edsonweb.co.uk

On our logo change task I decided to take a well known logo, with strong connotations, and try and force it in the opposite direction.

The JCB logo, originally has very strong links with the mechanical and physcial industries, as such also has strong suggestions of bulky, manly, masculine and strong appearance.

By changing the main hue to a pinky purple colour, the image is instantly given a more bubbly, fun-looking and feminine feel to the appearance.

Just thought I'd give you all a quick update on what I have been doing over the summer, and especially what I've been up to over the last few weeks since getting Adobe CS4 Web Premium (it's fantastic).

My Own Website:
I have a go at designing my own 'space' on the internet atleast once a month, and everytime i go back to it and i don't like it, as such, it never gets made into a full a proper site.

In the last few weeks i've had a couple of ideas flying around i think i might be getting very close to a design i can commit to using for a full website.

The first design i came up with recently was this:

When i first created this i really liked it. Unfortunatly however, after looking back on it over the next few days i realised that it was probably too load, too bright and a bit of a photoshop disaster.

The second rendition i came up with was this:

After disliking the previous site design because of its load nature and potentially, slightly 'childish' design i went for something a bit more formal. Unlike the previous design i still really like this. However i don't think it is best suited as a way of advertising myself as an interactive media artist. I believe that it verges a bit too close to being a 'generic' or 'typical' website layout, and as such i don't think it reflects the best of my creative ability. I will however contemplate using it either as the basis of a client project in the future, or purely as an example to show clients to see what sort of thing they're after.

My most recent design for my website is below:

At present i am really happy with this design. I think it is well balanced in all considered areas of design, from my POV atleast. I have put the image online at 'http://edsonweb.co.uk/vector/' to see how it looks on the internet. Still deciding upon what background to have etc.

Please leave any constructive comments to help me increase my design potential.

As some of you will already know, I do a lot of design and web maintenance work for my Dad's business (something to do with business management). I've currently been producing mock website front pages, logos and other small graphics for them to look at to see what sort of 'image' best reflects them. Some of those that I am most pleased with are below:

New v Old Logo
Potential new, slightly Web 2.0 style front page:

Business Card-Like Graphic:


That's about all worth showing! =)

After my review this week ive become to understand where ive been going wrong in designing my logo. Here's the latest batch, i hope they're of better standard...









and three others...

I eventually gave up on the 'Arrow' logo idea, it seemed what ever i did to it, it still felt slightly too simple and slightly immature. I decided to look into varying styles and came up with the idea of using headphones as the basis for the logo. Headphones represt so many things to so many different people i decided this would be a good thing to use. A headphone based logo will integrate very will with my avatar and other elements.

Below are 7 variations of my ideas, please feedback which you prefer, or how i can improove them.

After the mid-project review it became evident to me that my Logo element could be greatly improved and changed to integrate in with the the rest of my show case. As i result i've pulled together a number of urban/snow related merchandise company logos to see how they do it. I have chosen this area of style as my avatar is to represent me and my interest in skiing and skate-wear like clothing.















After looking at the above logos several things became evident. These things i feel i need to apply to my own logo. These are:
Logo's should contain no more than two colours, preferably one, usually black
Logo should be can contain text, 'image' part should also be recognised on its own
Using significant letters to create images works well (ie Initials)
Reference to use ie. Mountain outline, road lines, graffiti stencil, waves
To use text, own personal text works, generic fonts probably would not

After looking at these i prepared a few sketches and started to implement them, the first which are below:

Just a quick one. I've just come up with this, its an idea for a website logo although I'm tempted integrate it into my identities logo:

Still not sure that i'm completely happy with my logo so i've gone for a more simple colour scheme:

Below is the first draw up of my Car-Name logo idea. I quite like it. I will have to see if i get any more ideas for it. Please comment if you've got any good ideas or constructive criticisms =)

I've sort of come up with a new idea for my logo. Whilst sitting in a web-based lecture this week (no link really), (and no pun intended), i rememberd a cap i'd seen with Michael Schumachers personal logo on it. So, when i got home i looked it up and i got some fairly good ideas.

The Schumacher logo looks like this:














As you should be able to see, the idea is that it is initials, M.S., in the shape of a racing car. As motorracing and cars in general is something i take great interest in i thought i'd give it a go. Below are a few sketches i did to get the ideas flowing:

This one is just my first name, Tom, transformed to look like a racing car and driver. I quite like it although it doesnt look that much like a car or my name.


This is my second sketch that just uses my second name, Edson, in the shape of the car. This one looks a lot more like a racing car but its sort of loosing the look of having a name in it. So i gave it another go to see if it could be improved...

The third and final image (that i'm willing to show you anyway), again, is another attempt at putting my last name, Edson, into the shape of a race car. I like this one a lot better than the previous.



After quite a few sketches i still feel that the original image using 'Tom' in the shape of a race car is the most effective due its simplicity it feels much more like a logo than the other two.

I will post the computerised version of that when it is complete.

Ok, so last week I posted a few images of a billboard i found displaying a new coke advert that i really liked the look of. I intended to use it as the basis for my own identity logo. And here is the result:


















As much as i like the finished product it is too complex for a logo. Keeping in mind that a logo is an easily recognisable symbol i don't think this is. However, all effort has not been lost as it acutally makes a pretty in-depth moodboard. Either as it is above or as the background images as can be seen below:

Using 3D Studio Max 3D I have chosen a shape with texture, lighting and colour which I feel best represents me.

The shape I’ve chosen is a Torus Knot. At first I wasn’t really sure why but I felt that this shape appealed to me a great deal more than the rest so I think I should use it. I’m not really sure if the shape suites me or I’m trying to suite the shape but here it goes.

I think the shape visually represents me as I like to think I’m fairly complex, yet easy to follow. The name of the shape also appeals greatly as Taurus is my star sign.

I used 4 different colours, these are black, blue, red and orange. I didn't choose these colours because they visually represent me, orange and red especialy. But they all appeal to me for different reasons. I used the colours to represent my interests.

Not one colour represents one intereset but i've used them to show the idea that i have many, quite different interests yet they all colide together from time to time.

To be honest I'm not really sure what we're meant to be giving as a logo. I understand to a good extent how companies use logo's, why they use them and how it can be one of the most important things in marketing.

When anyone talks about logos or indents one company is always destined to arise, The Coca-Cola Company. Coca-Cola have possibly the most recognisable logos on the planet. It's no coincidence then that they are also very good at advertising.

The idea I've had for my logo is very much based on a brand new advertisement for Diet Coke. Starting from, well, yesterday, Coca-Cola have started a new series of advertisements on all formats, TV, Billboard and Magazine (to name a few), with pop-star Duffy as their new centre girl.

I can't say i found their new TV-ad really inspirational. It aired for the first time during the Brit awards last night. And, if I'm honest, its not great. However the billboard advertisement that's been shown over the UK as the TV-ads road-side equivalent really caught my eye.

After seeing it for the first time the other day i scouted the Internet for a few hours trying to find it, and well...i just couldn't find it. So equipped with my camera i headed out to where I'd seen it (a very busy road in Derbyshire!). Unfortunately, the photo isn't great as the only place i could park the car and stand to take the picture without getting ran-over was about 4-feet from the wall it was posted.

So, please, if you will, try and imagine this as one long image:


















I know strictly speaking that this is an advertisement and not a logo, but the its the design of the ad id like to adapt into my own logo. The key elements in this for me are: photographic, cartoon, text and composition.