Rohan Nicol Letterheards

I was playing around with a few letterhead designs, using my three preferred logos. Have to run this all by Padraig tomorrow. Yay!

Rohan Nicol Business Cards

Here are a couple of business cards I was playing around with. I really liked how they all turned out. Yay! Feedback would be appreciated. Let me know what you think!!

Rohan Nicol Logo Design

Like I said in my design audit, I wanted to work with Rohan Nicol so I developed these ideas. Most of these I developed during our last class.

House Product Lines

· Dyson- Dyson focuses on the functionality of their products rather than the style and appeal of their designs. This concept is reflected in their identity. The logo is very simple and can be produced to function in a variety of different environments. Also it focuses solely on logotype which I like.

· Vax- Vax is a company that focuses on Vacuum cleaners. Their designs can range from very blocky to very curvaceous so I think that their logo is a good representation of this. Although, the logo leans more towards the more curvaceous line of products that they produce. I like the fact that the logo uses orange. However, it seems to be a rather popular color amongst industrial and home product logos.

· Smart Home Products – Well I must say that this logo design is very SMART indeed. I like this logo because it is sophisticated and elegant but also has a very warm feeling to it. It makes the products that Smart Home Products produces seem much more approachable. I, however, did not like the ‘S’ that underlies the text. Seems like a little too much to me.

· In House Products- I practically fell in love with this product line when I saw it. I also adore the logo. I love the extended and seemingly squashed font that is used for the logotype. It reflects on the cylindrical designs that this company produces.

· Samsung- Samsung is a widely known company that produces a wide range of different household products that range from toasters to ovens. Samsung products are, much like Dyson, created for functionality rather than appearance. I think that this is also reflected in the simplistic style of the logo. The logotype is simple and angular, very industrial and commercial. Also the color is quite dull.

· Malcom St James- This company focuses on Kitchen products. The logo has a very clean and elegant design and melds together nicely. Also the colors used are quite nice.

Industrial Designers

Invent Resources

Invent Resources develops a narrow range of products that cover Aviation, Hardware and Sports. I think that with this in mind, their logo is very appropriate for their company. They use a logo with the initials IR in it, as well as a very clean cut and extended logotype. Also, they have chosen to use a slogan which I thought was quite nice. This logo design is nice and clean, however I do not think that something like this would be appropriate for Rohan Nicol. The harsh lines of the logo convey a very industrial and commercial ideal whereas Rohan’s designs a much curvier and have more personality. His logo and stationary needs to reflect this.

2. Outerspace Designs

Outerspace Designs focuses more on logotype rather than the logo. The symbol is the same size as the logotype however it seems lost in the logotype due to the boldness of the font. However, I like the fact that they have used a rather ambiguous font of the logotype so that it does not conflict with any of the products that they design. I think that something like this would be appropriate for Rohan Nicol’s identity because it is ambiguous but does not draw away from the identity of the company.

I love the range of products that Outerspace Designs has produced. Especially the Bicycle seat. It’s very unique and the colors are so nice and complement each other so well. Reminds me quite a lot of the designs that Rohan Nicol has produced.

3. Detekt Design Technology

Detekt Design Technology has an identity that is purely based on a logotype. However, the logotype has a logo in it, in my opinion. The backwards ‘E’ feels like a logo inside the logotype to me and I like this concept. I also like the clean and stretched out style of the font. It feels very interesting and eye catching to me. I would like to experiment with something similar to this for Rohan’s identity. I also like the fact that this logotype only uses a single color to draw it all together. This concept might also be something to consider doing for Rohan’s identity.

4. Marc Fraser Design

Marc Fraser Design also focuses on Logotype rather than a logo symbol to convey his identity. However this logotype seems a little flimsy and half-hearted to me. However, I do like the progression of the logotype. It leads down to the rest of the information of the website. It is more of an informing logo.

5. 4 Design

I LOVE this logo. It is a very simple design that completely captures the identity of the company. It is very unique and contemporary. This logo focuses solely on the logo and there is no logotype involved. I also like the fact that it is simply color. However, I would prefer to stick with a simple black logotype rather than develop an abstract logo for Rohan Nicol.

6. TXS industrial Design

This company’s identity is a compromise between the logo and the logotype. They have used a circular logo with offset font in the center of the circle. The font spells out TXS. This is quite a good yet simple logo and logotype. The logotype is done in italics so it leads the viewer’s eyes. Would be good for business cards etc.

Timetable

Below you can see a timetable of the expected time that the entire process will take. At your request we are able to provide you with a larger copy of this timetable.

This timetable is set out on a weekly basis with each week beginning with Tuesday. Tuesday is the most reasonable time for both Client and Designer to brief the Client on the progress of the design project, as to whether we are in front or behind schedule.

Response to Brief

In this Design Audit you will see the response to the brief, an outline of the cost of the project and the wages that will be paid by the Client. We have also had a detailed look at the opposition of our client, and have included some designs of interest to the designers. You will see the design outcomes are included as well.

The task that will be undertaken over the coming weeks entails the creation of a new identity for our client, Rohan Nicol. The reason for this being that Nicol has designed and prototyped a range of products that he wishes to be able to present to potential investors, however he believes that a new identity for the proto-typed line is required.

The client requested a very sophisticated and stylish identity that will be displayed in the use of stationary for his product line. The logo that is design needs to promote the simple, clean and stylish product designs. The client would like the logo to be simple enough to be displayed on the products.

Nicol likes modernist styling of design in respect to the reduction of decorations and the exploration of new materials. He likes the obvious connection to mass production as well.

In reference to the decision of what name to use for the new identity, using the client’s name would be preferred. However, we must also consider how popular the older name “ublo” was. At this point in time the exploration of both names seems the more appropriate choice, and then when we speak to the client it can be his decision. The logo design roughs will be completed by the 14^th May so that the client can make a decision on the preferred logo.

We as the designers are looking at going in a simplistic direction with the possibility of creating a 3D effect with the symbol. Also, we are considering looking at a text related symbol with attached lettering to reflect on the client’s industrial designs. However, we are also considering an abstract symbol that reflects on the simple and clean style of the designs that Rohan Nicol has created.

This simple and clean idea will be carried out in the stationary as well, using similar colors to those that are used in his designs.

FINAL DECISION:

A simple design, that focuses more on logotype rather than a symbol. The possibility of the use of Rohan Nicol’s initials for the Logo. Below you will be able to see three examples for the logo. However, as mentioned before there must be consideration taken for the previous company name UBLO.

Most Doll Shops or Doll Companies are focused on the feminine side of the market. Alot of dolls that are on the current market focus on little girls. For example Bratz and Barbie. However, there are still a few tranditional porcelain stores around, which I adore. I have a porcelain doll that my mother bought me back when I was 2. She's still alive and pretty as ever. But, that's beside the point.

As mentioned before, the Bratz logo targets the younger female market. The use of the feminine color, and also the fact that they used soft and curved text appeals to the feminine market. I think that the halo and the stars would also have a very feminine appeal to them.

Ah, the Barbie logo. I remember when I played with Barbies, back when I was three or four. The reason why this logo appeal to the younger feminine market is because of three major aspects.

• The Color: What little girl doesn't love pink?
• The Font: Curved and curly. Cute and soft makes it feel very girly
• The Flower: The Flower above the 'i' makes it very girly, because flowers are usually associated with women because they are delicate and beautiful.

I don't really like this design, it seems a little too ugly to be a Doll Shop design. However, it does have some feminine appeal due to it's curling fancy text. It displays and ideal of elegence through the use of the older style font and the two women who oddly have very perfect faces. Much like the dolls, perhaps?

My Doll Shop Flyer. Excuse the bad writing and everything for this week. Being sick is no fun and makes it hard to think.

When all of these combined I make Super Text! Super text, he's our hero, gunnatake bad designs down to zero. He's got powers magnified and he's fighting on the designer's side!

Text plays an important role in a majority of designs. It is an item that can make, or break a logo. That's just my opinion, though. I think that is why I liked the Week 5 reading. This week's reading explored the ways in which text is presented and how the individual parts of the text can, when combined in the right way, make a design come to life. I liked the fact that on this website that the creator went into every detail about the text. As you can see from the diagrams below. These came from the website.

I think that the way the creator communicated the importance and went into detail about several important aspects of text was what made it easy to create the Doll House Flyer. Because of the detailed diagrams about kerning, tracking, line spacing, alignment, stacked type and hierarchy and the explanations on what was good text and bad text, I was able to create a design that communicates itself well without losing any of it's design appeal.

I was unaware of all of the details that need to be included in a Graphic Design brief. Writing a Graphic Design brief can be difficult if you don't know what you are doing, but David Airey explains the areas that you will need to cover in order to create an adequate Graphic Design Brief.

I liked the fact that he went into small detail about the areas that should be covered in order to create a well designed brief, but he also allowed for creative interpretation. The areas that he covered were.

• Corporate Profile
• Market Position
• Current Situation
• Communication Background
• Communication Task- "The Message"
• Target Market
• Objectives
• Available Budget
• Schedule and Deadline

All in all this website gives the young Graphic Designers of the business an idea about what they should be including in a well detailed Graphic Design brief so that they are able to do their job to the best of their ability.

Logo and Slogan

Mascot

Image

Other Jewellery Shop Logos

I have noticed a pattern in Jewellery Shop logos. A majority of the shops used elegant running writing for the title of their shop. I think that it protrays the idea that the products that can be bought from the shop are of high quality and will make the wearer look very refined and elegant (There's the 'e' word again).

Bramley's Jewellery Shop

Okay, this is what I was talking about just before. The use of running writing. It reveals a sense of refinement in both the logo and the shop. I mean I would want to go to this shop because of the simple appeal that the logo has. I also think that the logo portrays the idea of simple, yet elegant and beautiful. That is what every woman wants. Something that looks so simple and yet so beautiful at the same time.

The OCG Jewellery Shop

The OCG Jewellery shop logo is much different from the Bramley's logo. It has a more precise nature to it. I think that this one is far more modern to that of Bramley's. I however, do not like the fact that they included their product in their logo. Even though the font is very attractive, I think that the use of product in the logo makes it a little tacky. Maybe it's just me, but what do YOU think?

The Carat Shop Logo

I think that this one, out of the three logos that I have chosen, has to be my favorite. I like the fact that they used a logo and a logotype and kept the two seperate. Just like in the Bramley's logo, the designer has used an elegant font for the logo. Although I much prefer the way that it is represented in this logo. It feels alot more modern. I also like the fact that they used a combination of Serif and Sans Serif font in this logo. Very good. Like it alot.

My Jewellery Shop Designs

During Topic Four we explored the creation of Letterheads, Signs and Yellow Pages ads using a logo that had already been created. The Harris Jewellery logo was created by Padraig.

Anyways, with my designs I wanted to make them elegant and appealing. I wanted there to be color, but I also wanted it to blend in with the idea of the Jewellery shop without overpowering the logo itself.

The Letterhead

This is what I came up with for the letterhead. I was quite happy with it. I think that the swirls at the top and bottom create the idea of elegance and refinement. I was happy that I decided to use the same orange for the boarders as what was used in the logo. It helps the boarders to blend in, but also stand out on their own. All in all, very happy with the design.

The Yellow Pages Ad

Honestly I couldn't decide between these two designs. I like them both equally. Simple but also eye catching. Considering it now I think I would lean more so towards the design on the right because the phone number and all of that junk are in the center of the advertisement and are in bold so they catch the eye.

The Jewellery Shop Sign

Very happy with the way this design came out. This is something that I would like to see out the front of a shop. Nice, eye catching and colorful. However it does not lose sight of what the store is all about. I used the swirls again because I like to keep an idea of consistency in the designs that I create.

Myer Logo Redesign

Hello again!
Yes, today we played with the MYER logo and redesigned it into something that was more modern. Well, with mine I didn't want to venture too far from the original logo because then, would we be able to recognise the logo for being MYER?

As a designer, you have to constantly ask yourself that. Afterall, it isn't to please you, it is to please the viewers and the client

Anyways, moving on.
These are my logo redesigns I made a desicion on one of them (Seen below) And moved on to the Business Card and Letterhead designs.

I very much so like to work with basic ideas, so the thought of making a business card appealed to me. As Padraig stated in class we should only focus on having three areas of interest in our business cards.





*The Logo


*The Name


*Address etc.



This was my favorite business card design. It blends the logo into the card, but still makes it interesting in the same respect. Simple but effective.










My Letterhead designs. Simple and effective much like the business cards. I much prefer the first and second designs. The third just seems uninviting to me.





Favorite design. Nice, similar to the business card to it ties in together to make the stationary set sort of thing. Like it alot. Very happy with it.

Commonwealth Bank Logo Variations

What can you say about the Commonwealth Bank? Well, I've been with Commonwealth for all of my banking years and I've never had any issues with them. I, however have an issue with their logo. It just seems so bland to me. But I do have to admit it is well known.

This combination of logo and logotype is good. It uses the commonplace rectangle style. It also has the logo first and then the logotype. It gives the viewer a chance to get to know the logo and familiarise themselves with it before introducing them to the company name. I like the layout, even though I hate the logo.

This variation of the Commonwealth Bank Logo is the opposite to the one above. I definately dislike this one because of one of two factors.

1. The Logotype is BEFORE the logo. Definately not the way a logo should be set up. You read the logo and completely miss out on the logotype in this variation.
2. The logo is situated too far away from the logotype. Not a very good layout. This layout gives the impression that the company is distant, if not cold towards it's customers.
3. 
   

The first thing I see in this variation is the logo. I think that is overpowers the logotype and sort of swallows it. Although, they use the simple shape design of the triangle. Good leading lines even though the logo is far too large for the logotype.

The Art Of The Mark

“A successful mark is one that engages viewers and allows them to play a small ‘interactive’ mind game with it.” – Gregory Thomas.

The reading this week talks about the art of the mark. It details the steps that a good designer takes to ensure that his or her design comes across in the best way that it can. In the reading Gregory Thomas goes into depth about redesigning a logo. This relates to the exercise that we will be completing this week as, at the request of Padraig, we are going to be redesigning the Myer Logo.

I quite enjoyed this reading. Especially when G. Thomas commented on qualities one needs in order to be able to design a logo or trademark. To quote him, he stated that “to design a symbol or trademark, it is important to understand that without a knowledge of typography or drawing your design may have the shelf life of an overripe banana” I completely agree with this statement. After all, you cannot expect someone with no previous experience in any design field to be able to create a design now, can you? Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that I’m awesome because I can draw and stuff, I’m simply stating that with this idea in mind it means that the field of people that can enter the design world is narrowed.

Anyways, I’m rambling. To continue, in the reading G. Thomas spoke about different aspects that can influence a design. Such as:

Line
Figure Ground
Shape
Pattern
Letterform
Contrast
Image Field
Perception

These are important in design because slight differences such as a sharp line instead of a curved line can change the entire meaning of a design. I think that this idea appeals to me because similar aspects are applied in art.

I also liked the idea that design could be placed into categories, and could be developed using a set criteria. It adds the element of further organization and planning. I don’t know about everyone else but I know that unless I have a strict and organized plan I tend to drift off into completely different areas and I just don’t get anything done. NEVER GOOD.

I am very interesting in the idea of being able to revamp an old idea and create something not completely different, but new and fresh from it.

How does the reading of Pittsburgh Children's Museum P38-41 & Metreon - Sony Entertainment Centre P66-67 connect to the exercise of the jewellery shop?

Both the design briefs for the Pittsburgh Children's Museum and Metreon had variations of the products that were wished to be produced. Also, they detailed what the company wanted to express through the use of their logo designs. This concept can be linked to the Jewellery Shop Exercise that we did due to the fact that in the Jewellery Shop Exercise we were asked to explore the needs of the Jewellery shop and what they might want to express through the use of their logo.

Logos and Logotype Variations

These are the logo designs that I produced both in and out of class. I actually have two lots of fourty images I produced, however I scrapped the first lot because they definitely just didn’t look good. I felt like I didn’t put any effort into them so I produced another set. I will still include them here. Maybe some people will get a laugh out of them because of their horridness?
These were the crappy lot. See what I mean?

I was much happier with what I produced the second time around. There are a lot more variations. A few times I played with different variations of the same logo just so I could get a bit of a feel for it.

Final Choice:

These were the final three that I chose. I feel that these three could stand on their own as either logos or logotypes. I kept the logos and logotypes separated in these. I also found that when I was creating the logos I was more inclined to have them either in front or above the logo type.
I really like the logo at the bottom. It’s different from the first two. I know I may be biased but when I look at it I don’t look at the logotype and then the logo, or vice versa. I look at them both at once. I also like the first one because, it makes the shape of a circle, however the logo also looks like several ‘C’ shapes. All in all, very happy with these three.