Module 1 (Semester B) – Page 3

February 25, 2016Brandon Barton No Comments

Logo development – Finalized Design

In my previous logo development blog post I explored a multitude of designs, with different colour palettes, typography and fire vectors. During that blog post I favoured one design above the rest and so I decided to further adapt it and use it to create some more designs which felt thematically appropriate.

After trying new fonts and playing with some ideas I had before I feel as though designs 3 & 4 are appropriate for my logo and branding of my company. The font used feels easy to look at, similar to the fire in the regards of the soft colour and smooth edges, the colour of the fire also works well with just solid black whereas other iterations try to include the same colour as the fire and it feels visually weaker with, and without the black.

I struggled to pin down my opinion to just one design, so I decided to ask friends and other designers which they preferred, the general consensus was actually between 1 & 5, both of which received around 10 or more people picking between the two. After trying those logo’s on documentation, making them larger and smaller, both of them failed the test of where they were appropriate, design 5 in this instance worked better on documents where it was larger, but when shrunk the black lines in the font made it look bold and too loud.
Design 1 also looked good at the size it was in this document, however when it was made larger or smaller it had the issue of taking up too much space, or becoming illegible.

Whilst design 4 didn’t have as many people comment on it, I feel as though after trying to apply other logo variations to documentation it’s the most coherent design, which is applicable to most of the places I’ve tried to use it.

Overall I feel as though design 4 is the one I will choose as a finalized piece, the new typeface is visually stronger and the flame between both words works better than in previous renditions, also the new colour scheme feels a lot better to look at, the previous palette felt too harsh with the reds and yellows and the new subdued version is easier to look at.

February 19, 2016Brandon Barton No Comments

Further Logo Development

After the presentation during the week 5 workshop, the general consensus behind my current iterations and development was that more variations were needed. Before the presentation I felt as though I had reached my final stages of logo development, but after a more critical approach in evaluating my own work I felt as though I hadn’t fully scratched the surface on what it takes to create a finalized logo.

The different variations were all informed by prior iterations of the logo and were all thematically similar with slight changes in either the typeface, colour palette and composition as well as the shape of the flame.

The initial colour palette I started with felt quite harsh to look at with some variants of the logo, so I wanted to find a more subdued colour which still looked good with the flame, after experimenting with Adobe Illustrators Built in colour guide I found a new set of three complimentary colours which I applied to designs: 8, 9 and 10.

Overall I feel as though I underestimated how complex designing a good logo could be, and so I feel like more designs are needed before reaching a final conclusion. The current rendition I prefer the most is design 8, from here I’ll further explore what I can do with it and see where it takes the end conclusive design

February 17, 2016Brandon Barton No Comments

Workshop 5 – Presentation of Ideas

During week 5 we were asked to create a presentation showing our ideas thus far including research, inspirations and possible amendments. In this presentation I highlighted prior research which is already on my blog, this included: Typography, Colour Palettes, and Logo variations.

Presentations and presenting as a whole feels like a great life skill to learn, it allows you as a designer to reflect on work and possibly learn new skills. Presentations also offer the much needed life skill of pitching ideas and highlighting the development of a project to potential employers. As a designer just because you are content which a specific article of work, it doesn’t mean that your idea will be what a company is looking for, understanding this and using it to grow as a designer is therefore beneficial for both parties. Overall I feel as though presentations are not just useful in academia, but in industry comparatively.

Further amendments I would like to make upon receiving feedback would be: Developing my logo further (Explore different usage of typography, iconography), Show comparisons in prior iterations (What works better, and why), further develop output formats, and work on concept art.

Corporate Branding Presentation

February 13, 2016Brandon Barton No Comments

Logo Development (Final)

The first logo below was more of a direct translation towards my company name, compared to prior iterations it plays more with the idea of a literal campfire. Overall I feel as though this logo is weaker compared to previous versions, the design for the logs takes too much away from the central focus of the fire, it’s also quite distracting from the typeface too, which I feel works very well with the basic block colours of the fire.

new campfire

After evaluating what I disliked with the previous logo I decided I wanted to keep the fire and the typeface relatively similar, the type by itself felt very weak and looked out of place, however with even the small inclusion of the underlining the piece overall looks visually stronger.
As it currently stands this logo is my final piece I aim to use for the branding of the company. I feel as though it stays true to an imagined colour palette and general aesthetic I chose from the start also it feels visually appropriate to the IP I propose to create.

new campfire 2

February 10, 2016Brandon Barton No Comments

Environment Research – Creating Engaging Landscapes

In my previous research post I decided to explore characters and character development. In this post my aim is to evaluate the significance of landscapes and environment structure for games.

Depending on the game, environments can play a huge role. Environments create the world for players to become engaged with, poor landscape design and unrealistic choices artists make can drag the player from the world they want to become invested in, and so like many other elements to video game design, environments play a huge role in the game.

As mentioned in my previous post I compared the games The Last of Us and Skyrim, these two games are different in genre and aren’t a great point for comparison with regards to environment.

Skyrim is an open world adventure which pays close attention to the detail in geography to a real planet, despite the setting being fantasy it’s important to note how even considering the smallest details like the location of the imagined continent effects what you’d expect from the game.

Skyrim – Landscape Art

Understanding the imagined setting for my own world allows me to make informed decisions on significant details like: In game Day & night Cycle, Weather Patterns, Scenery, Architecture and even character design.