Nike Swoosh

The swoosh has become the living, vibrant symbol of nike. It is totally recognizable as the company, everywhere. It is global, without a doubt. The Iconic logo has remained relatively unalterd since its conception, with the only change being made in 1995 when the brand ditched the Nike text that used to be cradled within the Swoosh, opting for a simpler, stand-alone Swoosh instead.  

logo response

it's a brain. brains think. thoughts can be geeky. they want you to think geeky. it all comes together! sterile colors (gray/white) make me think of lab stuff or the bland other worlds of geek cultures. the gold... well their products are nothing but gold, of course! adding a splash of pizzaz to the thinky blandy massess. serif fonts, because it's official. there's no room for those happy go lucky san serifs in the field of science!

Some IIlustrator references to help with logo design

Here are some links to support some Illustrator tools I'll be showing in class:

Pathfinder panel

Blending Tool

Convert text to outlines

3D Extrude & Bevel

Image Trace

Illustrator grid

Katelyn Jensen

Blog post

29, January 2013

Smart logo

This logo is very effective.  The font and the color give off  futuristic qualities and care-free fun as well. 

The grey color against the white is what sets the more futuristic tone.  Whenever I see a movie that is suppose to be set in the future, the space is normally filled with grey and white for example:  the movie, In Time, is set in the future and of course  it has the stealthy grey and white color effect that  forshadows to the audience that this movie is futuristic.  Wii probably wanted to foreshadow this as well, because it began a whole new era for video games with a huge leap in improving interactivity.

The font style along with the actually name for Wii products gives me a feeling that this product is “fun.” The soft rounded lower case lettering seems less profession than straight boxy capitalized lettering.  This is a good thing because most of their target market is youthful gamers looking for a good time.  Pepsi recently used this same  method in trying to make their product more youthful.  They changed their lettering to all lower case and the font was changed by making it rounder and less formal, something that may psychologically appeal to a younger customer.

STS9

Sound Tribe Sector Nine or STS9 is a band, but they also own their own independent music label 1320 records. Their music and branding inspires broad thinking and spiritual identity to even the most devote atheist.

a) color - Their colors always vary but their inspirations are nothing short of psychedelic

b) font - STS9 is always uses the same spacing tightly flowing from one letter to the next. A futuristic looking font, it fits perfectly for their forward thinking ideology.

c) imagery - STS9's images always depict divine and sacred symbols while compiling these resources from a diverse cultural and historical background. The result is a hypnotic ballad of human history through music and imagery.

I think one of the more iconic logos of our time is the Michael "Air" Jordan logo. The design is simple with just a silhouette of him jumping through the air. There are different verisons of it with different colors but they all stem from the original silhouette of him jumping through the air with the ball in his hand. It is a very easy to identify the logo and know what it represents.

Chelsea Christoph- Elephant combs

This logo is a good design because it is simple yet cute. The color is a very simple grey and not too crazy. I enjoy the imagery the most but think it would be difficult to make out the elephant image without the text with the image. I love how the simple edition of an eye on the comb brings out the image of the elephant.

 I think that the Red Bull logo is a particularly good because it symbolizes what the product is meaning to achieve or what the consumer is looking to gain from the product. The Red Bull logo is two red bulls charging against each other in front of a yellow spot. The bulls represent power, speed, and aggressiveness. This makes sense because Red Bull is an energy drink marketed towards extreme sports. The logo is saying that if you drink this product you will get more strength and speed and perform better. I think that the yellow circle represents energy and the blue and silver represent calm and intellect. 

The font used for the logo seems modern and new.  The Logo visually represents everything that to Red Bull is trying to tell consumer that the brand is about and what they will gain from drinking it, and it appeals to a young/ hip demographic. 

Redbull does a great job of placing their logos in strategic places. You see it a lot, but it isn't excessive to the point where it just blends in.

A) color – Letters in red make it seem more sharp, also with the blue/grey back drop it almost glows.

B) font – standard letters, nothing fancy,

C) imagery – use of the toro roso – Strong imagery from the past and for the future.  

Diva Helmy: Volcom Stone

Hello!

I chose to comment upon the logo of the action sports company Volcom, the Volcom stone. I believe that this logo is unique and strong. The symbol itself is recognizable and between its name “the volcom stone” and the font choice underneath it I think it has an organic and raw quality that sparks interest and energy. The sharp contrast between the colors used, black and white is timeless and effective at portraying bold geometric shapes. The feelings I have when I look at this logo are action, chaos and quality. Its almost like the logo is a precious gem of some sort, which adds consumer value and a strong appeal. The logo is exciting much like the company it represents.

Twitter Logo Designs

Here are a couple links about designing the Twitter logo:

Interview with designer Phil Pascuzzo, who redesigned the Twitter bird in 2009.

Concept sketches for the bird redesign in 2012.

2012 Twitter bird design guidelines.

Spring 2013 Intermediate/Advanced Digital Darkroom: Welcome!

Welcome to the Blog for the Intermediate Digital darkroom class: Art & Advertising.

And first off – apologies for my impending absence next Thursday. You get to take Thursday "off," meaning you don't have to come to class that day – but there is some homework due a week from today, so we can hit the ground running.

For the next Tuesday's class (1/29), I want you to have ready, at the beginning of class, three things – a printed out reading response, a blog post, and sketches for a logo you will design. See below for details.

1. READING RESPONSE: After having read the three articles posted below, type out and print a page of answers to the following questions:

In response to the Obama 'O' logo article: Why were the designers so concerned about having standards and consistency around the reproductions of the logo? What would the dangers have been if the logo seemed too "branded" or "slick"? Make a list of the specific qualities or emotions you think the logo evokes (or intends to evoke), and pair each quality with a design element (for example, one emotion it intends to evoke is "patriotism," and it does this by incorporating the colors red, white, and blue).

In response to the Pepsi articles: Do you agree with the designer that the new logo "brings humanity back" to the Pepsi? What do you think he means by that? What design choices were made to make the logo seem more "adventurous" and "youthful"? Do you think the design succeeds in those categories? What are the emotional qualities of the new font choice? Why is changing a logo so costly?

Here are the articles:

The 'O' in Obama

What went into the Updated Pepsi Logo

Thoughts about Pepsi

That last post is on a site, logodesignlove, that has some terrific resources, for example:

Links to free vector files for logos

A list of logo design resources

2. BLOG POST:  Create a blog post, on this blog, about a logo design you think is particularly good. Include an image of the logo. In the blog post, answer the question: why do you think this logo is a good design? Be sure to touch on at least these three areas:

a) color
b) font
c) imagery (if imagery is used)

Explain the emotional or psychological qualities that are conveyed by the formal choices in these areas. For example, if the font uses a bright, vibrant color, is it being used to convey a sense of excitement? Energy? What are the company's qualities that are being cued by the formal choices?

3. LOGO DESIGN SKETCHES: Our first project in this class will be to design a logo – we'll use Adobe Illustrator to execute the design. I'm going to have you design multiple alternate designs for your logo, but to start off, for Tuesday's class, I just want you to hand in one sketch of your logo (it can be pencil, or a digital "sketch" – or anything in between). This can be a logo for yourself – if you were somehow promoting yourself. Or it can be a logo for an actual company you'd like to start – or a logo for an entirely fictional company (if it's a fictional company, you'll have to be able to explain what sort of fictional company it is – a tech company, a movie studio, a sports drink company – whatever it might be).

And here's a link to "Merchants of Cool," if you ever want to revisit it, or dig info some further research/supporting materials on it:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/

Lastly, you can download the syllabus here:

Intermediate Digital Darkroom:
https://www.box.com/s/icik24hw8ouk8f9vxx9f

Advanced Digital Darkroom:
https://www.box.com/s/dwuqrcyfsdv4vz2j4ta2