5th April - 12th May 2023 / Week 1 - 6
Alana Sofia Othman / 0353451 / Bachelof of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Brand Corporate Identity
LECTURES
Lecture Video 3
Types of Marks
Logo
- Short for Logotype, originated from the Greek word 'logos'
- It is essentially a trademark
- There are different extensions to a logo, such as logotype, logomark
and combination mark
- Logotype (a.k.a. Wordmark)
- When a logo is centered around the
company name of initials
- E.g.: Coca-cola, FedEx, Google,
Netflix, etc.
- Logomarks
- Logos that are a symbolic image or
icon
- E.g.: Apple, Nike, Twitter, Starbuks,
etc.
- Combination mark (a.k.a. Signature)
- Refers to logos of both logotype and
logomark as one
- E.g.: Mastercard, Pepsi, Doritos,
Burger King, etc.
Monogram
- A motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters to form
one symbols
- Oftentimes made with using initials of a company
- Used to become a 'symbol' or 'logo'
- Examples: H&M, Volkswagen, Coco Chanel, hp, etc.
Heraldry
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| Figure 1.1. Heraldry Breakdown Examples |
- Originated in Europe but can be found anywhere, especially in
colonised countries
- These symbols/seals/flags oftentimes represent royalties, armies and
empires
- The style of composite elements are naturally Euro centric and
European character
- Crest, Coat of Arms, Insignia and so on are usually within and derived
by a large/full heraldry
- Modern symbols derived from heraldic symbols are UPS, The Salvation
Army, Porsche, University Malaya and so on
- Motto
- Only words
- Crest
- Distinctive device that represents a family or
corporate body
- Usually above the shield of a Coat of Arms
(originally a helmet) or seperately reproduced (e.g. writing
paper)
- Example: Liverpool Football Club Crest
- Shield Elements
- What appears on the Shield (placements and
colours)
- Supporters
- Oftentimes 2 animals or persons on both sides of
the Shield
- Coat of Arms
- Distinctive heraldic bearings or shield of a
person, family, corporation or country
- Example: Malaysian government Coat of
Arms
- Insignia
- Distinguishing a badge or emblem of a military
rank, office or membership of an organisation
- Example: Royal Malaysian Police Insignia
Mark
- Refers to different marks (E.g. trademark, watermark, stonemasons
marketc.)
- Signifies ownership or identification
- Represents quality, ability and skill
- Tends to carry legal weight considering that "™", "®", "©", "℠" and so
on, refer to that it is legally registered or established
- Trademark
- A symbol, word(s) legally registered and used to
represent a company or product
- Usually functions as an identification that takes
place within a Design Programme/Branding (both are methods for
controlling corp. identity)
- Example of trademarked products by Apple are
AirDrop, AirMac, AirPods, AirPods Pro, Apple, Apple logo,
etc.
- It is legal protection against theft or
infringement
- A trademark or servicemark are unregistered
marks before becoming registered "®"
INSTRUCTIONS
Task 2A: Logo Research & Analysis
28 Logos
Slides
Attachment 1.1. 28 Logo Research Slides (24th Apr - 10th May 2023)
This task took me awhile to do as I mostly forgot about it. It was also a
little slow and confusing in the beginning as I was not always sure exactly
which type of marks the logos were. I found many of them to be somewhere
inbetween and not just fitting into one or two types. For example from my
understanding, the Spotify logo seems to fit both the abstract and
symbol/pictorial category. So instead of trying to choose only one or two
types, I would list all the different types that I feel the logo fits in.
Task 2B: Logo Creation
My Brand
Ideas and Mindmaps
Attachment 2.1. 3 Career/Brand Ideas, Week 1 (5th Apr 2023)
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| Figure 2.1. Mindmap 1 (The Brand), Week 2 (5th - 12th Apr 2023) |
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| Figure 2.2. Mindmap 2 (Brand Name), Week 2 (5th - 12th Apr 2023) |
In class, we were told to write 3 ideas of our career choices if we were
not designers. We were allowed to have unorthodox ideas and let our
imagination go wild. Out of my three ideas, I preferred Set 1 and 3 the
most. After feedback, I decided to proceed with Set 3 as I found it more
interesting to design.
I then proceeded to do my mindmaps, one for my brand and one for the name
of my brand. I felt really excited with the strip club idea and had quite
alot of ideas of how I wanted the club to be, what it should feel like.
During this time, I also created a Pinterest board, collecting all sorts
of visual inspiration and references for this brand (view it here: https://pin.it/8Bj03IP)
Logo Ideas
Sketches
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| Figure 3.1. Logo Ideation Sketches 1, Week 3 (12 - 19th Apr 2023) |
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| Figure 3.2. Logo Ideation Sketches 2, Week 4 (19th - 26th Apr 2023) |
During week 3, we began the logo ideation and sketching phase. I drew 21
different logo ideas (from A to U), and most had their own explorations,
variations and adaptations. Most of them were very much just idea drafting
and not fully thought out to be a logo as I did not include a wordmark to
the logos that would need it. After feedback session, I carried forward
ideas O, K, U and explored more with them
During week 4, my logos became more fully formed sketches as I tried to
implement wordmark combinations. I also came up with some new ideas by
exploring different keywords from my second mindmap. However, I was
unhappy with most of them as nothing seemed to feel or fit perfectly. I
was also getting exhausted and felt demotivated with trying to make
old ones work and create new ones. Set C however was my favourite over all
the rest as it carried elements of artsy and extravagance (in a simple and
not 'atas'/upperclass or expensive manner) which fit how I felt about my
brand and would fit as a strip club logo.
Logo Digitalization
Attachment 3.1. Logo Exploration, Week 5 (26th Apr - 3rd May 2023)
Attachment 3.2. Logo Refinement, Week 6 (3rd - 10th May 2023)
From feedback, I went on to digitizing ideas A, C, M and E from week 4
sketches as I was uncertain of which worked better. These were the ideas
that the class had picked out as the better sketches and gave feedback on.
I was feeling abit burnt out with set A as that idea has been around since
the first round of sketches. I was feeling quite lost with it as I could
not figure out what was wrong with it and how to improve it. I tried
working on it using a more mathematical formation but they still were just
not working.
I ended up moving on to set C and tried a more geometric form. I found
this form easier to work with to make it look good, unlike set A. I then
worked on set M and E, both being pretty straight forward. Both sets
however did feel off with me as the entire form was not appealing to me.
After all this, I realised that maybe I needed to explore the form of my
body, as somehow the geometric form worked well. I went back to
researching and found more inspiration on how I could draw out my body
forms. I
sketched them out a little but did not really have the time, energy or
mindset to work on them fully, so for the week, I left them as sketches.
My progression sped up after week 5 as I was inspired by the feedback note
on 'calligraphy influences'. That allowed my ideas to click again and work
towards that direction. I made a calligraphy line grid and worked with
that as my grid. I also followed the calligraphy flow of stroke thickness,
with thick, medium and thin lines, depending on stroke angle and
direction. It allowed me to construct my logo in an organic yet
mathematically organised and thought out way.
Once finding my form and was satisfied, I started looking for typefaces
that would suit my logo and brand. I came up with many different typefaces
and different ways to type it out: all small caps, first 's' uppercase
& both 's' uppercase. For the both 's' uppercase, I sometimes mix and
matched the typefaces because I would find some typefaces with a really
interesting 'S' letter but would be too heavy to be used for the entire
wordmark. I could not decide if I should have my first 's' uppercase or
not and oftentimes, it depended on how it would look with the different
typefaces. So instead of limiting myself, I explored all my options first.
I slowly narrowed my options down through process of elimination, having 3
rounds of eliminations to finally reach my final decision on the typeface,
as seen from page 2-7 in Attachment 3.2. At the same time, I was deciding
which head form to use, also through process of elimination. I came about
choosing my typeface from various reasoning. Z2.2 was the nicest to look
at and fit well with the mark as the thickness weighed the logo down well
but the 'i' title (dot) being a star in Z2.1 made that interesting to look
at and made sense to the whole 'strip club' idea. I also experimented with
my pole length and rotated my mark a little to slant to the right as it
felt a little to straight and rigid when seen with the typeface in
Z2.3.
I decided to combine best of both worlds by adding the star to the
typeface in Z2.2. I also continued to experiment with the pole length and
rotation. In Z4.1, I thought of filling up the space of my cut out oval as
it felt weirdly empty. However, it felt too squished and also would cause
an issue when shrinked down to a smaller size.
Eventually, from feedback from my sister, I was able to reach my final
logo mark and moved on to colours. I experimented with a few different
colours and gradients but I mostly worked within a hot pink feel. It was
what felt right as it is for a strip club and in my mindmap, I highlighted
that my target audience are "the kind of people excited for Barbie". Even
when looking at my Pinterest board I made for this brand, there were a lot
of images with pink, so there was no reason to fight what felt
natural.
Stripes Brand
Brand Guidelines
Attachment 4.1. Brand Guidelines, Week 6 (3rd - 10th May 2023)
Once I had my logo, I began working on my submission requirements which
was the Brand Guidelines and Logo Animation. For the brand guidelines, I
followed the instructions my classmate, Trinity, had wrote out for me
(since I missed class that week). I also referenced other brand
guidelines on Behance as a template, especially for things I was not
sure to do, such as the logo clearspace. Creating patterns was fairly
simple and fun to do as the shapes and form of my mark made it really
easy for me.
I decided on the brand primary and secondary colours as I was decorating
my brand guidelines layout and deciding on how to colour my patterns. I
needed those different colours as they were similar but different enough
and fit my whole Barbie pink theme. The brand typefaces were much easier
to decide on compared to brand colours. I kept the wordmark typeface as
my heading and went through all my fonts to find something to ground it
well. There was not much questioning or process of elimination that I
had to do when choosing 'Work Sans' as I knew it just fit perfectly
together.
Logo Animation
Attachment 4.2. Logo Animation Progress 1, Week 6 (3rd - 10th May 2023)
Attachment 4.2. Logo Animation Progress 2, Week 6 (3rd - 10th May 2023)
I decided to emphasize the calligraphic style and flow of my logo for
the animation. I made the mark animated to be seen as it being drawn out
with a pen. Even the head was animated ispired by the chinese
calligraphic brush style. I animated the stars to pop out and the
wordmark to drop down while being unmasked. My next animation progress,
Attachment 4.2., everything stayed the same except the pole. Upon
feedback from my sister, I made the pole fade in instead of being drawn
out
Final Outcome
Brand Guidelines
Logo Animation
FEEDBACK
Week 2
My Brand
Ideas and Mindmaps
- Work on a second and third tier for the second mindmap (brand name)
- Start working on logo sketches
Week 3
Logo Ideas
Sketches
- Move forward with Idea O, K and U
- Idea O shows strip club well and is interesting
- Idea O and K needs wordmarks
- Experiment with other forms for Idea K
- Idea U is conceptually interesting (the idea of everything connecting)
- Idea U could maybe be about people holding hands, diversity and the
letters of my brand
- Idea N (my favourite of the week) does not give the impression of a
strip club
Week 4
Logo Ideas
Sketches
- Idea A is still the best, especially the form in A2&3
- The dancer in Idea A needs the pole for clarity reasons
- Bring M1 forward with the idea of variation and multiple
- M1 needs to be experimented with simpler forms
- E1, C2 and P1 is interesting
- I need to work with simpler forms for the dancer. Use simple lines
and shapes
Week 5
Logo Digitalization
Logo Exploration (Attachment 3.1.)
- A2 var 1.1 has better body proportions
- The pole looks better when it does not cross the body
- The form in C2 var 1.3 (my favourite of the week) looks better as
it is more controlled but does not suit the fluidity that comes with
strip dancing
- The wordmark in C2 does not match the geometric form well
- Set C will not work when the logo is shrunk to smaller size
- The dancers in Set M form the letters 'r', 's' and 'T', try
developing others to spell Stripes
- The poles in Set M do not have to form a constraining box
- The form in Set E is too heavy
- Sketched out forms have better posture and body proportions and
are more elegantly formed
- Contrast of thick and thin strokes as well as the fluid organic
forms are what I should explore more of
- Research various poses to keep the strokes simple, consider
calligraphy and lettering as influences
Stripes Brand
Logo Exploration (Attachment 3.1.)
- The oval container in Z1.1-1.3 looks like a bean and there
needs to be more space near the head
- Head in Z1.3 looks best. Z1.1 is not as interesting and Z1.2
makes the butt of the form feel too heavy
- The simpler and thick typefaces look better as it balances the
logo better
- Font in Z2.2 contrasts with the mark well and is more
interesting to look at because of the ligature
- The star in Z2.1 matches the brand
- Z2.3 has the feeling of movement which is something I should try
keep
- Z3.4 works best as the rotation of the mark has a slight feeling
of movement
- The empty space between the pole and the oval in Z3.1 & Z3.2
makes the entire shape look weird
- Z4.1 is nice but complicated with the ligature and makes the
logo too cramped
- The idea of filling up that space is good as it does feel too
weirdly empty, try using the stars
- The gradient and colours of Z5.4 is the best
Logo Animation (Gif 1.1.)
- The cut of the pole is weird and a little confusing at first
- Have the pole just fade in
Week 6
Stripes Brand
Brand Guidelines
- Everything except the logo colour and brand colours pages
should be in black and white
- Logo rationalisation needs to have more measurement
indications of the inbetween spaces (arm to pole, pole cut out
to the legs, stars, etc.)
- If I see possibility for the wordmark to be used solo,
indicate that by doing a clearspace and logo min size for it
solo
- Indicate that the clearspace is derived from the largest star
of the logo
- Write CMYK numbers for colours too
Logo Animation (Gif 1.2.)
- Have the stars fade in and twinkle instead of pop out
- The wordmark can also just fade in
Week 7
Task 2A
Slides
- It should contain my own opinions, especially on observation of form
- Chosen logos reflect better critical analysis by drawing from visual theories
Task 2B
Final Outcome
- More consideration on how each component is related to one another could be better demonstrated in logo scape rationalisation
- Thick and thin strokes may show more potential if given more exploration
- Suggestion of two clear space ideas may mean that i should have demonstrated form via framework for a second form as well
- Good rationale behind the logo
- May need to refine the thinning of the stroke on the oval at the bottom point before the tilt up (make curve more natural)
REFLECTIONS
Experience
This assignment was a roller coaster ride as I enjoyed certain parts of the assignment yet absolutely hated some parts. I struggled with getting the logo to look and feel just right. I would try and fix it or come up with new ideas, yet I was constantly in a rut and mentally drained of ideas. However, the feedback sessions from the lecturer and the whole class were extremely beneficial and fun. I liked having the entire class give feedback as it felt more of a collaborative environment, which is essentially what we will experience in the work industry.
Observations
I realised that the experience I went through with this assignment is exactly the same arc that I went through with Task 2 of Adv Typography, where we had to design a brand for ourselves. For both assignments, I got stuck at the ideation stage of the logo. I had the idea, yet I could not figure out how to improve on it. This is something I will need to work on as I will not always be so lucky to get feedback that can help the gears in my brain to start turning again.
Findings
Assignment 2A allowed me to gain and understanding to the different types of marks. It was interesting to discover the details of the different logos and do brand research. I even learnt about the history of some brands and their logos, which were sometimes extremely interesting (e.g. the history of Ferrari's logo). I also realised that I should start learning how to manage and overcome a creative block on my own faster.
FURTHER READING
Continental Ferrari (n.d.) What Does the Ferrari Logo Symbolize?
[Online] Available at: https://www.continentalautosports.com/ferrari-information/ferrari-logo-meaning/
Meir, D. & Goldstein, K. (2021) 9 Types of Logos and How to Use
Them Effectively [Online] Wix. Available at: https://www.wix.com/blog/creative/2020/01/types-of-logos/
Robot Creative (2020) Clear Space and Why Your Logo Needs It [Online]
Available at: https://robotcreative.com/blog/your-logo-needs-space-blog/
Sharma, K. (n.d.) Logo Design with Grid System: Logo Grid Construction
[Online] Makers. Available at: https://makersdesignstudio.com/logo-design-with-grid-system/
Velarde, O. (2022) The 14 Different Types of Logos & How to Use
Them [Online] Visme. Available at: https://visme.co/blog/types-of-logos/
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