Thursday, September 19, 2013

RE: Get Ready to be Scared!


I do agree logos are a lot fun but can be tough! Gestalt helps to bring unity and variety into the design. The tough thing about using Gestalt to design is that visual perception can communicate something totally different than what you expect.  Below are a few of my favorite logos that uses Gestalt Theory.


RE: Get Ready to be Scared

Some of these Logos are simply shocking! As designers, I think it is important to have other people look at our work. Not just anyone, but individuals (and sometimes groups) who aren't afraid to give us their honest opinion of what our work. As we spend hours perfecting every line and choosing just the right color we may overlook the obvious...as seen in your post! If you don't have anyone to help you out, there are many places to go online (see below). Sometimes the truth hurts but it I'd rather hear it BEFORE my work is posted and/or printed!

Online Critiques:
http://www.reddit.com/r/design_critiques/
http://www.pleasecritiqueme.com/



RE: Get Ready to be scared!

Logos, both good and bad, seem to be and endless source of entertainment, awe, and comedy. We've discussed them in every design class we've ever had. I think I even remember writing another blog entry (for another class) where I likened the act of creating a logo to the act of creating a poem: you have a very small space in which to work and must be concise, economical, clever, and extravagant in your aesthetic decisions all at the same time. As a result, things can either go very well or go horribly, horribly wrong.

Anyway, some of my favorite design show and tells ever revolve around looking at logos with hidden images and symbols in them--some obvious (Fed-Ex, even UB), some not as much. Here are a few I discovered recently that I hadn't seen before. They all speak for themselves, except perhaps for the first one: the Sony Vaio logo is made up of symbols which represent an analog (V & A) and a digital (I & O) signal.









Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Re: Scared


Click the image for more uncomfortably sexual company logos.  

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

RE: Get ready to be Scared!

I agree that the logos Stephanie has selected are either 1. Truly awful, or 2. creatively simple. I was looking through the 80 inspiring logos link you provided and I was going to post my favorite, but I realized I liked so many of them that it would be hard to choose. Instead I have decided to post a few of my favorites in no particular order:




Looking at the logos I have selected all together I have noticed a trend. I like clever, but I also like simple. If you look at the logos, each makes you feel a certain way, each has substance to it, each has depth. But if you take a closer look at the logos, you realize that each is merely a set of letters to form a word. They are all black and white (except for the small amount of blue in the last logo). There are no fancy or intricate decorations or designs. So, how can something so simple create so much emotion?

I think it is the simplicity that creates this feeling around the logo. (Note: I am not saying these logos were is to create. I am sure it took days if not months to think of having the word "peeled" look like peeling paper in all the right places, or to have the word "boot" stacked into the shape of a boot...). But think about it. Would Bison have as much of an impact if it was the word "Bison" layered on top of an image of a bison? Or, would the hole in the logo HOLE have as much significance if it was a hole around the entire word? How about if the quotation marks in talkmore were around the entire word rather then made into the "a' and "e?" Maybe, but probably not.

I have learned that when creating a logo, or anything for that matter, less is more. You must learn to compliment and enhance your design with each addition and change you make. And, it can be the little additions that make or break the design. I am sure that The Computer Doctors thought that their computer mouse concept was brilliant, and it probably could have been. But the execution was not there. This is not to say the designer is not a good designer, but as we discussed in class, take a step back to make sure everything is working. I loved my Active sweatband, but I never would have thought it could be misconstrued as a head wound because I was too close to the subject. I am sure that is the same as Shirley's comfy chair design. It is an awful (sometimes funny) feeling when you realize this, but all you can do is grow move on, and make a better design.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Get Ready to be Scared!

This topic is inspired from our discussion last night about inappropriate logos. Want to know how to be a good designer? Start by avoiding bad design. Below are some of the most notorious logos (I think you can see why)—view at your own risk!







































Here you can find more bad logos: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/logo-design-gone-wrong/

Too scared? How about a few well-designed logos according to the same blogger:
















What do you think about the above three logos? I like them but I am not a fan of gradients in logos in regards to the coffee logo.

Here are some more good logos from that same blog http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/80-creative-and-well-designed-logos/


Take a look at the 2010 Fortune 500 top 10 most valuable corporate logos:
http://www.thelogofactory.com/logo_blog/index.php/fortune-500-10-most-valuable-logo-properties/

What do these top 10 logos have in common? Simplicity. Sometimes less is more and not all logos have to distinctly spell out what your company does. Here is a great article by The Logo Factory on design tips:  http://www.thelogofactory.com/logo-design-tips/

Happy Friday the 13th!

Need some good karma this Friday the 13th? Why not chip in to Scares That Care's $5.00 donation drive? https://www.facebook.com/events/420382241348858/