Graphic Design II – Visual Identity Mark

My Visual Identity Mark is a project that I felt I put a significant amount of thought into through a period of iterative processes. While creating this system of marks I considered the emotions and meanings that each individual form conveyed, for example, I made the decision to create a somewhat asymmetrical, rounded mark with a somewhat earthy green and blue palette to invoke the feelings of nature and relaxation.

The second row of marks were created to be shown at a small scale, so I gave them a single color and used a weight of my typeface, Ostrich Sans, without hollowed out spaces to make the smaller text more legible. The third row are variations of the same mark, created from the same shapes as the marks before it in order to create a diverse system of marks that can be used in different situations. Finally, the last row are seasonal palettes that were given palettes to fit the mood of the outdoor location.

I feel that my greatest strengths were not in the design itself, but in the thought process I went through to arrive at my final product, because I felt that I put a greater level of consideration into the creation process, and made sure that I had a reason for every decision I made.

 

Image Methodology – Object Lesson (matchbook)

For this project I created a matchbook to match the set of The Great Gatsby. I believe that I applied the appearance of my setting as well as additional research I did on the design of the 1920’s into my design in an effective and convincing way.

I drew elements of all of my research, such as the deep reds and golds used to match the reds and browns of the library shown in The Great Gatsby, along with a subtle art deco pattern found in the inside of the matchbook, while the cover is designed with the look of 1920’s package design in mind with it’s bordered edges, serif typefaces, and even the name of the company that produced it (based on common last names that originated in Germany, a large producer of matches at the time.)

 

Personal Project – 2018 Reference Sheet

This piece is a personal project that I made to replace previous iterations of this reference sheet. I created the character shown in the reference many years ago, so my improvement in the references I’ve made over the years are a quick way for me to gauge both my art and design improvement.

While creating this new reference, I was more aware of color than I have been in the past, and used my awareness to make slight color adjustments from previous versions to reduce how may colors I was using, as well as using subtler tones rather than more saturated ones. This reference was made to be used as a guide for other artists within a community that focuses on drawing intricate character designs, meaning I had to create a design meant to be viewed on a screen that could also describe detailed information without being the main focus of the piece. To implement these decisions, I made sure that the entire document could easily be viewed fullscreen on a laptop or monitor, and used heavy, color contrasting text and short descriptions to point out detailed information. Finally, I separated the reference into three components, based on importance from left to right. The most important details being the full body view of the character, while props both act as the second most important section and a boundary between the most important and least important information.

I believe the strongest aspect in this piece is the layout, as it is a great improvement from my previous iterations of this piece, but I could improve how I present the textual information by using more colors to differentiate between different type of, and the importance of the presented information. For example, I use the same shade of pink to indicate the color of the glowing horn and eyes as I use to indicate extremely important information such as the shape of the snout, gender, role, and species, even though the types of information presented are different. I would also like to expand the color palette to have enough room to add HEX values. In previous iterations of this project, I paid little attention to the layout or legibility of the document, which lead to confusion with other artists. This confusion is my driving force behind improving this design. If I notice a trend in others unable to correctly decipher a detail, I know that I need to make an improvement, and gauging the reaction of others has become an increasingly important part of critiquing my work.