Week Nine- Mikaelian (floating redo)

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Design Strategy

I knew I wanted my logo to be in the shape of a circle since I’m a public relations major, and I feel like a circle represents communication and how it travels to everyone. Neither my name nor major really lend to a creative idea, so I put my initials in the middle of the circle. I’m a fan of really simple designs, so I utilized color to represent myself. I chose the color orange because not only is it my favorite color, it’s bright and grabs people’s attention. It also isn’t used often compared to other colors, so I figured it would stand out. I decided to put it on a white background and use white for my initials because it’s a clean compliment to orange, and made the logo look crisp and modern. I wanted my initials to conform to the curves of the circle so people would associate my name with the circle of communication. I also thought it was more aesthetically pleasing than just plopping them in the middle of the circle. Basically, I want my logo to show that I am a modern, sophisticated public relations specialist.

Choice of typefaces:

I created the initials in my logo myself, since I needed the letters to curve with the circle. For the rest of the project, I used the font Trade Gothic. For the stationary, envelope, and my name on the front of the business card I used Trade Gothic extended and Trade Gothic bold extended since it’s a little larger than the regular Trade Gothic, and it also looks a little more modern. Since these words were more important, I wanted them to look a little more unique. I also letted my name on the front of my business card since it’s extremely important for people to see, and I feel that it brought more attention to the name. For the information on the back of my business card, I used regular Trade Gothic since it’s smaller and simpler. I chose this font in general because I feel it complements my logo well and I wanted a simple but fashionable sans serif font for a clean look.

Visuals:

I created my logo but making an orange circle and using the straight and curved line tools to make my initials (DM) fit within the circle and with each other. I made the width of the lines between a 5 and an 8 depending on the size of my logo. I also decided to flip my first initial so the curve of the D hugged the curve of the circle. I made the vertical lines of the D and the M straight and close together, and curved the right line of the M so it curved with the circle. I wanted the initials to almost look like another circle within the orange one, which I feel I did successfully. I also think that flipping the D and curving the M add a touch of uniqueness to an otherwise really simple design. I know it’s best to keep the logo the same size on all three pieces, but I decided to change the size to add some variety to the designs. I also put the logo on an angle or minimized the opacity in some cases. I like that my design is simple, but I think if I made it look exactly the same on the business card, envelope and stationary it would have been really boring. For the orange in the logo, I used the color C= 0 M=43 Y=100 K=0. I used a burnt orange (C=0 M=50 Y=96 K=25) for the font in the designs to compliment the brighter orange. I also used a yellow color to separate my information on my stationary (C=0 M=24 Y=69 K=0), which I feel compliments the oranges well. On the stationary I made the logo in the background the same color orange as the logo, but at 17% opacity. I also decided to put my contact information on the bottom since that's where I sign my name, and it would lead the reader's eye to the information. For the back of my business card, the background is at 9% opacity of the logo’s orange, and the actual logo is 25% opacity of the original orange color.