Symbol Methodology – Photography

For this project I chose to create a symbol for photography. It is something that I really enjoy doing and hopefully in the future I would like to have a photography business besides being a graphic designer and because of that I wanted to create a symbol for it.

The first step in creating the first six symbols, traced and stylized, were done directly in illustrator and were not as hard to accomplish as the last three that were abstract. I had a hard time with the last three because at first I did not get the concept of abstract but at the end I understood but it was still hard to make a meaningful symbol without looking like something.

For the hybridize step, I combined 2 or 3 of my symbols but at the end I picked the symbols that looked best and combined them.

Hybridize

For my final three I combined film with memory, collage with camera, and lens with frame. I made different symbols for the three changing little details on them.

Hybridized2

 

 

Hybridized3

 

 

Hybridized4

 

After “massaging” the symbols, these were my final versions.

 

3 Final

 

 

The rubric I followed for my symbols contained the following rules:

  • Black and white only
  • Simplicity but detailed
  • Not too complex
  • Legible at any size

Plotting my symbols was easy for me and I had no problem with it. The lines in my symbols were bold enough so they could be distinguished from a distance. I learned a lot in Illustrator and from the critiques during class on how to make my symbols better. I participated when asked for critiques and accepted the critiques and feedback for my symbols. They are not too complex but they go straight to the main idea of photography. On a spectrum of grading for these symbols,  they meet the criteria required and I think my work deserves an A. The viewers get the main idea and the meaning of the symbols so I think that gets to be above a sophomore A grade.