Project 01: Personal Logo

Personal Logo Project: Due Thursday, 09.13.12

**I will post additional logo examples from last year's students later this week. Feel free to browse the blog and see previous logo examples I have posted.

You will develop a personal logo that will become your “signature mark”. It is a like a symbolic self-portrait of yourself, except it will be comprised primarily of typographic elements. You will use it as a promotional tool of sorts throughout the rest of semester, in that you will adhere it to the backs of all of your boards. It should serve you well, and if it truly is a representation of you, you can continue to use it beyond the scope of the class. Think about the qualities you defined for yourself in Tuesday’s class (I will hand those back out to you). These are elements for you to use a conceptual building blocks as you start this creative process. If necessary, put the reocurring themes into a list to which you can refer often.

PART 1: COMBINING LETTERFORMS / TRANSFORMATION

SPECIFIC CRITERIA:

1. Your logo must be built from your initials (either 2 or 3 letterforms - your pick). You may also want to add your full name as an additional element, but it should not be the primary focus.

2. Initially, you will work only in black and white, but a color version with your chosen PMS (Pantone Matching System) colors will come once the design is finalized. Think of this as a figure/ground relationship exercise, so proceed with that in mind.

3. You can use any style of type, as long as it represents you. Think about how letters can connect to each other and the shapes they create. Be aware that thin lines and gradients can reproduce poorly, so keep that in mind. In the examples on the blog, you’ll see that some individuals use more a hand-drawn typographic aesthetic, while others use more formal type elements. It is your call, but you should always be thinking about what the type conveys about you.

4. You may want to consider a drawn or implied containment for increased stability in your design.

RESTRICTIONS:

You will not start this on the computer. In your tracing pad, you should begin by doing multiple thumbnails. Don’t worry about making each one perfect! This is your chance to explore the ways your initials can interact and how different fonts feel differently. You will need to begin with at least 25 variations, because we will narrow them down to 5 in a critique next week. Then you will do several iterations of each chosen version in your pad (again, no computer). This may seem tedious, but since you are new to typography, this is a worthwhile learning experience!

One way to approach these sketches is to start off in pencil, and once you get the form down, fill it in with your black markers or india ink.

Also, another way to sketch is to do a collage of letterforms from magazines. Cut the fonts out, arrange them, and see how well letters can work together while still communicating your initials. Experiment with any and every letterform you can get your hands on. Feel free to combine typefaces or abstract them. Leave no typeface unturned!

These are sketches, but try to keep them somewhat organized and neat, so they can be an easy read when we put them up next week. These will be contained in your sketchbook that you will be keeping all semester. 

PART 2: COMBINING LETTERFORMS AND ONE IMAGE TRANSFORMATION (ILLUSTRATIVE LOGO)

With your letterform logo completed, you’ll next introduce one utilitarian object / shape along with two letterforms that will assist you in better defining who you are (beyond part 1!). You can start from scratch and make an entirely different or take the first personal logo and introduce this “new shape”, whatever it may be.

With both logos, think about how it would look reduced down to a small size on a business card. If you make it overly complex, then your details may break apart and not read clearly when the logo’s size is decreased.

FINAL PRESENTATION SIZE: 10.75” x 16.75” or 12” x 18”

You can use white Letramax (hot press) or superblack boards; however, whatever you decide to use, you should be consistent throughout all of your portfolio, especially if you plan to submit it in the spring to the BFA application review.

Your two final boards in this project critique will have:

TOP: Logo in B/W / grayscale

BELOW: Logo in color below, with your Pantone colors listed at the very bottom

You can choose to have your board in a landscape format, but again, pay special attention to how the logos and PMS swatches work as a whole. 

Do not be afraid of whitespace on your board! Give your logos room to breathe.

Spraymount/adhere your print output and apply it to the board.

Keep it clean. No oversprays, smudges, or stray marks. Craftsmanship is part of your grade!

Pay special attention to how your logos and Pantone colors fit together as a composition on your boards. The Pantone swatches do not need to be large, nor should they compete with your logo, but they should be clearly visible and easily read.