Article of the week #11

Why Logo Design Does not Cost $5.00

While a designing a logo might seem very simple from the sign, it is a very difficult procedure then can consume a lot of time. Many people don't realize this and believe that the price for designing a good logo are way over-priced. But they also seem to miss the fact that logo design is one of the most important features in a company. It is your icon and your face, and having a bad logo means having a bad reputation. 

First of all, what is a logo? 

A logo is something that is for immediate recognition, inspiring trust, admiration, loyalty and an implied superiority. It is your image. 

Bottom Line --- 

Make sure you invest money into the design of your logo, because if you won't your reputation would be very very low. 

http://justcreativedesign.com/2008/05/22/why-logo-design-does-not-cost-5-dollars/

Extra Credit - Mr. ZIS - Extra Credit

I made this poster for the Mr. ZIS competition as an Extra Credit piece. I worked on it with two other guys and it took us about thirty minutes just to come up with an effective idea that could respond to the brief that we received. Our main goal was to attract attention and to get people interested in the event, rather than to actually publicize the date, place, etc. I believe that we hit just the right spot for the following reasons: first of all; Black and White. While going over the brief as a group I threw in the idea to use silhouettes. Why? because they represent actions and not individuals. The fact that you cannot see who the person is in the image gets people curious, and opens their mind to imagination. Anyone can compete in the show. The second thing we decided to do as a group was to put one word under each silhouette image (from left to right, the words are as follows: Sing, Dance, Style). We also decided to add a reflection to each one of these images to emphasize "talent" and to achieve a better visual look. We had a long argument about wether or not the actual 'Mr. ZIS" title should be in color or stay in black and white, yet we came to the conclusion that it best fits as black and white due to the consistency of the poster. We placed the 'Mr. ZIS' title near the hand of the middle character (silhouette) to show the proximity between the two and to demonstrate how anyone can win (and grab) the Mr. ZIS competition. Finally we placed our sponsor image, yet again in black and white at the bottom of the right side of the page, simply because it looked best their and did not distract the audience from the actual purpose: TALENT!

Student Council AD

While my Student Council Magazine Ad seems quite simple a lot of work went into the design process. To start off, I chose a background image with a person praising the world. Why so? simply because he is happy. His wishes came true, and everything is going the way it is supposed to. The connection to Student Council with this photo is quite self-explanatory. "Your Voice = Our Actions". Next in line, the color. I had to change the of the sky to fit the color scheme which was Red, Orange, Yellow, and Grey. There is at least one tone from each of these colors, and yet it seems to be perfectly integrated without causing a chaotic mess. Things began getting a little more difficult when I had to choose a spot to place the "Your Voice" slogan. You have to image that this picture is on two pages (because it is on a magazine). So after playing around with the text for a while and choosing 'Helvetica' I decided to place it close to the end, yet on the right side. Why on the right side? because this head his targeted toward the western hemisphere (meaning Americans, Europeans, etc.) This is because they read from left to right and when they open a book, or a newspaper the open it from the left to the right therefore seeing the right side first. So I wanted to audience to see "Your Voice" before anything else. This very fact brings me to my next point, the logo. I put the logo at the bottom of the the right page so people would see it exactly after see the "Your Voice" slogan. I want the audience to know that only Student Council listens to your voice, and by designing my Ad like this I can manipulate them to believe it. On the left page I put "Student Council" in Grey at the bottom, just for people to know that it is Student Council after all, and write above it is the person praising the world. So while it does look simple, it is a lot more complicated than you would imagine.

Student Council Concept Logo #4

Student Council Concept Logo #3

ZIS Student Council Concept Logo #2

Rule of Thirds and Positions of Strength

Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is an extremely important method that is used for many different things ranging all the way from photography to graphic design. It divides an imagine into nine equal squares. perfectly put on an imagine. It is an excellent method to use if you want to emphasize a certain part of an imagine. You want to put your important subject on an intersected point. This is because our brain will automatically look at the different intersection points and if you put a certain subject on one than the message that your are trying to imply will come out much stronger and much more visually appealing.



Positions of Strength

Positions of Strength is another very vital concept which is used in many different subject such as graphic design, photography, and cinematography. It states that the dominant subject or the the subject which you are trying to emphasize should be on the side which the audience reads from. This means that if you are trying to refer this to a Western audience (read from left to right) than the dominant subject should be on the left, and vice verse. This method is also used in cinematography to represent the powerful character within an argument or a fight.