I've been carrying my sketchbook with me everywhere I go, which has resulted in a lot of ideas that feel different. I seem to keep coming back to the dog and cat profiles though, so I'll probably end up using that idea in some way. Up to about 55 sketches so far, and I feel like it's alllllmost there. Just not quite. A couple of my pages of sketches were pretty rough (a.k.a. terrible), so they didn't make the blog. I don't know if anyone will read this before class Monday, but if so I'd love to get some feedback on how you think this is progressing. The sketches are in order, with the final two pages being more along the lines of what the final product may look like.
Redesigning the Second Life logo has been a challenge. If it was simply a thrift store or just an animal rescue, that would make life so much easier! But the best progression and growth comes from challenge, right? Here are some of the images I've been using as inspiration. I want the logo to showcase and cat and dog in some fashion. Most of my sketches so far have been leaning in the silhouette direction.
The Fab Five:
Starbucks has a timeless appeal. Lately they've been removing the text from the logo, which also works. This is the iteration that I prefer.
FedEx? So good that it barely merits explanation. The hidden arrow inside the Ex is brilliant.
Tostitios celebrating people are a fun little addition that sometimes goes unnoticed. I appreciate a logo that can make me look twice.
Coke has been using the same (or a very similar version) logo for many, many years. When something is this timeless, you know that it's good design.
Apple? Same as Coke. While sometimes the color or the highlight changes on it, the Apple silhouette has remained the same for years. Classic and memorable.
The Leftovers:
Walmart, what the heck is that yellow splotch? A sun? A flower? Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with anything the company represents. It's distracting and unappealing.
Google, I expected better of you. While I love the browser, the logo is an unappealing circular mash of colors. I know they wanted to use the same colors from the classic Google logo, but they could've done much, much better.
Chili's, for some reason I just hate you. The font, the slightly leaning tittles, the lowercase C... there's just nothing I like about it.
Sugar n' Cream, your logo is stuck in the 70's, and not in a good way.
Android. OK, a lot of people probably like this logo. Me? I think it looks like it was thrown together in Illustrator in five minutes. Those basic vector shapes are cold and lifeless and downright juvenile.
Here's a quick pic of my progress so far. In the background you can see my original template, which I sketched on to get initial layout ideas. I found this really helpful for figuring out what direction everything needed to be in for printing. In the foreground is my current version. I'm happy with the quality of the print and the design, but the craftsmanship isn't perfect. I doubled up the cardstock to make is super sturdy, but this resulted in the folds not being as crisp as they should be. I might have to make the final version in single ply and hope that it's strong enough. Also, I had to tape the corners to keep it from opening up. Has anyone else found a better solution? Glue seems far too messy for this type of project.
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I've been working on my final for our graphic design class, and today I'm running some print tests. Since I'm going to be printing on brown instead of white, I thought it would be a good idea to see how the paper affects the ink output. I'm also testing the readability of the logo and various fonts at different sizes. I've included a (terrible) picture so you can get an idea of what I mean.
This might seem like a lot of extra work, but I think it will save me a lot of headache in the end. For those of you who are also using different types of paper this time around, I highly recommend doing this. It doesn't take that long, and can make a big difference in your finished products. Look forward to seeing everyone next week!
The company I've chosen to work with is called Carden Farms, and they create these amazing handmade soaps. Everything is made by hand from all organic ingredients that they grow on their family farm. However, the packaging and logo is absolutely terrible (see above). I would love to create something that emphasizes what the product is made from and stands for, and that also looks appealing. Below are a number of examples from the web that I like. How do you guys feel about these?
Hi guys! A number of you were asking me today about how I created the galaxy on my book cover. There is a great (and very simple) tutorial here:
http://www.oktutorials.com/photoshop-tutorials/cool-ideas/deep-space-nebula
In the tutorial the methods he uses with the noise filter don't work quite so well for larger, higher-resolution images. I worked around this by using a large, low-opacity eraser to take out most of those noise layers. I also softened the larger stars that I added in by duplicating their layer and using gaussian blur. Hope this comes in handy!
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