OUGD402 STUDIO BRIEF 2 - LOGO AND BUSINESS CARD DEVELOPMENT

After my research into Karl Martens' mono printing designs, I started manipulating with my own mono prints I produced during a previous workshop.

Initial prints:

Initial experimentations:

I used the typeface DIN Condensed Bold for the title on these initial experimentations, as I thought this was a very bold typeface, and would create a strong impact, and contrast against the mono printed background. For each selected circle, I adjusted the brightness, contrast and saturation levels on Photoshop, to make the colours appear a lot more bright and warm.

I took selections from a few of the prints, and copied them onto Illustrator from Photoshop, where I was then able to play around with them a lot more competently that on Photoshop. Out of these colours I think I prefer the first two, the light pink and blue, as they are subtle yet still bright, and the colours are a lot more appealing and delicate.

These are some more print selections. I think that the last two colours, the yellow and light blue, work the best, as the yellow is bold and strong, and has a very sunshiney yet powerful air to it. The blue appears light and cheerful, especially with the green and yellow specks in it as well from where different coloured inks have overlapped.

Experimenting with colour and pattern:
I wanted to experiment with different flat colours, rather than just using a clipping mask from my mono prints to form the colour. I think this would make my logo easier to apply to my website and business cards, so the colour scheme is easier to determine, as it is one or two colours, rather than a pattern. I still wanted to include the colours from my mono prints however, so some of the colours below are from picking colours from my prints and using these for the block colour. What I found with this though is that the mono print colours when you individually pick them appear quite dull and earthy, not as bright as they appear together.

I started with the colours green blue and pink as I thought these were a range off different colours, and best represented the whole rainbow in it's most simplest, bright coloured form. I also experimented with different case combinations for my name as well, as I thought BEX. was a little harsh and may appear like I'm shouting. I tried all lowercase but this just looks a little feeble. I then tried Title Case as this is the technically correct way to write a name, but this looks imbalanced somehow, like my name is leaning more one side. I then tried all UPPERCASE but without the period as the end, which I think works the best as it makes my name appear bold and important, however doesn't look like I'm aggressive. The three colours I chose to take forward were the blue and green from my initial selection, and then a slightly darker shade of pink from my mono prints selection, as I thought the initial pink shade was a little too girly, I want to express a mature but fun appearance, not a girly, feminine one.

I then took this design and applied it to the size of a business card, I also tried a square as well as I thought this may frame the circle nicely, but it just looks cramped and the circle has no room to breathe. I then produced this pattern, inspired by the Rubies in the Rubble logo I have shown below, as I thought my circle looked a little bare and simple, it needs something to bring it to life. I thought a pattern similar to that of the Rubies in the Rubble one would be quite understated and subtle, yet give my logo that extra something. I tried it initially in black, however I think this looks a little harsh against the colourful circles. I then tried it in a darker shade of the circle it was on, so for the blue circle it was darker blue. I think this works really nicely, and being a darker shade of the circle helps it blend into the circle itself a lot easier, so it doesn't stand out as much. I showed these designs to one of my peers, and she suggested I try white as well, which I did, however I don;t like this colour combination at all, as you loose the whole outline of the logo, and it's just these lines cutting into the circle. My peer also thought the same, commenting that it now looks like a sun. I tried keeping the coloured outline of the circle, but using the white lines, trying to combine the two, however I think this looks like a bit of a mash up design, like I'm trying to do too much with it.

This Rubies in the Rubble logo inspired some of my designs above as I liked the simplicity of the pattern, just two hexagons rotated to form this interesting pattern. I thought this added a little detail to my designs which is quite subtle is the right colours are chosen, but makes it more than just a circle.

I thought about applying my logo to different coloured backgrounds. Initially I tried a lighter shade of the main circle, and then I moved on to clipping masks from some of my mono prints, as I thought this could be a way of including them in my business cards. I quite like this mono printed background as it makes my whole design look slightly mystical, almost looking like the galaxy. 

I then started thinking about the back of my business cards, as this is also an important aspect to my business cards, as this is where all the information is. I experimented with both a mono printed background and a simple colour background, to see which the text stands out best on, and works generally. In the latter few designs I tried incorporating my logo into it as well, almost as an extension of the front design. I'm not sure about the logo only partially being on the back cover though, even at a lower opacity where it is less obtrusive, as I think it just looks plonked there. The same with the miniature logo in the top centre of the card, it looks unnecessary and takes up a large amount of space, meaning the information is crammed into a smaller than necessary space, however the logo couldn't be any smaller otherwise you wouldn't be able to read it properly.

I wasn't sure about the green and pink coloured logo combination, as I thought it looked a little too feminine. I thought a blue shade may work better, as this was still from my original selection of colours, and I have a lot of blue mono prints to choose colours from whereas I don't have any green ones. I chose my favourite square of colour from one of my mono prints, which I liked because of the mix of turquoise, light and dark blue shades. I then selected aspects of it and found 3 colours that didn't look too dull or unappealing from it, shown in the squares to the right of the mono print. I then chose the lightest shade for the circle itself in my logo, as I thought that this shade was similar to the pink and green shades. I then used the darker shade for the outline pattern, as this creates the greatest contrast and is similar to the other two colours. I was still unsure which two coloured logos worked best out of the three, just by looking at the logo itself, so I tried with coloured backgrounds, to see if this would lead me towards two, or even one coloured logo. By using different coloured background, this really showed me which logo colours worked most effectively, which I thought was blue and pink, as the green just looks too earthy in comparison, and the lighter shade for the background just isn't vibrant at all. I then tried these new logo colours with the mono printed backgrounds, as I thought this worked quite nicely previously. I wasn't sure whether the mono print was a little too bright though, not allowing the logo to stand out enough, so I experimented with a lower opacity background, however I think this just looks faded now. Again I applied the new colour palette to the backs of the business cards as well, to see how this would look. I tried a plain white background as well as a mono printed one, to see if with a mono printed front side, two sides being mono printed was too much.

Printing experimentation:
This was my initial printing, where I printed off three separate designs on the printer in the library to see which combination works best. I thought that the plain white background looks the most effective, as it allows the logo to stand out boldly, not having any distraction of the pattern, however the pattern would still be on the back side, so you'd still get to experience it.

 I then printed my chosen designs off in the digital print room, to achieve a higher quality print where the colours were more vibrant. This also allowed me to print double sided, so I didn't have to stick the two sides together, and I could print on a whole range of stock as well. I chose a matte slightly textured stock for my business cards, as I thought a gloss or satin stock would detract from the design. This was also a much heavier weight than the normal printing paper, so my business cards came out a lot more sturdy and firm feeling.

I am quite pleased with the outcome of my business cards, as they have aligned really well which was a relief, and the text size is a good size for reading, though perhaps just one point larger may make it even easier to read. My only issue is that the colours haven't printed nearly as bright or as flat as I wanted them to, or how they printed out in the library printer. This could perhaps be because of the stock I chose, which wasn't smooth but had a slight texture to it, perhaps it didn't take the ink quite as well as another choice could have done. These are not a bad first initial print, and I will research better stocks to use for printing my cards on and try again, adjusting the size of the text on the back cover as well, perhaps changing the typeface as well as looking at it it looks a little too rounded and feminine, not as professional as I wanted.