This is a logo The University of Salford wanted me to base their design on. They liked the black and gold colour scheme, the shiny gold text, the text and image combination, and the simplicity of the logo.

As the logo is about Journalism, they asked me to include "a feather and ink" as this is what was used in the olden days to write articles. So I had a look around for some inspiration and came across this. I liked the elegance, contrast, and shadows and thought it would make a good design. The reason I didn't use this design is because its bitty and pixelated.

I also came across this image which I found interesting. I knew they wanted a gold colour scheme so this feather would be perfect as its a nice shape, and has ink on the end of it which is a nice touch. I also like the straightness of the feather in comparisson to the curls at the bottom. The reason I didnt use this design is because of its rigidness - they wanted an elegant, softer feather.

I found this image of a quill and ink which I absolutely loved because of its detail. Its a real image rather than clip art which you don't see very much in logos these days and I thought using this design would make the logo stand out from the crowd. I especially like the droplets of ink on the glass and the length of the quill. It also has a black and gold colour scheme.

I experimented by adding several colours to the image - this one has a gold tint to tie in with the colour scheme. But I didn''t like it at all as it was too much gold and you lose the detail when the colours are changed. So I went with the original image instead.

This is the text for the logo, created in Illustrator using Baskerville Old Face typeface. I felt this was a suitable font as the elegance matches that of the feather and it is clear and easy to read. I especially like how the curls of the serifs contrast the straight lines of the arms. I used a sans-serif text for "The University of Salford" so it didn't take emphasis away from the title. Also, having this in a serif text made the design cluttered.

The text wasn't making a strong enough impact so I added a drop shadow which I think works really well. It gives the text more depth and makes it stand out. 

This is the gold texture used to give the text more emphasis. As the logo is for a Journalism Awards Night I thought a gold metal material would be appropriate as it mimicks that of an award. 

I then put the feather with the text and played around with layouts - because the feather slopes to the right, it looked best on the right hand side and made room for the text. Next I added a dark brown/dark grey background as this complimented the gold feather more than a solid black background did. I added a glow from the middle to create some depth, but this takes emphasis away from the text a little.

I experimented by removing the central glow, but this made the design too dark and flat; and to me it looked boring. The drop shadow totally disappears also, and the text becomes flat again.

Next I tried a totally different approach to the design and added a bevel emboss in Photoshop. This turned the design grey which I, personally, thought worked quite well with the feather as it looked like stone. Stone signs were used in the olden days above shop doors - rather than PVC ones. The client didn't take to it though, so I continued to experiment.

I then reduced the size of the central glow and changed the backgroumd to a slightly lighter colour so the drop shadow has an effect. I personally liked this design the most and thought it worked well. But after consulting with the client, the design was changed again as they changed their mind about the feather and ink.