mec designs.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Project 3 Letter Logo

When I first began choosing typefaces for my thumbnails, I chose ones that I hadn’t really worked with before. I wanted to use serif and sans serif types so that I had a variety of thumbnails. I knew I wanted to see how a flourished typeface and plainer typeface would look with my initials. I began developing ideas for my project by laying out my initials and seeing how they fit together using different types. I played around with sizing each letter differently and started placing the letters together. For one thumbnail, I connected the letters in a descending manner. In another, I placed a larger M on top of an e and c. In the last thumbnail, I placed the m on top of a smaller e and c, making a square shape.

The most challenging aspect to this project was trying to find the typeface and designing it in a fashion that represented me. The thumbnail I chose to go further with was the one with the larger m on top and the e and c underneath, I chose the typeface American Typewriter because it is flashy and plain at the same time. The letters fit well together and created unique positive and negative space. What helped my move through the project was finalizing what size the letters had to be to fit well together. Once I did that I could arrange them and then start thinking about color. I chose to leave the type black and create a green circle around the type because I wanted this to become a logo I could use. I chose lime green because it’s a bright, cheery color.

Wile using Illustrator, I got a chance to use the grid option in the background. I felt this tool was very useful because it allowed me to not have to depend on my eyes (like I have been doing) for aesthetic equality with the layout. This is something I will be using a lot more because it helps a lot.

My overall design involves harmony because I think with the letters placed the way they are, they create a pattern and are visually linked. My design depicts variety, dominance and proportion by the use of contrast from the larger m on top and the e and c on bottom. There is a sense of balance because of the symmetry created by the shapes of the e and c on the bottom (which have similar shapes) and the m on top, which has a symmetrical shape in itself. The design involves movement from the larger m being the focal point because of its size moving to the e and c. Economically, this design shows the essential message without being too boring.

Logo Sketches

Logo Final

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Project 2: Word Connotation & Denotation

For project 2, I chose the three words I could easily create into a composition, I chose itchy, thrill and frozen. For each word, I brainstormed words and feelings that described those. After this I sketched out simple design ideas for each word; from the sketches, I replicated them onto the computer and then started embellishing them. In order be connotative, I had to design the word so that it made the viewer feel something. Denotation, however, involves outright displaying what the word means. I chose the ‘thrill’ design as my final because that was the design I had most luck with color for. I chose reds, oranges and yellows to signify a fast, thrilling ride, like a rollercoaster. The movement involved in my final is also supposed to be connotative of a thrilling, fast ride because of the spiraling “thrills” that morph into the downward falling, larger “thrill.”

In getting to a solution for designing the word ‘thrill’, I would watch television and Google images to help me get a better feeling about the word. This helped me because the most challenging thing for me was creating something that didn’t denotate the word ‘thrill,’ but expressed feelings about it. After seeing an image of a rollercoaster, that’s when I decided to imitate the movement and feeling of riding one.

During this project, I came to value the process of creating a finished piece like I did; the ideas, interpretation and inspiration that came to me were hard to come by. I enjoyed this project because I really felt tested with the guidelines and with using Adobe Illustrator. I realized how rusty I was with the software and I was glad I got a chance to use it and become familiar with it once again. I am satisfied with the end result; however, I would like to have a chance to use different fonts to see if there is a difference. I am happy about the color selection I used, because I normally don’t like using color. I might want to try a gradient instead of coloring each individual item.

Frozen: (Sketch)

Itchy: (Sketch)

Itchy: (Comp)

Thrill (Sketch)

Thrill (Comp)

Thrill (Final)

Monday, February 1, 2010

Letter Forms Project

I found the process of this project really interesting and fun. I enjoyed playing around with the letters and creating different designs or images with the letters. I created three designs in order to get my three final designs. I created the “a” design first out of these chosen three.

For all three letterforms, I chose the simple, non- ornate letterform and typeface Arial because I wanted simple forms without any extra decoration. I wanted the way the letters were put together and placed to create movement, instead of the decoration some typefaces have.

With my “a” design, I experimented with the effects of weight, gravity and movement by interlocking and overlapping the terminals and arms of the a’s together to create a link like look. This creates movement because it carries your eyes down the page, following the links of a’s. Again, I chose Arial for the second design because of its’ simple design and non- decorative aspects. I chose greenish colors because the design reminded me of leaves.

We were then asked to recreate the design but with only using color. I chose blues and to use the same color as the background as the outline, just to try it out.

With the second design, the entire piece uses gravity, weight and tension with the illusion of the larger “t” pushing down on all of the smaller ones. This also creates perspective because there is one huge “t” and many small, little “t”‘s. Again, I chose Arial for the third design because of its’ simple design and non- decorative aspects.

With the third design, I created movement by displaying tension from the smaller “s”’s coming out of the larger one, almost looking like a water hose.