I believe my critique went fairly well.
I got some good advise that I will definitely take into account for my resubmission.
I got some good advise that I will definitely take into account for my resubmission.
The New and Improved Logo
I've changed the logo from it's original form when it was submitted in class. I achieved this with multiple adjustments to the text in both lines, fixing the sheared angle, and reshaping the wheel under the name.I tapered the right end of the wheels fill to mirror the curve of the letter E. I also added a line of negative space to the center on the spoke, to emphasize its structure. I also varied the width of the tire from side to side.
Business Cards 1 and Textures
Here are some of my initial design ideas for the business card.
Click images to enlarge.
Above were the last pieces I've worked on. the two in white, on the left, were an initial idea. The color streaming out randomly across the card really had no purpose though, so I moved on. I kept the shape of the card consistent, with one corner rounded, and decided to head in a different direction. As you can see, I incorporated the vector wheels into the design. I believe it creates a very nice motif. It leads your eyes to and from the logo vertically.I also worked with the two texture samples: Grip tape and Gravel/Asphalt.
I know that if I decide to keep this idea I'll definitely need a higher res picture for the final piece.
Tinkering...
Just to make a few adjustments to the logo: I extended the wheel up and pushed the word skate over to fill in the prior negative space more. I made the spoke in the middle of the wheel larger and I still kept the beginning of both words staggered.
Ideas for texture elements
- Grip Tape - an adhesive backed, friction-surfaced material usually attached to the deck of a skateboard to give the rider more friction to control the board. similar to sandpaper.
- Asphalt - The surface in which people commonly ride bikes, skates, and skateboards. Symbolizes the streets.
Business card inspirations
These are just a few of my favorite card designs from recent search results online.
These remind me of dog-tags or pills. I like the double rounded edges.
A round card may work for my company... I also like the perforation so that you can rest it in a card holder.
The orientation of the logo and the company name on both sides intrigues me. I may do something similar.
I love the bright colors in these 2 and the shape of the card above is pretty dynamic.
I found these pictures @:
COLORS!
My first color choices were red and blue. Warm colors tended to jump around in my mind when I thought of what color I wanted to choose for the store. But then, when I thought of the store further, I got a mellow feeling, a homely feeling. The shop itself is q quiet place, besides all the cars passing by. No one really frequents the place any longer. I immediately wanted to work more with blues and cool colors.
I chose Green and Purple as my color scheme for the logo. Some reasons being:
The outlined, middle row showcases different variations of those 2 colors. I like the logo in column 3 the best. With the purple on top, I think escape pops more, 'escaping' from the whole.
Although column 1's logos were cleaner and crisper, I realized that they don't reflect the shop that much, which is really dirty and jumbled with colorful stickers and posters. (they didn't allow photographs inside, soooooo i couldn't really take any.) Anyway, I chose to stick with my original design because the type faces carry so much PERSONALITY and I think that's what Skate Escape is all about. They may not have a lot of customers now a days, but they have helpful employees with tons of personality.
I chose Green and Purple as my color scheme for the logo. Some reasons being:
- To emphasize the mellow feeling you get when your around or in the shop (without directly jumping to the color blue).
- To use colors that are frequently used in modern skate board and roller skate models and clothing.
- To pay homage to their shops buildings original colors - teal and purple (again without using a blue).
The outlined, middle row showcases different variations of those 2 colors. I like the logo in column 3 the best. With the purple on top, I think escape pops more, 'escaping' from the whole.
Although column 1's logos were cleaner and crisper, I realized that they don't reflect the shop that much, which is really dirty and jumbled with colorful stickers and posters. (they didn't allow photographs inside, soooooo i couldn't really take any.) Anyway, I chose to stick with my original design because the type faces carry so much PERSONALITY and I think that's what Skate Escape is all about. They may not have a lot of customers now a days, but they have helpful employees with tons of personality.
More Designs
^^^ These were an idea I got from the Skateboard aspect of the shop and NIKE SB brand skateboards. The swoop of the wisp and the wheel together were to form a skate, or a foot/shoe on top of a wheel. The shape is the 'E' in Skate inverted and modified. After looking at this design for a few seconds, the 'skate' in the background started looking like a number 3. :(I also briefly played with the idea of negative space at the top left but I didn't like it at all and scrapped that idea.
^^^ in these I kept the type the same and played more with the 'wispy skate' logo. I ended up reducing it to a singular wheel shape. The 3rd orientation is my favorite. The colors though, do remind me of Burger King. I'm definitely not going to use red and yellow!
^^^ With these, I finally figured out what direction I wanted to go. I decided to use the same wheel motif, shear the shape to make it more dynamic, and extend the right side of the wheel up to the E in escape to allow more fluid movement from the viewers eyes. I also...
- Removed the movement lines from the back of the first letters in Skate and Escape
- Added a half skewed circle to symbolize the spoke in the wheel.
- Removed several breaks in the type from 'Escape'
- Lowered the crossbar in the 'A' in escape
^^^ In these I worked with the typeface of Escape. The 2nd variation (3rd down) is my favorite. The font is Bank Gothic. It really refreshes the whole look and feel of the entire logo. It gives it a chance to 'breathe' in a sense. I really like this idea and I may stick to it, due to the fact that I may have trouble with the original 'Escape' when the design is translated to smaller formats.
Initial Designs
The variation in red is the logo I presented in class first. Its S form ran into the K so closely that the whole word started to read as 'mate'. So, I rendered the E in Skate to resemble an S, thus enforcing the wheel and curvy aspect of the type.
I played around with the C in escape for awhile. I ultimately decided to scrap this typeface all together and make the 2 words in separate fonts to allow more freedom. Next to the red logo are some of my choices that I've narrowed down to for 'escape'. A more geometric feel is what I went for. So I chose the second one down.
