Logo Design

Creating the Logo was more interesting than I thought it was going to be, since it really made me think about how I would characterize myself. The challenge was creating a unified, simple design which I felt incorporated as many of these personal elements as possible. I began the process by basically brainstorming ideas and trying to think of elements that would define both my interests and work. I thought of using the materials I work with, such as a stone cutting blade, and combining that with my initials. I felt my initials together were not easy to work with and would detract from the overall simplicity I was after, so I began to do some sketches with just my first initial. From the beginning I had some ideas that I wanted to explore, such as the use of simple, oval shapes and different types of line. After some more sketches, I liked the idea of using my first initial inside an oval form, and thought it was fitting as it reminded me a bit of Constantin Brancusi's Mademoiselle Pogany II at the Albright Knox, as well as a top view of my balding head. When adding color, I was influenced by Franz Marc's use of blue and my own blue eyes, and I contrasted with yellow so the colors appear more vibrant. Since we were currently discussing the use of the computer as a medium for artistic expression, I decided to do my final logo on my Paint application. I've never used this before, so I think I might have gotten a bit carried away and off target of my original intent of simplicity. I used the airbrush feature and reflected some of the background colors onto the logo to give it more of a sense of three-dimensionality. I think the most important aspect of this project was the preparation and brainstorming before the final piece, something I think I need to personally work on in future works.

I thought the videos were interesting and really showed how complex it is to develop a successful logo, and how things that we as consumers take for granted - like a valve in a squeeze bottle - could have such a major impact on the overall product. I also found it interesting that the heads of these companies, such as DAG, have a really good eye for art and know exactly what they want.