graphic design – creative futures brand identity

Graphic Design – Creative FuturesBrand Identity

Research

Research

My first step in designing my Brand Identity, was looking at other successful brand identities, and researching the different logos. The most interesting thing I found in while researching this field, was the fact that almost every single brand identity is simple, and usually revolves around two different colour types.

I wanted my Brand Identity to remain simple, yet also look unique, so I started to look at brand designers for some inspiration.

Research (Designers)Saul Bass

Miles Newlyn Micheal Johnson

Raymond Loewy

Initial Photoshop Designs

Here are some of my initial “play around” designs, here I experimented with some of the tools and effects in Photoshop, for example, the use of emboss, drop shadows, ect, just to see how they looked, in order to make a decision on which effects I would use as I got further in the design process. I also experimented with different fonts and font sizes, and color overlays.

Initial Photoshop Designs

After exploring some of the tools on Photoshop, I started to try and build a mini logo, and started to experiment with colors, fonts, and shapes, these are a few of the initial ideas that helped me progress further down the design process. After this I decided that I didn't want to use too much color (if any) as I thought it made my identity look unprofessional, so I started to steer away from this type of design.

Still In Development

In this design, I tried to go down a more professional route, and designed a logo with a more elegant feel to it. I experimented with different font types and eventually settled on this design, however I decided it looked too serious and every time I looked at it, I thought it looked like a solicitors or accountants brand identity.

HBJDM Malayalam AMB Plateagent Cherokee H Plateagent CherokeeJDM Franklin Gothic Book

Further Development

I really liked this design, I felt the use of bevel emboss on the right hand design looked good, however I thought it looked a bit “spooky” so decided to take away the blue color overlay and strip the design back and leave it white, I liked this, however I thought the whole thing looked a bit big and simple, so I started to experiment again.

Bevel EmbossH Arial (with effect)B Chalkduster (with effect)JDM Helvetica

Finished Brand IdentityBevel EmbossH Arial (with effect)B Chalkduster (with effect)JDM Helvetica

This is my finished brand identity, after some thought, I decided to reduce the size of the H, and take away some of the structure to this letter to show variety, I also decided to use grey and white as I like the simplicity, and didn't want to use any bright color as I wanted the design to stand rather than the color. I feel these colors resemble diversity and simplicity, and also have a professional look at the same time, however the design itself looks modern and creative, which is what I wanted to achieve as an identity for myself.