Brief 1 -Calibrate- Final Outcomes

For my five final outcomes, I included a variation of logos which were the favourites selected during the class crit, as I was initially unsure wether the more geometric logos looked better than the more abstract. It transpired the geometric ones were favoured, which highlighted to me how these can then also be more easily suited to randomly generated backgrounds on my concept webpage.
The square logo using the rue of thirds seemed to be the clear favourite as it was most 'aesthetically pleasing' and 'modern' looking according to my survey questions. I only included one that didn't use a grid system (the third logo in mint) as this was noted to be most visually pleasing for someone, so to add a more varied choice to a potential client this was included incase they weren't to like those logos incorporating a grid system:

Furthering this development, I played around with the concept that these logos (especially those using a grid system) would be suited to any background, so I created 5 mock homepage's for the website concept to test this out.

This logo design is my favourite and I believe to be the most effective especially thanks to it's versatility. This is the most geometrically structured using the rule of thirds as well as non italics and sans serif Futura. I've aligned the letter up better than I had previously as the kerning using standard spacing didn't work, so I separated the letterforms and aligned them in a grid in photoshop. 

As the letters are in a grid, any randomly generated image displayed in the background of my homepage, the logo would fit in place and the white colouring highlights the negative space created by the font overlaying the image which despite being the focus of the website, the logo is highly legible and contrasting. 

The logo appears clean and modern, the colour allowing it to blend and be played with which is perfect in the context of the website where the images and people's interests are ever changing and evolving. The typeface I believe blends well with this idea as it's modernist geometric layout as well as letterforms mirror the idea of moving art forwards, which the concept of this website strives to achieve.

The split in the word in this logo design I aimed to represent the joining of multiple minds and ideas, as collaborating is the purpose of the website, the use of italics just for the B and R highlights this link, so while people may have different ideologies and thoughts, on one level we may share similar interests or be able to aid each other with specific knowledge and vice versa; which is what I tried to encapsulate in the logo with the two different baselines. I like how the kerning remains the same throughout despite this split, the B and R share the same spacing only because they are set in italics. It doesn't however use a grid system that is as versatile as the rule of thirds, making it harder to blend over different backgrounds. It also doesn't come across as a creative brand logo as much as the others which use typically artistic layout methods.

The business cards mock up came out really well especially due to the rectangular format and the turquoise highlights. This then allowed me to design the back, with the slogan 'Calibrating Artists'.

I continued to experiment with using different backgrounds and slotting in my logo designs, playing around also with colour. However it is evident these vibrant pinks (although they fit perfectly with this Jenny Holzer background) will not work so well on another. The latter also doesn't use as much a simplistic grid as the first hence looks a bit messier especially in context, despite the fact it may appear more interesting by itself; the purpose of the logo is more important.

This was a slight variation on the first design, however I decided the uppercase far more effective as all the letters are therefore ascenders, sharing the same height, accentuating the geometric layout.

I'm happy with the outcome of this brief as it enabled me to explore typography in a different way as I usually prefer to use more elaborate typefaces and working by hand. The use of grid systems I never associated with typography and opened up new concepts to me, research into Wes Anderson and especially the Whitney Museum's 'Responsive W' (research blog post found under Personal and Professional Practice) enabled me to experiment with typography with a versatile graphic approach.