Back in January of 2010, I joined Projekt Newspeak, a non-profit organization with the mission to "empower the APA and independent arts community by impacting the mainstream media through entertaining and innovative projects that speak to the hearts and minds of all people."
It was decided that the organization needed an identity makeover, and with my graphic design background, I was chosen to create a new logo and brand for Projekt Newspeak.
PENCIL TO PAPER
The first step to a successful design is to learn as much about the client as possible. Since I was already a member, I already knew all of what there was to know, and applied my knowledge to step two, which is to organize your thoughts on paper.
Something I've learned that is exceedingly useful is a mindmap, which part word-association, part stream of consciousness. The purpose of this is to write down as many ideas and concepts as possible, without any self-filtering or censoring. It allows a designer to brainstorm things that he/she would not have thought of otherwise.
Once my ideas were organized, I proceeded to sketch out preliminary concepts. The advantages of using pen and paper initially is that you are able to quickly visualize any mental images.
FIRST DRAFT
After narrowing down my sketches, I decided on three that I then recreated and refined in Illustrator.
Variant 1: The flame inside the bulb represents the initial spark or inspiration that leads to the final idea. The icon is drawn with one continuous line to represent the process of inspiration to finished idea.
Variant 2: A simple powerful monogram, it is both modern, yet professional, two adjectives I emphasized in the initial design brief.
Variant 3: The proverbial lightning in a bottle, it represents the multimedia approach of Projekt NewSpeak.
FINALIZING THE IDENTITY
The three concepts were presented to the leadership of Projekt NewSpeak, and it the second design was chosen for the boldness and power it projected.
Vertical lockup
Horizontal lockup
Thanks for taking the time to read this!
