Logo Design: Fixing the Detroit Zoo

Some examples of bad logo design… let’s see… The Detroit Zoo, the Orlando International Airport and the 2012 London Olympics… all bad. I chose to tackle the Detroit Zoo and see if I could come up with something better. My goal was to simplify the design and create something more iconic, recognizable and versatile. The main logo is up top, while the two below the text are examples of how the logo can be utilized for other reasons (i.e. business cards, hats, staff t-shirts, etc.,). If you’d like to read more about the essentials of logo design, or design in general for that matter, check out a guy named Paul Rand.

Here’s what the actual Detroit Zoo logo looks like… gross!

Digital Story Telling

I just wanted to put out there that I’m also in a class called digital story telling.  There’s only one project, so the posts about it will be sparse. Right now I’m in the process of writing my script for the project, and then I’ll move on to story boarding it, which I will post here. The idea is for us to make a three minute movie that actually ends up being an advertisement for a specific product. The first company to do this was BMW, with their series of ten web released short films known as “The Hire,” staring Clive Owen. They totally ignored the conventional advertising methods and created a new and highly effective form of advertising. Our goal is to duplicate the same emotional draw they created towards the BMW Z3 and apply it to whatever product we choose. Good luck to me!

Design & Art Theory: Values of Light and Dark

These are just charcoal sketches I did during class. I’m trying to develop my ability to identify shape using different values of light and dark. Neither of these images are meant to make a statement of any kind. They’re simply shapes that I thought would be interesting to draw at the time. In the image above I was attempting to make the shape highly reflective, while the image below diffuses the light much more, giving it a much softer texture.

Design & Art Theory: Proportion, Gesturing & Memory

First off, let me just say that these images are just reproductions and not originals. The point of our last Design and Art Theory class was to learn proportion and gesturing. Gesturing is the act of making a quick sixty second sketch of your subject, no matter what it is. Essentially we are being trained to break down each image into it’s essential shapes and lines rather than first focusing on little details. Within the art of gesturing it’s very important to nail proportion, which is what we really look for to identify people and things. The first piece was actually the last one I completed during class that day, but I like how it turned out, so I’m listing it first… ha ha. It was drawn from an image chosen for me from a magazine. The second image of the weird looking bearded guy who slightly resembles the grinch, was made from someone’s verbal description of a photograph they were holding. I’m really not happy with the second image but (as I’ve stated before), I’m interested in keeping an accurate record of my design work here, and whether I like it or not, this is part of it.

The Price for Relief: A Study of Layout, Shape & Perspective

This piece, entitled “the price for relief,” is really only a study of shape, layout and perspective. We were limited to the use of black marker on white paper for this project. This was meant to force us into thinking only about the image and how people respond emotionally to shape and line. I decided to go with the human skull because I had seen an interesting piece from Mexico where a female artist (her name escapes me) painted a checkerboard pattern on an actual skull for the day of the dead. I found it interesting at the time and the concept worked really well for this project, plus I knew it would be technically challenging for me. So I went with it. Another aspect of this piece that we had to take into account was layout. This is the arrangement of the images and how they, together bring emphasis to a certain part of that image. In this piece the emphasis is actually on the point of the finger, rather than the skull itself. The skull is obviously an integral part of the image as a whole, but it’s the fingertip that tells the story.

So what does all this imagery actually mean? What am I trying to say? Well, I’ll tell you. The medieval halo represents sainthood. The word “wart” and the emphasis placed on the fingertip, means he has a wart on his finger and the only saint who had a wart on his finger (that we “know”), was St. John. The word “relief,” the layout and even the subtle expression on the face of the skull is an homage to all the advertising we’re inundated with every day from the drug companies. Finally the skull itself means death. Now what does all this mean as a whole? What am I trying to say? Well, I’ve always found it humorous that within every advertisement for a drug, there is as well a list of side effects that the announcer has to read. What makes it even more hilarious to me, is that the side effects are often worse than the original problem. I personally don’t think it’s worth getting more sleep at night, if it’s going to give me a heart attack. By the way, the images below are a group of sketches I drew up in preparation for this piece.

2D to 3D Motion Graphics Test

This is something I’ve been wanting to try for a while now. I’ve seen this technique used in several documentaries recently and wanted to try it out for myself. The idea was to take a 2D image of some kind and move a camera through the scene to reveal that there is actually depth. What I did was break this painting (The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorra by John Martin) up along what I perceived to be the foreground, mid-ground and background using Photoshop. I then imported the layered Photoshop file into Apple Motion where I spaced each, of what ended up being almost twelve layers, out along the Z axis. It took quite a bit of tweaking, but ended up being really easy to do.

Digital Abstract

With this one we were tasked with designing an abstract digital art piece, which is basically using the canvas to convey some kind of emotion rather than a specific image. I was in a particularly good mood when I did this, and apparently when I’m feeling this way I produce colorful fuzzy images. Ha ha. This one started to look kind of like a caterpillar to me by the end, but in the interest of sounding “artsy,” I think I’ll call it, “The Explosion of a Lonely Star” just to make people think. Either way, I received positive accolades from everyone who saw it. Hooray!

Marriage Builders Commercial (Kinda)

Okay so this isn’t actually the audio for the real thing… but it’s a lot more fun.  Any way, here’s what the animation is for: This is an ongoing piece of freelance work that I’m called on to update occasionally. I don’t really have total artistic freedom, but the concept and artistic direction is totally mine. Several things where changed per client request, one of which was the color of the text. It was originally white, but they complained that it wasn’t easy enough to see… valid.  This audio is just for fun.  I’m planning on using this music for a student piece, but I thought I’d throw it on to see what it looked like.  It’s really funny how the music totally changes the feel of a piece.  If you’d like to see the original check out my website.