So the title is pretty random, but at the same time not really - when I searched up what a logo is just now, Google gave me the definition "a symbol or other small design adopted by an organisation to identify its products, uniform, vehicles, etc", which is pretty accurate, all the clothing stores or restaurants we live around and see day to day all have and need their own identity to set them apart.
I joined an illustration collective in February with some of the other Illustration students doing DPS, there are around 13 of us so far, everyone is studying illustration apart from 2 of us on the Graphic and Media Design course. It’s been a great experience so far, especially because I’ve been also thinking about illustration as a route to go down. We’ve done a few mini projects and showcased them on our Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/0602collective/
After giving ourselves the name 0602 Collective, based on the date we had our first meeting, we assigned each other jobs, and mine and another girl had to try come up with some logo designs. At first I felt the pressure, because a logo sets the tone and identity for something, but rather than overthinking I got to work. My initial idea was to create a handwritten feel within the logo, not because that's our main medium of working as illustrators, but because when you first hear the word draw, your most likely to think of a paper and pen, and I feel like this would make the logo more relevant, unlike having something more typed or digital. I also looked at some other illustration collectives, and below are some of the logo's which I felt inspired by. I like the handwritten vibe as I mentioned previously, along with the fact that they're all black and white - this makes it more convenient for branding purposes when incorporating or relating it to their work - it avoids the dilemma of committing to one colour or style.
To begin the creative process, I was about to get my brush pen and notebook out, but realised - I have an iPad! Below are the experiments I did, I tried using different pens and styles of writing using the Procreate brushes. Some are simple, some are fancy, I even began looking at illustrative type towards the end, but overall I enjoyed using the iPad to develop these ideas. It's so easy to develop one idea in comparison to using a pen and paper - you can distort the type, change the colour, reverse it, etc.
After developing all these ideas, we had our meeting as a collective and went through mine and the other girl's logo, below are some examples of her logo designs and they were definitely quite different to mine in the sense that she explored colours and shapes more and used digital typefaces. I really liked her ideas and it was interesting to see how our ideas contrasted, along with the fact that as a Graphic Designer I looked for a hand drawn type approach, and as an Illustrator, she went down a more digital route.
Moving on, I had to present the logo's to the rest of the group since the other girl couldn't make it, but I chose a few of my strongest logo's, along with her's, and after voting and evaluating the logo's individually, we went with one of mine, yay! Overall I'm really enjoying getting to know the other illustrators and the way they approach work, and the whole process of doing initiated projects with other people!
Our logo:
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