Advanced Typography - Project 2 : Key Artwork & Collateral
13/5/2024 - 10/6/2024 ( Week 4 - Week 8 )
Ho Winnie / 0364866
Advanced Typography / Bachelor's of Design Honors In Creative Media
Project 2 : Key Artwork & Collateral
1. Project 2 : Key artwork & Collateral
1. Project 2A : Key Art Work Design
A key artwork is a wordmark or a lettering but also an artwork. As a wordmark/lettering it is used to identify a person but it is also used as an artwork that might adorn a label pin/T-shirt/Poster (Collaterals). In this task, we need to explore and compose as many permutations and combinations of our name in the form of a wordmark or lettering and develop a key final artwork.
Sketching & Idea Development :
Before starting any ideas, I created a mind map of myself to do some soul searching to understand myself better.
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| Fig 1.1 Mind map , Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
I also went onto Pinterest to get some inspirations on the type of styles out there when creating a word mark. I realized I am quite drawn to those gothic/tattoo styled letterings and logos because I have always been a fan of those ancient mysterious tales.
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| Fig 1.2 Reference from Pinterest, Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
I started sketching some ideas and I have been thinking on how to refine them as I choose some of my more preferred designs. Below figure (1.3) is the first draft I've shown Mr Vinod.
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| Fig 1.3 First Draft of Wordmark, Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
However, sadly none of these designs can work as he commented that it is too westernized looking and I need a lot more consistencies in my design. He recommended that I work towards the direction of expressing a "winner" mindset in my name as my name is Winn. With that in mind, I decided to rework my designs.
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| Fig 1.4 Second Draft of Wordmark, Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
When asked to choose which one is my preferred design, I went with design 4 as I am an avid fan of Queen's Gambit , and the idea of the vertical stacking of my name with the crown signifies the culmination of a strategic victory, akin to getting a checkmate in chess game. As someone who plans my steps carefully, I felt that this is a good symbolism of myself. In chess, checkmate represents ultimate victory through strategic execution. This symbolism aligns with my idea of "WINN" not just a winner in general but as a winner who triumphs through intelligence strategy.
Digitalization :
Mr Vinod felt that the original design of my chess has too many negative spaces in between and recommended I start by using a square to design. I removed the lines on the outside and used the default square shape to draw out my letterforms.
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| Fig 1.5 Process of Digitalization #1 , Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
However, only letter "W" seems a tad bit better and letter "I" and "N" are not working that well as I imagined it to be.
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| Fig 1.5 Process of Digitalization #2 , Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
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| Fig 1.6 Thick letterforms exploration on Pinterest , Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
I realized that the negative spaces were very small and well structured, not just by random so I attempted another time using thick letterforms.
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| Fig 1.7 Process of Digitalization #3 , Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
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| Fig 1.8 Process of Digitalization #4 , Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
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| Fig 1.9 Full Design Changes, Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
Next, we were told to print out our key artwork on paper and check if it works well. For mine, it looks okay and I can proceed to the next stage of picking color schemes.
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| Fig 2.0 Printed out key artwork , Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
Color Scheme Picking :
As someone who is a fan of red scheme and toned colors, I decided to go for a maroon like color palette but also ensuring contrast is seen between the lightest shade and darkest shade.
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| Fig 2.1 Color Scheme References |
I took reference from a few color palettes and did my own version after that, picking out colors that I think works well together.
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| Fig 2.2 My own color palette , Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
I experimented a few different color combinations for light background against a dark color and find myself finding design 3 the best looking among the rest as it has the best contrast.
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| Fig 2.3 Color Palette Explorations on Key Artwork, Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
For the dark background against light color, I also tried a few different experiments and also found design 3 to be the best looking one among the rest.
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| Fig 2.4 Color Palette Explorations on Key Artwork, Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
For my wordmark animation, I plan to do my wordmark dropping down and knocking off other chess pieces to convey the idea that the main chess piece is here. I drew some more components in Illustrator and imported them into Adobe After Effects for the animation.
I set position keyframes for my wordmark and chess pieces as well as rotation for chess pieces that are going to fly up.
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| Fig 2.5 Animation Process , Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
Submission Items for Task 2A : Key Artwork
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| Fig 2.6 Black Word Mark on White Background , Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
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| Fig 2.7 White Word Mark on Black Background , Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
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| Fig 2.8 Color Palette , Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
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| Fig 2.9 Word mark in actual colors on lightest shade of color palette , Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
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| Fig 3.0 Word mark in lightest shade of color palette against darkest shade , Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
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| Fig 3.1 Final Wordmark Animation GIF , Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
Task 2B : Collateral Artwork
For my collaterals, I decided to go for a hoodie, phone case and tape. The reason why I choose them is because my expansion pattern fits well on the sleeves of hoodie as well as making tape patterns.
I went onto freepik to search for mockups to use on my collateral artworks. Other than that, we went to took a picture of ourselves against the white wall outside design studio to layout in our instagram. I made the picture black and white and used my crown to be placed above my head in the photo too. To make the layout more interesting, I combined one row of items using my expansion design to form a zig zag so it looks connected as a whole.
Submission Items for Task 2B : Collateral Artwork
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| Fig 3.2 Collateral Artwork #1, Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
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| Fig 3.3 Collateral Artwork #2, Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
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| Fig 3.4 Collateral Artwork #3, Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
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| Fig 3.5 Instagram Screen Grab, Week 7 (6/10/2024) |
Link to instagram : https://www.instagram.com/winn_winn04/
2. Feedback :
Week 5 :
General Feedback : Ensure your work represents your identity , it needs to be readable and ensure clarity. Think of what you want to portray to your clients and do not involve negative meanings to your work
Specific Feedback : Your identity sketches are too westernized and complicated. Some are not readable and try exploring " winner " styled logos since the name winn goes well with it, think of how to incorporate winning feel in your work
Week 6 :
General Feedback : Expansion of the letters should not be done randomly and readability is crucial in the key art work, color palettes needs to be chosen well to ensure that there is sufficient contrast
Specific Feedback: Take your picture against the white wall outside class and the expansion using merely chessboard does not work
Week 7 :
General Feedback : Have reasons on why you choose certain collaterals and justification on why you pick them. Ensure that branding is consistent throughout
Specific Feedback : Do not overcrowd your background against your collateral, it does not work. The main thing you are trying to emphasize is the collateral, not the background.
3. Further Reading
For futher reading, I chose one of the pentagram's case study on reddit and how their brand identity transformed for the heart of the internet. Here's the link to the article.
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| Fig 3.6 Screen Grab of Reddit's case study, Week 9 (6/20/2024) |
Pentagram collaborated with Reddit to refine its brand identity, focusing on creating a cohesive and global strategy. They emphasized key traits of the brand: eclecticism, positivity, absurdity, and candor.
Key updates include formalizing the mascot Snoo into a 3D character, introducing a bubble motif for the visual identity, developing a custom typeface called Reddit Display, and streamlining the color palette to ensure brand coherence while allowing community expression.
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| Fig 3.7 Snoo 3D Character, Week 9 (6/20/2024) |
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| Fig 3.8 Reddit's arrow , Week 9 (6/20/2024) |
Analyzing Pentagram’s work with Reddit gave me a few takeaways when expanding my own brand identity :
Consistency and Cohesion: Maintaining a unified brand identity across various elements ensures that the brand is easily recognizable. Designers should create a cohesive visual strategy that encompasses all brand aspects.
Mascot or Symbol Integration: Reddit’s formalization of the Snoo mascot shows the importance of developing a brand character. Incorporating a mascot or a symbol can add a unique, personable element to the brand.
Custom Typography: Developing a unique typeface, like Reddit Display, can enhance brand recognition and make the brand stand out. Custom fonts provide a distinctive visual identity.
Streamlined Color Palette: Simplifying the color palette helps maintain consistency while allowing room for creative expression. A well-chosen color scheme can strengthen brand identity and ensure coherence across different platforms and mediums.
Versatility and Flexibility: Ensuring the brand elements are versatile enough to be used in various contexts while maintaining their integrity. For example, the bubble motif used by Reddit allows for creative applications while staying true to the brand.
4. Reflection
Experience :
I faced many challenges in this task as it was difficult to find a right way to express myself in the terms of typography and I took some time to step foot in the right direction as well as to further refine my key artwork. However, I had fun exploring ways to animate my key artwork and different collaterals I can place my design in. It was also difficult to ensure that the layout in Instagram is appealing other than just a normal 9 square layout so I tried to integrate cohesiveness through my layout via my expanded design.
Observation :
While looking at senior's artworks, I observed that there is good consistency in their design and also a good balance of playful elements which makes the key artwork outstanding. It is important to ensure that there is a consistent pattern which can leave a good impression on others.
I also observed that minor adjustments can bring about great design difference, such as adjusting negative spaces in design and ensuring they have constant spacing. My artwork initially lacks refinement and resulted in a simply done manner design which isn't a good thing but i further refined it to be more well constructed. The process of choosing color palettes is crucial as i observed that Mr Vinod commented on some of my classmate's palettes that they lack contrast.
Findings :
This project made me realized that it is not simple to expand designs and having a clear purpose is important when embarking on this journey. I need to understand myself better in order to design an artwork i am satisfied with as this artwork will bring our my personality and who I am.
One of my biggest challenge is working with collaterals as i tried my logo on different mockups but failed to find satisfactory ones until much later. I discovered that having a good color palette plays a huge role in representing your artwork and the emotions associated with them.
Although I had some hiccups here and there in this task, it was a good learning experience and these acquired skills would definitely be helpful in my future works.
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