favourite designers/graffiti artists. His brand OBEY has spread from just basic prints, to t-shirt designs and even onto tattoo designs. His street art is known worldwide with his recognisable star logo and minimal block colour designs, above is an example of how simple but effective his style is showing it isn't all about vibrant colours and heavily edited images.

More now than ever before there has been a lot of political messages presented in Fairey's work, this ideology can sometimes be considered offensive but isn't it the controversial pieces of design that attract the most attention? The image above isn't one of his political pieces but a more intricate filigree design. In the centre is the recognisable star logo with the eyes in the centre staring right out at the viewer, drawing your eyes into the middle of the image. His use of thin and thick lines I feel is a big contributor to this design, as the thicker the line the more noticeable it is, therefore drawing the eye to the heart of the image and then working its way out. 

Make Art Not War-
I think out of all Shepard Fairey's designs this has to be a personal favourite above. 'Make Art Not War' originated from John Lennon's 'Make Love, Not War' and is pretty self expressive meaning spread love through something that makes you happy, in my personal case art. Instead of devastation through war which in this day and age is constantly going on. 
I loved this design and it's meaning so much that I decided to get it as a tattoo back in Christmas 2012 on my upper left thigh. It isn't an exact representation with the addition of text but the most striking aspect for me was the Hawaiian girl, as she is looking directly out at you drawing you into the image. The basis of using just three colours also made this piece so successful in my opinion, a saying by Abram Games is really relevant in this instance, "maximum meaning, minimum means" essentially stating the simpler the design the more you will gain from it. 

Monogram Logo Analysis

Below are 5 examples of what I think are successful monogram logo designs, some very recognisable and some slightly less. 

Above is a logo designed by PC Boy for the American television broadcasting company ABC. I chose to identify this logo as it showed a lot of movement, drawing the eye along the lettering as it is all connected throughout; minus the top curve of the 'C'. The main focal point in the case of this logo is the lettering 'ABC', firstly from the bright red background contrasting with that of the white and also from the radial gradient creating this ever so slightly lighter red circling the white typeface. This also allows us as the audience to focus straight in on the main piece of information, which in this case is the 'ABC'. I also feel this logo shows some closure, the tightness of the letters together makes three circular shapes appear. Each of these are within an equal proximity of each other even though the angle of the logo is deceptive, making this logo look clean cut and very precise. The sharp tip of the 'B's' cap height is also a pronounced feature that at first glance stood out for me. It is just slightly different from the square edges of the 'A' and 'C' which is why it's sharp point drew my attention into the centre instead of away from the logo. Overall I feel the open gaps and circular letters draws the eye into the centre almost like a dart board, targeting the 'B' as the central focus where by letting the 'A' and 'C' to be the second point to look at. 

The second logo I found to be of great contrast to the ABC logo as no curves are used, only 90 degree angles. Font Smith is the company and the designers of this logo, who are the source behind some of the most famous logos e.g. E4, Film4 and ITV. Here for their own company logo they have gone for simple but effective, by using the illusion that even though the 'F' isn't drawn out in black it is still visible by the black lines surrounding from both sides. This is probably the main reason I wanted to analyse this logo as it is clever in it's simplicity.For me the whole logo seems to appear as one, even though nothing is connected. This may be because of the equal proximity of each line and letter, showing that it is all grouped through the white 'F' that at first isn't apparent. Overall I think this logo is most successful from its simplicity and lack of colour, showing off its main focus the 'F' and 'S' which heavily contrast with the white background.

This logo design was for the renowned stylist Natasha Balabanova, designed by Oleksii Chernikov. So far very different from the above two, by using more intricate detail and at first glance I feel it targets highly the female market. The use of filigree in this piece creates a circle where by surrounding the initials NB inside it, even though this at first may seem like it would make the letters not as prominent, in this case it really doesn't matter. The reason for this is that the initials are over double the thickness of the filigree, showing it's boldness to stand out from its surrounding logo. One quality that makes this logo so desirable is the red that is used throughout, on the left image (letter) you can see how successful the logo is at standing out. In contrast to the white background, black letter typeface and the gold filigree to the bottom you can really see how pronounced it is. If this logo was designed in black I don't think it would be as appealing as the white or red, based mainly on the contrasting factors and its elegance from the chosen colours above.

 

Above is a logo designed by Jacob Cass, I selected this logo design as it incorporated elements from my first two analysis's that I found very interesting. Firstly I have realised that the theme for all logos' is to really contrast your chosen colours, the above is a perfect example as it uses yellow and black. Here the letter 'P' is cleverly linked into the centre of the 'R' and with this heavy black background, it allows the 'P' in my opinion to be the first focal point. Gestalt's theory really strikes me in this logo as just from one shape it can be seen in many different forms i.e. you can see the 'P' establishing itself within the 'R', an idea that seems to be a recurring theme throughout the logo analysis. 

In relation to shapes Jacob Cass has designed this logo with a lot of logic behind it. The inside dot of the 'P' here is a massive focal point from it's central positioning, then for me I worked my eyes down following the almost grey corridor to the baseline of the 'R', which directs you to the name and overall important part of the logo 'Peter Ryan'. Furthermore the background of this logo is extremely similar to that of 'ABC', by using this radial gradient creating a lighter square in the centre it draws your eyes even more into the middle of the page. Even though for both it was only a very sutle difference it really radiates this glow from the logo, showing the viewer this is what they should be looking at. 

Finally I wanted to end with this logo by Ryan Ford as it was the only logo out of the selected which used a distressed orange as the background colour. By using a circular shape for the backdrop it is very consistent as the font used is very smooth with no definite angles or harsh edges, this to me shows a more relaxed company persona. 

Furthermore I feel one thing that makes this logo so successful is the font selection. To me all the lines are connected making it like a journey for your eyes to follow and as both letters are arched with no corners it is very ascetically pleasing for the eyes creating this ease to read. 

Again with this logo there is a lot of white space surrounding it, therefore visually promoting their product better to persuade the viewer to either click on their website or look into their shop for example. 

Additionally the proximity and size of the type isn't too overpowering to the distressed orange background, if it was stretched this would just make the typeface less visible and unattractive, therefore reducing it's recognisable qualities. For example the curvature of the 'H's' ascender and the baseline of the 'T' which to me are the most eminent features.