Over the course this term, we have been tasked with developing a logo to use as our personal identity mark. I think that this task is one that many designers find intensely intimidating. It takes a lot of soul searching to answer the questions of "who am I?" and "how do I want to present myself?" There is the added pressure that comes with creating for yourself when it is your passion, pursuit or job to create for others. The ever present self critic comes to play. What if my logo is terrible? What if no one likes it? What if no one hires me because of it? These are some pretty daunting things to consider as you set out to design a logo, the front piece of your brand, for yourself.
To begin the process, I started by doing a brain dump of sorts, thinking about how I would describe myself, what are my interests, how would I visually represent myself. I also pondered what types of imagery I am drawn to, what personal symbols and totems do I hold sacred. I found there were several images that I identified with strongly: a paintbrush, ampersands, stars, and Ganesh, the Hindu god of creativity and new beginnings. These concepts that I wanted my logo to relay were first and foremost that I am a creative thinker, someone who sees not just the obvious solution, but also alternatives - some simple, some far out, but often solutions that no one else had considered. The other concept I wanted my logo to relay was a sense of fun and artistic playfulness. My logo needed to say, this person is a creative thinker, who is not afraid of taking risks.
When I sat down with my sketch book to begin the drawing, I generated as many different sketchs as I could as quickly as I could. I allowed my mind to wander, making various types of marks, some with my name, others without. It was during this time that the I drew what I thought would be my logo - my name inside a paintbrush. I also drew my initials in a funky pattern with circuit like lines and spirals. Beside that was a quick drawing of a set of stars that resembled the logo of a 96 seat theater my aunt used to own in Northern California. I have always identified with that theater and the logo. I began to consider the symbolism of a star: space, far reaching, glistening. We put stars on our flags. We put stars on our dressing room doors. We call celebrities stars. Stars shine bright even in the dark, so bright that ancient mariners used the stars to navigate the seas. This symbolism seemed relavent and interesting. But I was still stuck on the paintbrush idea.
The truth is, even though I love to paint, but I am not really a painter. It's a hobby I have picked up recently to make myself work in a medium that doesn't have a Cmd+Z to fix mistakes. I’ve only considered myself an artist in the last couple of years. I paint because it requires me to be completely present and free. Because I am an amateur, it requires me to leave my judgement about good or bad behind. I know that I have to make about 200 really bad paintings before I have the skills to make a good one. I know I have a lot of painting and practicing to do before I can make a painting someone else would hang in their home. That knowledges gives me an incredible freedom that I haven’t found in any other creative outlet. But as a graphic designer, do I want to imply to the rest of the world that I am a painter?
It turns out no, I don’t. At least not yet. So even though I have designed a logo with my name in a paintbrush, that I really like, I don’t think it is the right professional image for me at this time. So, I refocused on what I want my logo to say about me. As a designer I enjoy navigating people through the process of creating a visual solution to their business problem. I like to make connections and create solutions that others might not consider. Those early sketches has some interesting ideas, sitting side by side. What if I took the star and added some circuit lines? Still working the old fashioned way, with a pen and paper (not my favorite - yet,) I redrew the star and incorporated the lines with circles at the end and zig zaggy circuit lines from the other initial sketch. This was starting to show some potential. It had energy and communicated not only star, but firecracker and energy. I scanned the design and moved into Adobe Illustrator.
In Illustrator, I created a template layer with the scanned image. Although I intended to trace the image, it was simple enough that I found it was easier to use it just for reference. I used the shape tool to create a five sided star. I was unhappy with the internal angles so I used the direct select tool to tweak them by bringing them closer to the center. I intentionally left a bit of variation in these internal angles to create interest in the design. I used the scale dialogue box to simultaneously resize and copy the star, making two smaller ones inside the original. I used the pen tool to create the burst lines and circuit zig zags. I used the 5 pt. round calligraphic brush to give the strokes a softness. I created circles to cap the strokes. Some I used a stroke to create an open space, others I filled to create balls. I placed three circuit zig zags at the top and lower portions of the illustration to create a triangle within the design. The using the pathfinder panel and the shapebuilder tool, I morphed the design into a single compound path. In this form, the graphic element is easily colored in a solid color or with a gradient for extra pizazz. To complement this somewhat wild graphic element, I set my name in lower case using Helvetica Neue LT Std 35 Thin. I used lower case because I prefer it, but also because it is a little untraditional. At this point, I thought I was done. After looking at it for a little while, it felt unbalanced. I played with the placement of the element in relation to my name and found that I preferred the design with my name stacked first name on top of last name. Additionally, to ground the piece, I set my last name in all caps. The finished pairing created a nice nook-like indentation on the right hand side for the star to tuck into.
The finalized logo works in both large and small sizes. The graphic element can be used in combiation with the text or by itself. The design is presented in 1 color, 2 colors and reversed.
