Final

This is the final we had to do for Design class. We were supposed to make a personal logo that describes us........

Well, I couldn't think of anything better to do so I drew this cat guy. I've had him stuck in my head all week:

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Logo Design

1. Name of your company, a short paragraph describing what your company manufactures/sells and the target audience for the product.


Resonate is a music technology company that is currently manufacturing a new product designed to act like a radio, ipod, and daily planner all in one. The product, dubbed “kick start”, rivals the ipod touch with a 320x480 pixel screen and small key board that slides out from the main body. Users can access the radio any time, any where, and use the internet in wireless zones. One can upload their own music onto the kick start and insert their schedules into the planner program. Created in mind for ages ranging from music addicted teens to busy-body young adults, the kick start is a must have for any technophile.


2. Review the processes that Jacob Cass went through in designing his logo and Logo Design Secrets (and any other links that you found especially helpful). What parts of these processes did you use in your work. Please explain and be specific.


Many of the Logo design artists and websites suggested doing multiple sketches before using the computer. I did this in my own design process, filling a whole page with doodle before tracing some of them with the pen tool on photoshop. This sketching was a key part to my logo because I definitely cannot draw as well on photoshop as I can on paper. I kept in mind that the design had to be simple and scalable but still represent the company. This is why I decided to make a stick figure-like person and use sound waves in my design. Another tip was to go back and try different versions of one logo you liked. I had the image of a man in a karate pose stuck in my mind-- and it went great with the name “kick start”-- so I began to make different versions of him. This included different fonts, different arrangements of the text, and changing the position of the sound waves. I also tried sketching varying stick guys until I had determined that the karate man fit my logo best. Jacob Cass did something like this with his logo. He knew that he wanted his initials and incorporate a pencil into his design, so he just went crazy with various concepts of that main idea. One last main idea I kept in mind was that a logo doesn’t have convey what a company does. My company sold ipod like devices, but the most I alluded to music was with the sound waves.


3. Overall, what three important concepts have you learned about logo design? Explain why they are important to your future work?


 As aforementioned, I learned that not all logos have to directly convey what the company sells. Nike isn’t a picture of a shoe, McDonald’s isn’t a hamburger, and my Resonate logo wasn’t a music note. Instead, I used the logo to emphasis the name “kick start” and alluded to a musical idea with the sound waves. 
 Another important concept I learned was to make different copies and try different ideas before deciding on a final product. The process of sketching, using photoshop, and heading back to the drawing board really helped me organize my ideas. It was cool to be able to use photoshop to copy a core image and then tweak it to make different variations. After changing and editing several versions, I could decided on my final logo and feel confident that was one my best efforts. 
 One more concept I learned was simplicity. In order to have a good logo, it needs to be scalable and still look good as a tiny image. This sets some much needed boundaries that keep a design from becoming too elaborate. It really makes you focus in on the core things that your logo needs to be effective. 


4. Review the criteria and the process of designing a logo, please rate your final logo design, 1-4 (4 is the highest). Please explain why your work deserves the rating.

I really think my logo deserves 4 (Woohoo! Another non-three point five grade!!!) I’ve followed all of the tips for a good logo from Jacob Cass’s blog and from other websites about logo designs. I went through a brainstorming process and sketched out many different logo ideas. I’ve described my company and product well in my descriptor paragraph. I listened to my peer’s comments and incorporated their feedback into my logo. This feedback really helped guide me in the final parts of this design process and the final product. It was nice getting a different perspective on my logo and what needed to be tweaked. My logo looks great in black and white, color, large, and scaled down. You can easy tell what the logo is when it’s small, and the colors I used helped unify the text and karate man into one design. All in all, I think it looks like a very professional logo.

Reflection of Logo Design - Midpoint

1.What significant changes has your logo gone through?


Wellllllll.... My font has changed. I forget what the original font was, but the new one I’m using is Bank Gothic. I’ve made some of the sound waves thicker so that when the image is scaled down it looks better. I’ve also moved the text up and down to try to make the picture and text blend better rather than just an image with the text “ick start” next to it.

2. Why did you make these changes?


 I made these changes because my classmates suggested them, and I thought it would be a good idea to follow through on their feedback. It turns out the comments were helpful and my design is much improved.

3. How much more work needs to go into the logo?

What more do you need to do? (Please check criteria)
Not too much more work needs to go into the logo I think. I’ve pretty much decided what logo I’m going to use, and now I just to fix it up and add color. However, if I decide to go with a new design I came up with, then I might need more time to experiment.

4. What questions do you have?

How do you add color to a logo without having it look crappy? I’ve had to rasterize my shapes to add color and then they get crappy looking edges. What I’ve done so far is just redraw the shapes with the pen tool and another color selected, but I was wondering if there was a faster way to do it.

Quarter Three Reflection

1. What are you most proud of? What do you think are your strengths?


 It am most proud of my ability to work with a new medium with no prior experience and produce art that isn’t totally abhorrent. Point being my logo design, triangular tessellation, and google design. I guess I really like and am proud of all of my designs, excepting the rectangular tessellation. My mom has even put my pop art design on the fridge (though I told her to take it down -_-). It was really difficult working with photoshop at first just because I had no clue what everything did, or what tools were available to me. Now I have a basic understanding of photoshop, and I can manipulate the tools better. I think my strengths would be my creativity. I’ve come up with a lot of cool ideas in this class; I’m going to be sorry to leave.

2. What would you like to do better and/or focus upon for Quarter four?


I think I want to focus on using a broader range of tools. I have tools like the marquis, lasso, and clone stamp down pretty well. I’m getting much better at the pen tool, but I believe that I should try new techniques. I may not like how my designs turn out since I won’t be good at using the new tools, but if I work at it, I will improve.

3. How will you make this happen?


As I said above, I’m going to try new tools and work outside my comfort zone. I tried that with the logo design. I really hated using the pen tool because I stunk at it, but over time I became more comfortable with it. Now I can use it and get a fairly good design. I’m just going to practice, practice, practice! In regards to using new tools, I should just start clicking all kinds of buttons and looking under all the headers on the tool bar!

5 Logo Design Rules

1. Know what your logo is going to represent. A logo reflects not only what a business does but also portrays the essence of the company. You need to make a logo that is compatible with the entire company.

2. Know the basics of logo design. Logos need to be kept simple, memorable, scalable, and adaptable. Logos need to work without color, and you should be able to stick the logo anywhere at any size and still have it be effective. Logos that are sized so they aren’t stretched out too long or too wide are also a good idea.

3. Logos that are simple and unique are the best way to go. Don’t over do your logos. Ones that have shadows, glows, and text that over laps or twines around an image isn’t as effective as logo such as the Nike symbol. It is plain, works without color, and still represents what Nike is about.

4. Start your own logo design process. Everyone works a different way, but it is usually best to brain storm some ideas, sketch out concepts, run it by your customers, fix it up, and add your finishing touches. It is also a good idea to not rush right to your computer. Take your time with the good old fashioned pen and paper first.

5. Digitize and fix up your logo. Before you put your logo on the computer, get to know the software you’re going to use. Once you have basic control, upload your sketches and touch them up.

Pen Tool Exercise

Rectangle and Triangle Tessellations

Rectangle Tessellation:


















Triangle Tessellation:




















1. Which tessellation did you find more interesting to do? In what ways was it more interesting than the other? Please explain.

I found that creating the triangle tessellation was more interesting to do. It was more interesting to do for several reasons, one of them being it looks more atheistically pleasing. I thought that my drawing was poorly done on my rectangular tessellation, but my triangle tessellation turned out really neat and crisp looking because I could use a photograph. The photograph I chose was one that depicted fire at night. I liked the patterns this picture made better than the pattern I had for my rectangle tessellation. Another reason I liked doing the triangle tessellation more is because of the way the tessellations were made. As I mentioned before, my drawing for the rectangle tessellation came out pretty sloppy. This is understandable seeing as I have never drawn on photoshop before. I was much happier cutting up an already made picture to use instead of drawing my own. The two tessellations also required me to use different tools. I used more tools and learned more about photoshop when I made my triangle tessellation versus when I made my rectangle one. This made the designing process much more interesting and enlightening.

2. Look at your peers' work on the ning . Which two designs do you find the most
successful? What qualities make them so successful?

I thought that Tommy’s triangle tessellation is a really successful design. It’s successful because it includes multiple tessellated triangles in the 8x10 constraints, unlike some of the other designs. It is also successful because the different colors in each of the triangles really makes each other pop out, probably because yellow and purple are contrasting colors. Not only is it interesting to look at, but the design looks seamless. All of the triangles match up and there are no dividing lines.

Another design that I believe was executed successfully is Samantha’s triangle design. Even though there is only one large octagon and the other tessellated shapes get cropped from the screen, I found this design very interesting. I probably like it so much because I love the color blue. This tessellation incorporates many different shades and intensities of blue. I also like how you can still kind of tell what the original picture was; it could have been a landscape with a tree in winter time. I also like how the central octagon is bordered by black and a blue streak that looks cool all fuzzed out. To top is off, this design is lined up very well, and you can’t see any dividing lines.

3. Looking at the Grading Criteria for each design, how would you rate BOTH designs on a scale of 1-4, 4 being the highest? Please explain each grade.

I would grade my triangle tessellation a 3.5. I know, I know, I always grade myself a 3.5. This time I swear it’s applicable! Even though I did have a drawing of an animal with no background, my craftsmanship isn’t all that great. My lines are pretty shaky and thick. My detail is average. My animal...creature...thingy does have an eye, mouth, and radical looking coat, but I believe it to be lacking any real creative detail, especially when I compare it to the example on the wiki. The rainbow coat also seems like a childish idea now, and I should have tried out different color gradients before I decided on that one. However, my tessellation is in jpeg format, 8x10 at 72 dpi, and feels united. It is an average piece, but it’s also unique. That’s why I give it a 3.5.

I like my triangle design much better than my rectangle design. I think I might actually give myself a 4 on this! I believe my craftsman ship is high quality. I used an interesting picture, and I followed the photoshop video directions exactly to produce a tessellation. There are no visible seams on my design; I zoomed in after placing each piece to make sure they fit together exactly. I also chose a good section of the fire from the picture to use. It was a section that had little wisps of flame, a bright part of the fire, and a section of the night-time background. This makes my design unique and interesting. The bright, fire made triangles really pop out against the dark blue and black triangles. The wisps also look cool, like red hot confetti. My final image is 8x10 inches at a resolution of 72 dpi and has been flattened, named, and saved to the server correctly. All and all, I feel this tessellation is a fairly solid design.

Introduction to Tessellations

1. What is a tessellation?

Tessellation the word comes from the Greeks, and it refers to pictures and tiles that cover a surface area in a symmetrical way so that there is no over lapping or gaps. They usually depict animals or other life. Simply, a repeating shape or pattern that has no gaps or overlaps.

2. Write a couple of paragraphs describing the life and work of M.C. Escher. Pick out important facts that describe who he is, how he worked, and why he is famous.

The “Father” of tessellations, M.C. Escher, was born in Holland in 1898 as the youngest child of five sons. His skills in drawing were first recognized by his art teacher in high school, who prompted him to send the sketches to famous designer Roland Holtz. At Holtz’s suggestion, Escher also tried wood carving, and when he failed school he decided to enroll in a specialized art and architecture college. While he continued to draw, his new friend Mesquita got Escher more involved in wood carving and wood designs. The two remained life long friends, and Escher greatly admired him. Escher’s first real tessellation was done in 1925, and his love for ‘filling planes with no gaps or overlaps’ led him to create even more.

A major turning point in Escher’s life came when he returned home for a visit and met with his brother Beer. His brother was intrigued by Escher’s designs, and referenced him to some work he had heard of about crystalline structures. Escher found wall paper designs by George Polya and notes by Professor F. Haag. Haag had described tessellations as “Regular divisions of the plane consist of congruent, convex polygons joined together, the arrangement by which the polygons join each other is the same throughout.” This invigorated Escher and started him on some of his most famous work. By the time he died in 1972, he had made 137 tessellations as well as 448 woodcuts, linocuts, lithos, and over 2000 drawings.

He may be gone, but Escher could never be forgotten. One of his biggest contributions to the art of tessellations was to create patterns of animals and people instead of just geometric shapes. His new and lively designs made tessellations much more popular than before. Escher is also famous for his amazing pictures such as castles with staircases that go up and down simultaneously. Although he has many beautiful landscapes and drawings, tessellations were his true passion. Escher himself admits he was “addicted” to making them. As one can see, this artist certainly deserves the title “Father of Tessellations.”

Practice Tessellation:

WIP: Music is Life

Here's the first part to my new design "Music is Life." I'm probably not going to work on this anymore since we kinda just dropped the assignment in class.

Text Designs

1. Which one of the four of your Text Designs is the most successful? In what ways? Please be specific.

Of my two text designs, I am inclined to think that my poultry in motion design was the most successful. I view it as the most successful because I think the picture represents the pun well, how the text looks fits the design, and I used photoshop well in order to make it. The chickens crossing Abbey Road like the Beatles really describes poultry in motion. It is both literal, the chickens crossing the road, and figurative in the sense that the Beatles used poetry (“poultry”). I also think my idea of putting the chickens in place of the Beatles was successful because the Abbey Road picture is famous, and many people will recognize it. How I placed my text and how bold I made it makes it easy to read. The way that the word “motion” is stretched also gives a sense of movement to the word. Finally, I think I used photoshop successfully to make this design. I think I recreated the background really well with the stamp tool.

2. List some of the tools that you learned and used in this assignment. Which ones did you find the most helpful and in what ways?

Some of the tools I learned and used in this assignment were the lasso, stamp, eraser, text tool, color adjustment, and the transform technique. I think the most helpful tools were the stamp and lasso tool. With these tools, I could cut out the Beatles and replace them with chickens. I could also cut out legs and arms to put in the sink. Using the lasso tool, I could cut and paste two photos together. The stamp tool was also extremely useful. When I cut out the Beatles, I had to replace the background they were on. I used the stamp tool to accomplish this. On my other design, I had to add on to the original photo so I used the stamp tool to enlarge the sink, add counter space, and add more of the view outside.

3. With regards to Design concepts and/or Photoshop tools, what do you think you need to know and what do you want to know?

I think I need to know more about how to adjust text, not just the regular waves or arcs. I also think I need to learn more about color manipulation and some things about making two photos blend better. What do I want to know? I want to know everything about photoshop. I want to know how to make the stamp tool cleaner. I want to know how to make everything I draw on here neater. I also want to learn some other cool tools like the stamp tool.

Type Design

1. Are you happy/satisfied with your design? What are some of the features that make it so successful? If you are not satisfied, what would you have done differently to make it more successful?

I am incredibly happy with my design! I think it’s a great first start for designing things with Photoshop considering it’s a program I have never used before. I think one of the most successful things in my design is the color scheme. Taking Art Fundamentals and having the color unit to use as prior knowledge was very helpful. I was used to complementary color schemes, but using a double complementary scheme was something new. I used the complements of blue with orange and blue-green with red-orange because I love blue-greens. I also thought that orange and blue would be great for this project since they really make each other “pop”, and we had been looking at different pop arts. Another successful feature I think is the letters. Their type is a solid, bold font that is like my bold colors. The letters themselves add to the design too. They have interesting shapes that look good put together-- literally!


2. List some of the tools that you learned and used in this assignment. Which ones did you find the most helpful and in what ways?

In this assignment I used the transform, paint bucket, rectangular marquis, type, paint brush, opacity change, new layer, and the eye dropper tools. The ones I found most helpful were probably the opacity change, eye dropper, transform, and the paintbrush. These tools were fundamental in the overall design because they allowed me to manipulate the background layers and my letters. The opacity tool was largely used on my background, and with it I could over lap my rectangles to make new colors. I used my overlapping layers to bring more attention to my focal point. The eyedropper was helpful when I wanted to go back and fix my layers. The transform was used in every part of this design. My letters look so much more interesting when I used transform to tilt or distort them. Finally, I really liked the effects I added by using the paintbrush. This was the tool I used to make it seem like the A was hanging off the T and the Q was hanging off the L.

3. With what areas/aspects of Photoshop do you have questions? What activities would help you better understand basic design concepts, along with more Photoshop tools, tips, and tricks?

Questions about Photoshop? I don’t have a broad enough knowledge of Photoshop to even begin asking questions. At first I thought Photoshop was just for manipulating pictures. Now I know that I can create my own design with it! I’m not sure what else I can do with this amazing application. I think that more projects such as this one will help me to learn the basic concepts of Photoshop. Activities that build on what knowledge I know but also have some new elements and tools I need to learn would be the best.

Pop Art

1.What is Pop-Art?
Pop art is a kind of medium that takes mundane, everyday kind of objects and draws them in a simplified, almost abstract form.

2. Brief biography (3 to 4 sentences) of Stuart Davis
Stuart Davis was an artist who began under the wing of Robert Herni. His first works were merely covers and drawings for papers, but then he dabbled in watercolors, which had a huge impact on him. One of the more notable things about Stuart Davis was how he affected American Cubism. His art was centered more on the synthetics rather than the analytical aspect of this medium. He moved from realistic to abstract paintings, drawing some that doubled as both a piece of art and an advertisement. Even though he his paintings were abstract, Davis claimed that all of his works could claim American daily life as their source of inspiration.

3. Brief biography (3 to 4 sentences) of Robert Indiana
Robert Indiana, or Robert Clark, was an artist much like Stuart Davis, full of creativity and ideas. His pop art is edgy, multicolored, and certainly stands out. Influenced by both American cultural and such things as road signs, Indiana used his works of art to express his positive and negative views on american life.

4. Choose a favorite work from each artist and write 3 to 4 sentences describing why you like the work of art/ find it interesting. Be specific. Include the title and date of the work.

Title: Constance Fletcher
Year: 1977


The painting Constance Fletcher is appealing to me for several reasons. One of those is the way Indiana paints her body. He has designed her dress and hat so that even though a head hasn’t been drawn in, you can see a rough outline of where it would be and what shape it has. This is a brilliant usage of positive and negative space. He also brings in the positive and negative technique to add detail to her umbrella and hat. The simplicity in this piece of art is also very nice. He uses big shapes, only going into detail on her hat and on the sleeves of the dress.


Visa
1951
Champion seems like a painting that clearly portrays Stuart Davis’s style. It’s an abstract piece of cubist art that also has some lettering in it. It is in fact the lettering that makes it so interesting to me. I like how he takes something both abstract and realistic and puts them together so they complement each other. To me, the poster has an excited, charged energy about it, probably due to the fact that it says “champion” and seems to have confetti all around it. It inspires a sense that someone won a race, or a game.

Notan Logo

Positive/Negative Design