DISSONANCE LOGO
Dissonance aka Adrian Stewart is a rapper based in the Columbus, Ohio area. At the time of us working together on this logo project he was still in the early stages of his music career, having done a couple of shows and recorded a handful of songs.
PROJECT BRIEF
PROJECT BRIEF
Adrian needed a logo to use when building out his profiles online on social media and music streaming platforms and for adding to posters for shows and events where he would be featured as an artist.
It was important to Adrian that the logo communicated the key theme of cognitive dissonance, as that is what his chosen artist's name Dissonance refers to.
Many of the logos he liked and showed to me as examples of what he had in mind were simple in their design. All of them used simple shapes and basic colour schemes to create a minimalist but atheistically pleasing design, with a slightly psychedelic/hazy look to them.
It was important to Adrian that the logo communicated the key theme of cognitive dissonance, as that is what his chosen artist's name Dissonance refers to.
Many of the logos he liked and showed to me as examples of what he had in mind were simple in their design. All of them used simple shapes and basic colour schemes to create a minimalist but atheistically pleasing design, with a slightly psychedelic/hazy look to them.
To start this process off I design a handful of concepts designs to showcase the cognitive dissonance element.
EARLY CONCEPT DESIGNS
Cognitive Dissonance is the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioural decisions and attitude change.
With this being the case, I decided early on that to communicate the idea of cognitive dissonance it was important to have a brain featured in each design since this concept related to thoughts, beliefs etc, all things that are part of our mental and mind processes that that place in our brain. From there I played with different concepts to showcase this idea.
The first concept I incorporated a glitch effect with the brain and the text skewed and not lining up to represent the concept of cognitive dissonance.
The second concept I wanted it to look like you are viewing the image through a set of old 3D glasses. I felt like this classic imagery of the red and blue overlaid on the image but not perfectly matching translated the cognitive dissonance idea well. It is also meant to be a little bit jarring as it shows several versions of the same thing but things don't truly line up.
The first concept I incorporated a glitch effect with the brain and the text skewed and not lining up to represent the concept of cognitive dissonance.
The second concept I wanted it to look like you are viewing the image through a set of old 3D glasses. I felt like this classic imagery of the red and blue overlaid on the image but not perfectly matching translated the cognitive dissonance idea well. It is also meant to be a little bit jarring as it shows several versions of the same thing but things don't truly line up.
The third concept I focused on also incorporating the sound element with sound waves emanating out of the brain. The sound waves are overlapping, again showing the idea of multiple things that don't like or that clash and butt up against each other. For the same reason I showed a brain with 2 halves and the sound waves flowing out of them in different directions, to show two different or opposing directions.
CHROME COLOUR PALETTES
Based on conversations with the artist, we decided that the simple black and white colour scheme was a bit plain for this design. I had the idea to try a chrome effect and tested a couple of different colour schemes for this.
The first is more of a classic chrome reminiscent of the chrome/bling jewellery and car parts from the old school hip hip music videos that Adrian was inspired by and listened to as he grew up.
The second I added a more psychedelic colour scheme to, as Dissonance's music can sometimes be described to have a psychedelic element to it. I wanted to see if we could find a way to sum this up in the colour palette without it changing the design too much.
The first is more of a classic chrome reminiscent of the chrome/bling jewellery and car parts from the old school hip hip music videos that Adrian was inspired by and listened to as he grew up.
The second I added a more psychedelic colour scheme to, as Dissonance's music can sometimes be described to have a psychedelic element to it. I wanted to see if we could find a way to sum this up in the colour palette without it changing the design too much.
FINAL DESIGNS
Dissonance decided that the classic chrome effect on the 3D button concept was the direction he wanted to go as he felt it would go better on marketing materials and future event merchandise.
To finish this logo after the concept design was chosen, I added the chrome effect that he has chosen and made it pop by accentuating the shine with white light flares in key places of the text and logo.
I also made the blue and red overlays thicker but more diffuse and, to soften the jarring effect from the original concept a bit, whilst still retaining the original 3D look.
As an extra bonus image for Dissonance to use, I added lights at the bottom of the image. This makes it appear that the logo is in the spotlight on stage at a show. I felt like this could be a good debut album or single cover to introduce Dissonance as an artist and his music.
Client Feedback from Adrian aka Dissonance:
"I'm so excited to start using it! Everyone I've shown loves it. It's so nice to have a unique logo that actually portrays what I want"
To finish this logo after the concept design was chosen, I added the chrome effect that he has chosen and made it pop by accentuating the shine with white light flares in key places of the text and logo.
I also made the blue and red overlays thicker but more diffuse and, to soften the jarring effect from the original concept a bit, whilst still retaining the original 3D look.
As an extra bonus image for Dissonance to use, I added lights at the bottom of the image. This makes it appear that the logo is in the spotlight on stage at a show. I felt like this could be a good debut album or single cover to introduce Dissonance as an artist and his music.
Client Feedback from Adrian aka Dissonance:
"I'm so excited to start using it! Everyone I've shown loves it. It's so nice to have a unique logo that actually portrays what I want"
Client Success
After this logo was created Adrian has used this logo to build out his online presence on social media adding it to his Instagram and Soundcloud profiles, as well as adding it to his Spotify profile and beginning to release more of his music on this platform.
After this logo was created Adrian has used this logo to build out his online presence on social media adding it to his Instagram and Soundcloud profiles, as well as adding it to his Spotify profile and beginning to release more of his music on this platform.
