Assignment 20: Research and Inspiration

A Brief Biography of Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey started off as a street artist.  He would design stickers and posters and post them all around big cities.  He later gained more notoriety when he design the infamous Obama HOPE poster.  Since then he has had exhibitions and worked as a designer for organizations.  He is also known for his OBEY campaign.

Famous Works

 

 

Research

Social Issue

I have decided to do "bully cops" as my social issue.  With the recent killing of Kelly Thomas, I feel it is a problem that needs more light shed on it.

Colors, Trends, Words etc.

As these posters seem to typically glorify the subject of the portrait, I'm thinking that I'm  going to do a Fairey style  of Kelley Thomas with some kind of word like "abuse" under it.  Or maybe I could flip the switch and have a picture of a cop and the word "bully" underneath, to show that they're bad bad people.  The logos on these posters seem to be real simple too, I'm thinking maybe a police badge with some kind of unexpected symbol inside.  For colors I might stick with the red and blue of the Obama poster just to juxtapose that familiar look with a different tone.  If not though I would definitely use red, to symbolize the passionate response that these events have caused

 

Color Psychology

Assignment 19: Research and Inspiration, continued

 Research
 For Stationary package research, see post titled: "Stationary Package"

Inspiration
I like the unity/variety in this package, you can tell that the designer didn't just copy the same graphic over and over, but created a specific, yet consistent graphic for each piece

This ones cool cause of the different ways they used the logo as a watermark and such

Assignment 19: Research and Inspiration

What is a business card used for?
Typically a quick way to give the idea for your company, and some basic information

Spa Design Research

• I've found most designs are very flowy, lots of script utilized
• lots of cool colors, very sea like, 
• abstract human images often used

Color research- as in the last one, i plan on using cool colors again, as in a spa one is supposed to be in total relaxation, an cool colors have a calming effect.  I do want to use a little bit more bold colors though, to set this apart from other spas.

Visual Hierarchy

Stationary Package

-Printed pieces that a company uses for communication purposes-

• Basic Stationary Package is a Business Card, Letterhead, and envelope designs

Business Card:

• Should form an immediate opinion of company
• has information, but also shows mission, culture, and goals through colors fonts, texture etc.
• Includes, in this order: logo, company name, employee name, title, phone number, fax number, e-mail address, company address, web address
• MUST be 2 x 3.5 inches
• Horizontal or Vertical
• unity
• typical margin is a quarter inch

Letterhead:

• A printed piece of paper used to send letter, invoices, memos etc.
• Should include: logo, company name, company address, phone number, fax number, web address
• logo and company name should be the focus with
• other info less prominent
• must be 8.5x1,vertical orientation
•  leave mostly empty for body type

Envelope:

• The packaging that contains the letter/form 
• We will be creating a standard #10
• Typically includes just one logo, company name, and company address
• Must be 9.5x4.125, horizontal or vertical
• must leave room for recipient stamp and address

Assignment 18: Research and Inspiration

What is a wordmark?
A standardized, text only, visual representation of a company. It should be representative of the company.

What makes a good wordmark?
-Good wordmarks should be memorable. This can be achieved through emphasis and contrast.
-Simplicity.  The least you can do to the company's name, while sufficiently conveying an appropriate image, the better it will be.
-Memorable

Photography Industry Trends:
-Depending on the type of photography the company is taking, their wordmarks seem to be either very modern, or very conservative
-All are very very simple though, almost no out of the box flourishes

Color research: use cool colors, photographers should be personal, and cool colors are welcoming

Inspiration

I like this one because it breaks the mold of having no visuals on a wordmark, the small flash is still simple, but very effective

Ignoring the symbol on the left, this is a perfect example of a simple and modern wordmark, it also uses contrast perfectly

Assignment 17: Research and Inspiration

I've chosen to create a logo for Spin Records.

As music is always fresh, i've decided to create a more trendy logo. Through research i've found that this means:

• It should look modern
• It should be very, very simple
• For a more trendy look, I should use a color or two, most old record labels use only black
• Some symbol of music should be used
• circles are very commonly used 
• Bold colors are often used, to pop

This modern record player could be modeled, in contrast to the multitude of companies who just use records

I enjoy the simplicity of this logo

Nice figure groun in this picture