Assignment #20: Research, Inspiration and Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey: An american graphic designer who is considered one of the most influential street artists. His artwork became more known during the 2008 presidential election when he created his Barack Obama "Hope" campaign poster. Now, Shepard has artwork in The Smithsonian, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Victoria and Albert Museum (in London.)

Shepard is well known for the "Andre the Giant has a Posse" stickers created during the late 1980's. However, he is best known for the Hope posters created during the 2008 presidential elections. These were a series of posters created to support Barack Obama during the 2008 candidacy. Considered to be "perpetuated illegally", the Obama campaign declined any affiliation with the posters. Later on, Shepard received a letter from Obama himself thanking him for the posters he had created to aid him in the election.

Possible Topics:
Pollution
Drunk driving
Riots

Color Psychology

Assignment #19 Research and Info

This business card uses nice colors and aligns the text in to the left. The card gets the information out there without too much detail. It is very easy to navigate. The card also has a professional taste to it which, ideally, is the objective of any designing company.

This business card has the name of the designer bolded (showing emphasis) on a darker color (showing contrast). All of the text is aligned to the right of the card. All of the information is easily navigated and the colours work well together.







Elements that could possibly be used in this assignment: Contrast, emphasis, figure-ground, etc.

The Candy Shop:

Light and playful colours because the target audience is children.

Candy wrapper outline

I like how the shapes and designs are used in this letterhead. It has nice designs while still leaving enough room for a letter.  The colours also work well together.

Stationery Package

The printed pieces that a company utilizes for communication purposes.

When establishing a business, it is very important that all communications are well coordinated and that the message of the organization is presented consistently.

Includes business card, letterhead, and envelope.

Business card: The essential part of the stationery design. When you hand someone your business card, they will form an immediate opinion about your compnay. Your business card does more than tell people how to find you: it says something about your company and it's mission, its culture, and its goals. Everything from the colours, fonts , the texture, shade, and gloss of the paper you print on says something about you.

Usually includes: Logo, company name, employee name, title, phone number, fax number, email address, company address, and web address.

Must be 2x3.5, horizontal or vertical orientation, check for accuracy, check for unity...continuity among other pieces, and typical margin is .25 to .125.

Letterhead:

A printed piece of paper used to send letters, memos, etc.

Includes: Logo, company name, company address, phone number, fax number, and web address.

Must be 8.5x11, must be vertical orientation, must lave room to write the letter, memo, etc. check for accuracy and unity.

Envelope:

The packaging that contains the letter/form when being mailed.

Includes: Logo, company name, and address.

9.5x4.125, horizontal or vertical orientation, must leave room for recipient's address and stamp, check for accuracy and unity.

Assignment #18 Inspiration and more.

This word type uses different fonts and colors to make one word stand out against the other. The "Firefox" is more bold and is a brighter color making the eye attract to it first.

1. Firefox
2. Mozilla





The animal rescue wordmark uses two different colors, two different fonts, and two different sizes. The large, bolded letters are the first thing that is noticed when looking at this wordmark. The color red draws your eye to the words.
1. Animal
2. Rescue
3. Foundation

Assignment #17 Inspiration and Junk

I really like the colors in this one. The white stands out on the logo pretty well.
1. TRIBE
2. Light blue bar
3. Lighter green bar
4. Dark green bars


Once again, the colors on this design work very well together. The design is simple yet still effective.
1. Buzzmaker
2. White dialogue bubble inside the B
3. The B

Logo Type

Logotype: A graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition. Referred to as a LOGO.

Often used in children's books, authoritative newspapers, and conversational periodicals developed their own visual and editorial styles for unique, expanding audiences.

Logos are meant to represent companies'  brands or corporate identities and foster their immediate customer recognition.

Less is more: Real people don't take the time to analyze logos.

A logo needs to be simple, but still maintain a powerful personality that can stand out in a crowd.

Logotypes were a way to advertise once printing became available.

Modernism made logos simple, but effective.

Principles of effective logo design:

Simple: Simplicity makes a logo design easily recognizable, versatile and memorable. Good logos feature something unexpected or unique, without being overdrawn.

Memorable: Following closely on this principle of simplicity is that of memorability. An effective logo design should be memorable, which is achieved by keeping it simple yet appropriate.

Timeless: An effective logo should be timless. Will yours stand the test of time? Will it still be effective in 10, 20 or 50 years?

Versatile: An effective logo works across a variety of media and application. For this reason, logos should be designed in vector format, to ensure that they scale to any size.

Appropriate: How you "position" the logo should be appropriate for its intended audience. For example, a child-like font and color scheme would be appropriate for a logo for  a children's toy store, not so much for a law firm.

Ask yourself, is your logo still effective if it is printed:
In one color? In reverse color? The size of a potage stamp? As large as a billboard?

Four color process: Technique for printing with full color. The four colors reproduce all colors of the spectrum when mixed in proper proportion. ALso called full color printing.

Spot Color: Method of specifying and printing colors in which each color is printed with it's own ink. Spot color printing is effective when the printed matter contains only one to three different colors, but it becomes prohibitively expensive for more colors.

Color plays an important role in logo design. Color can illicit different feelings and emotions from the audience. Color should be carefully considered based on your target audience.

Colors also tend to follow trends, just like fashion. So a new vibrant company may want to follow current trends, whereas a bank may choose to stay with a more conservative color palette.

Keep your color palette to two or three. Too many colors will increase your cost of production. As well, it may cause a chaotic design.

Combination mark: Matches text and visuals together to make an effective logo.

Iconic/Symbolic: Icons and symbols are compelling yet uncomplicated images that are emblematic of a particular company or product. They use imagery that conveys a literal or abstract representation of your organization. Symbols are less direct than straight text, leaving room for broader interpretation of what the organization represents. In order for a symbol to be a truly effective logo, it should conform to these maxims.

Wordmark/lettermark: Logos that only have text. Wordmark is the whole company name while the letter mark is an acronym/initials.