Visual Symbols
"Create visual symbols that clearly represent ideas to others."
In this project, we were challenged with creating 3 symbolic logos to represent 3 service industry businesses. The brainstorming process started with a few word lists:
Bee + Bakery
My favorite final symbol wad the “bee” + “bakery” logo. I had settled on a different variation last week that had a hot cross bun wearing a chef hat, but in reviewing this week, I realized that the idea didn’t include anything about a bee at all. I revisited some of my earlier comps, and changed the hot cross bun into a simplified version of a bee. I think this final version has a nice twist on radial symmetry that makes it visually interesting.
Conceptually, I think it communicates the two ideas that I was going for. I chose to do a mockup of the logo on a brown paper bag, such as you might get from a bakery.
Barn + Party Supplies
The second symbol set was “barn” + “party rentals”. This business idea was most
difficult for people to guess when I surveyed last week. I wanted to create something
fun and whimsical, but also simple enough to still read as a logo.
The bright red bag mockup I used to display this symbol worked well to achieve my goal of keeping the barn a bright, recognizable red. I wasn’t 100% sure about using color in the
symbols for this project, so I tried to keep it simple by using no more than 3 in any of my variations. In this case using the color of the bag itself may have been a shortcut, since I already used black, white, and teal! I do think I would simplify the colors further in actual use of this logo- I would make it all white outlines on the bright red bag.
Acorn + Library
The third word pair I explored was “acorn” + “library”. This one was my least favorite, since it ended up looking like an icon rather than a logo. Though I think the two are similar, it is less visually interesting than I would like for a logo to be. The thick black outlines make it very minimalistic, and I think it is successful in that it read pretty well when I surveyed people about its symbolic meaning.
I chose to present this symbol on a bright background in the mockup because I did want to add a bit to the visual interest of the design. One good thing about this design as well is its versatility; this would be a very easy logo to incorporate in any print or web media.
Thanks to these purveyors of fine mockups: