This assignment taught my about symbol make, what a symbol actually is, and how to utilize a variety of important elements into design.
The first step was to recognize what a symbol is. A symbol serves as a representation of something, but does not actually look like the thing it represents. We were taught about the umbrella concept and were required to figure out what our own individual umbrella would be for this assignment.
I chose to use Austin has my umbrella term. Then I had to select 9 terms: 3 traced, 3 stylized, 3 abstract.
I had to select more specific words for the traced and stylized and then for abstract more descriptive terms.
My 9 terms: Texas, Capital, Skyline, Culture, Movement, Music, Diversity, Youth, Geography
It was a long process, we started with 9 total symbols, then had to dig deeper into that even and make different forms of our originals to perfect them.
Prior to this project I didn’t really have experience in illustrator, so once I got over the learning curve of understanding the software and how to best utilize it the project became a lot easier for me. I learned that pathfinder was my best friend and in order for my symbols to meet the criteria, I would be using it often.
While completing the project I tried to follow the guidelines as best as possible. These were:
- Balance
- Harmony
- Scaling
- Massaging
- Simplicity
- Not a doodle
- Not an illustration
- Primitive -> evolve -> Meaning, thoughtful
- Common language
For myself after all the critics in class I really wanted to follow the basic rule that, less is more. Making my symbols elaborate in beautiful may look good on the screen but it didn’t follow the concept of what a symbol really is and its purpose.
Overall I really enjoyed this project. Going into it I was excited but also intimidated at the fact that I would be creating my very own symbols, on illustrator which I had no background in. But, the project allowed me to force myself to learn the software, utilize critique, advance in my creativity skills, and do something I had never done in the past. In conclusion I was very satisfied with my three final symbols I think that they even though they took many hours to perfect, came out even better than I hoped and are unique in comparison to my classmates.