The goal of this project was to create many different logos based on the same animal, a leopard.
The first two were relatively simple drawings based on a reference photo. The goal was to create a clear silhouette, and a black and white graphic that showed distinct details and contrast. They were created by tracing a photo with the pen tool in illustrator.
The next logo was created using circles based on the golden ratio. Every shape, line, and negative space area in the mark was created from intersecting circles using proportions of the golden ratio. The side view of the face is a simple portion of the animal, but it shows a distinctive face profile.
For the pattern based logo I again used a profile of the face. With this simple shape, the form of the leopard was not lost in the complex spot pattern.
Next was a word logo. The challenge was to create a logo using the word "leopard", while cleverly incorporating the animal itself using the letters in the word and negative space. I used my previous silhouette for the shapes of the leopard, and a bold, italicized font to indicate the power of the leopard.
The next two were an illustration and a gesture drawing. They were created on physical paper, then scanned into the computer. The illustration incorporates the texture of the spots, and suggests weight and fluidity with the placement of the outlines. The gesture stylizes the form to elude to a leopard, while keeping a simple, hand drawn quality.
The final challenge was to create an arbitrary logo. The goal for this logo was to represent a leopard with abstract shapes and forms, without using any imagery that actually resembled a leopard.
The forms used are very intentional. The triangle is angular, representing the ferocity and agility of the leopard, and it is turned on one point to show balance, a trait leopards are known for. The arcs pointing towards the center suggest the buoyant and graceful movement of the animal. They also serve to keep the overall shape from appearing too heavy, as leopards are among the smaller and more agile of the big cats.
After creating the initial logos, I created a color palette. The brown lends an organic, natural feel to the pieces, while the yellow in contrast gives them energy.
Here are my final logos, each with some color experiments.
