OUGD603: Unentitled - LIVE - Logo Devel

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Starting this brief I was unsure on how to go about creating a logo - After speaking to peers I decided a logotype was the most appropriate solution, giving immediate uncoded communication. Despite the exhibition being about poetry, novels and other forms of creative writing, the students who have created the work are discussing contemporary issues and bringing the subject forward for the 21st century, with this in mind, I wanted the logotype to encompass both traditional and contemporary connotations whilst maintaining legibility across scales.

This is the first year of the event, with future years potentially keeping the name and logo for future exhibitions- with this in mind I started to play around with numbers and interchangeable qualities which can be simply adjusted year on year. When saving files on the computer, Untitled 01, 02 etc becomes the norm due to the pre-set nature, so one can end up with hundreds of files 'Unentitled..' on their computer, with this in mind I wanted to tap into this commonality all ages share, playing on the similarities between 'Untitled' and 'Unentitled', giving an overarching light tone of voice with the numbers correlating to the year of the exhibition- e.g.: fist year, Unentitled_01. 

Experimenting with black letter gothic type. After my first meeting with Lucy, she explained how some of the work which will be in the exhibition is quite dark, so by using a gothic typeface the logo may foreshadow and hint to the work. However, when considering the longevity of this, black letter type can seem quite dated, so something simpler and more contemporary may stand a better test of time (especially when considering the primary target audience).

Experimenting with lesser used symbols in the English language, reflecting the full variations of typography and linguistics. I assigned a symbol to reflect a letterform, e.g - @| = d and * = I to create different abstract compositions spelling out the word Unentitled. After a few attempts this is not screaming 'logo' to me, and I feel that without a linguistic message the audience may struggle relating the symbols to Unentitled. 

<crit/printed + annotated logos with feedback>

TREATMENT BOARDS

Due to the tight turn around needed for the logo (3 days en-counting), I decided to speed up the process and create three treatment boards. When visiting agencies in NYC, the general advice was to always give the client 3 different options - so they do not feel backed into a corner by only having 1 or 2 to pick from. I created treatment boards with possible logo starting points, as well as a visual guide to my influence around that style and the direction which the rest of the deliverables could head in. 

San-Serif

Clean, modernist, formal and consistent grid systems. Clean colour pallets with possible aspects of pastels/metallics/spot glosses/perspex linking to the light and airy feel of the slender letterforms. Typefaces to explore in this style are Univers, DP Rooberts, Helvetica, Futura and more contemporary typefaces (licenses depending) from sites such as VTF Typefoundry. This can also be a way to introduce contemporary graphic design into the verbal landscape.

Serif

Slightly more traditional and suggestive of book copy type, to link to the exhibition's content and history of the English language and early typographic presses. I initially experimented with Bodoni, Caslon and other historic British typefaces associated with literary works. Despite having a more traditional aesthetic than the san-serif, the direction of deliverables can be just as contemporary by exploring fluid compositions and even hand-pressed type, using the letterpress or even mono printing. 

Hand Rendered

The hand rendered type-style was what initially jumped into my mind when starting this brief. When one thinks of 'great writers', an image of pages and pages of handwritten manuscripts come to mind- nothing gets creativity out like pouring all ideas onto a page - often messy and unlined, but true and honest.  This style could have slightly more feminine connotations, therefore if this style was picked by Lucy I would need to consider the colour palette very carefully to make sure it was gender-neutral and therefore more appealing to the target audience.

FEEDBACK FROM LUCY

After learning that Lucy can be slow at replying to emails, I decided to streamline conversation and use iMessage instead. This has proven to be a good idea as replying is no longer an issue. When sending over the treatment boards via email, I also rang her to verbally explain the concept and direction of each board in simpler ways, as this has proven to be successful for getting an immediate response in the past.