OUGD403: Manifesto for my own typeface

Shallow Typeface

Manifesto 1

A superficial text; meaning a typeface to be used for prestigious brands or luxury places.  Mainly used for brand logos. Uses a sans serif font to follow the design trend of being a flat, easily accessible design for logos which will be readily available and applicable to different surfaces. It will look modernist and contemporary to go along with the concept of being "shallow"


Manifesto 2

Physically shallow. A sans serif font will make the typeface appear flatter. Thin, light text Which could be used for bodies of text. Elongated letterforms with low bowls on letters such as b to emphasise the shallowness of the typeface.

OUGD403: Studio Brief 1 - Logotype Evaluation

My final logo is made from chasing embers font. I added it to the current Paperchase website so that it could be seen in context during the final crit.

I do not like how this project went I think my design approach was weak because instead of using a premade font that was hand rendered, I could have created my own hand rendered font which is what I had experimented with at the beginning so I could have further developed that idea of creating a hand drawn logo instead. It would have been more personal and bespoke too. I just found that this font really reflected Paperchase and the concept of using a premade font was still prominent in my mind but I did not want to use a font such as Helvetica because it is too commercialised as it as used for so many logos. However, I did feel like the concept for that was better so I could have potentially developed that further. I also think that I should have tested more analogue methods to create a rebrand logo rather then work almost straight to digital after some initial sketches. Although I did a variety of medias including water colour, ink and gold pen. If I had known how to create the effects of these different textures digitally I could have rendered my own font to reflect that but because I do not know how to as of now I used Chasing Embers because it is textured and gives the effect of watercolour. I think that at a distance this logo may become illegible but I think it works digitally on web design. 

Overall, I am disappointed in my final outcome. If I was to do this project again I would develop the hand rendered element more to experiment in different techniques and medias. 

OUGD403 - Study Task 4 - Menu Analysis

The legibility of this menu is fine. However, the spacing between the items and the small font makes it quite difficult to read the different lists. 

OUGD403: Logotype Studio Brief 1 - Feedback & Evaluation

1. Brief:

The brief was to find a company we thought needed rebranding and to design a logo for it using only type. 

Company I decided to rebrand: Paperchase

Why: My rationale for rebranding paper chase was to make it reflect the unique selection of quirky in house designers they feature within their company.

Original Logo:

My Logo:

2. Research:

Some of the people's work they feature:
Paperchase is proud of the ideal they use inhouse designers

Happy Jackson

Gemma Correll

Sophie Corrigan

Competitors:

I found competitors for Paperchase were stationary shops that also sell miscellaneous objects. They all feature red so I think it's good Paperchase deviates from this trend.

3. Ideas

Final 5 Variations of Logos:

Hand rendered type

Daniel

Helvetica Light

Helvetica Light in Italics

Chasing Embers

4. Feedback

Summative feedback session:

Questions & Feedback

1. Does my rebrand reflect the target audience of teenagers/young adults, if so why?

"Colours appeal to the target audience."
"Yes - fun interactive font that represents the company."
"The type is hand rendered which automatically makes the brand fresh and vibrant which would appeal to younger adults & teens."
"Yes, the hand rendered type is bespoke and the texture inside it appeals to target audience."
"Yes, very feminine but not child-like / too immature."

2. Do you think the colour of this logo would appeal to both genders?

"No, I feel it's very much on the female side."
"Can't decide if it is a gender neutral colour, as a female it is appealing to me."
"I feel purple still may be too feminine and blue/orange may suit better."
"Yes because I like it and the girl sat next to me likes it. Plus the colour scheme is strong."
"Yes, because it is a bluet-purple, although I don't know if the font would appeal to boys."

3. Would this colour work on a backlit sign light?

"I would have tried a range of colours."
"I think that the colour needs to be stronger or on a light grey background to make it stand out."
"Colour would work on a bat lit design - may get lost on labels, receipts etc?"
"Due to it being a lighter colour I think it would work."
"It works with a white background so I would suggest making colour a little bit darker."
"Because there are patches of white, the sign might not work as well as a solid colour, but I like the watercolour effect."

4. Does my logo reflect a quirky and unique company which uses in-house designers and illustrators?

"I think the logo is too similar to the current logo."
"Represents the type of company & what they sell, this is shown through the texture & creative free flowing font that is used."
"I think the logo has character and appeal - especially with the textures and would represent the brand clearly."
"Yes because the texture in the letters is 'arty' and soft. I like it a lot."
"I think the fact it is handwritten represents this."

Other feedback:

"Colour could perhaps be changed from original?"
"Font looks 'hand-crafted' which really suits the company - good colour choice, natural, fits with many of their other colour schemes."


Response to feedback:

I wanted to try a range of similar shades to the original Paperchase logo because that is what makes it unique to that brand. I think that blue's and purples are a gender neutral colour meaning the current colours appeal to both sexes. I do agree with the final statement to some degree, they are quite similar.

5. Final

OUGD403: Paperchase Rebranding

In a previous development post I had shown examples of sketches for potential rebranding of Paperchase. I chose hand written type because Paperchase's current logo is a hand written logo. I then  chose 5 finalised sketches to digitally edit.

This is my favourite of the five because it is simple and smooth. The letters flow seamlessly together which I think gives Paperchase a very sleek aesthetic. However, I wanted to experiment more with pre-made fonts to make the company appear more corporate. I want to make it more stylised and contemporary. I feel like maybe this one looks too simplistic and handwritten. Here are a few handwritten styled fonts I experimented with:

None of these looked like the aesthetic I wanted to use to represent Paperchase. I then attempted a trendy, minimalist rebranding for Paperchase. I chose helvetica because with slight kerning and editing of the font, a new, fresh design can be created which will be personal to the company. It is also one of the six types in Vignelli Canon. 

I chose Helvetica Light because it's easy on the eyes, it's thin which goes with the dainty style of the work of designers and illustrators that Paperchase decide to feature. 

I then played with colour. The current colour of the logo is purple. However, there are alterations of the colour of the logo. There is a purple logo, a blue logo and a black and white logo. This is because blue and purple are the brands main colours and black and white logos are for the easily applicable aspect of a logo. It needs to be applicable to many surfaces, products and designs.

Here are a variety of blue and purple shades I think could work with the brand because the colours and light giving it a fresher look than a dark colour. I particularly like the second and forth one down because they are quite muted purple and blue colours. I want to keep a vibrant colour for the logo because it would be easily recognisable and distinguishable to Paperchase. For example if you were walking down hughstreet and you could see it in your peripheral vision and know that that colour was to represent Paperchase. Whereas if their main logo was black and white it may be confused with other brands. However, I think that the logo will have a black and white version to show that it will work on other surfaces. 

I then played with more shades of blues and purples then added a thin outline to see if it would make the text more prominent as it would be used for a logo and I think that the outline darkened the colour and makes it appear more sleek. However with a plain black and white logo I don't think it works as well as demonstrated by this example:

I want to keep it a light pastel colour so that the rebrand is fresh and fun. 

I then decided to play with the kerning slightly. 

After having a short discussion with some of my classmates we decided that the image of Paperchase is quite fun and quirky it is aimed at teens and young adults so the logo needs to reflect that. Instead of continuing with trying to make the brand look more corporate and sleek. I decided to sketch out some more fonts of what I thought the logo should look like. I still liked the idea of a handwritten font:

These are the four fonts I decided to choose because they have a more quirky aesthetic to them. Whereas I think my hand rendered logos look too simplistic. Hand lettering is something I want to practise more.

Autumn Chant

I like this font because it looks like scripture. However, it is difficult to read and would could illegible at a smaller scale. The lettering capacity takes up too much space on a page. I had to make the font size smaller just to fit it within the space given. It's far to spread out. 

September  Mornings

This font is too simplistic. It doesn't make the word Paperchase stand out or give it's own identity. It's very narrow and close together. The font is also tiny. 

 Dk petite four

I feel like this is too sketchy looking. It reminds me of bubble writing as a child and although the font is fun and quirky looking, it becomes almost illegible when made smaller. 

Chasing Embers

This is my favourite of the four because it perfectly embodies a handwritten font which keeps a bespoke style which would give Paperchase it's own identity. I think the font works well inconjuction with the colours too. With the kerning on the bottom I think that the font becomes more legible and could be applied on a larger and smaller scale to surfaces. I like the ones with the modified kerning because it gives the word more movement and fluidity making the logo more unique to the brand. 

Final Outcome:

This is the final outcome I chose to use because this is what I think would work best with the company Paperchase. It keeps the hand rendered element but it is a pre-made font from dafont. I chose this pale blue colour because although Paperchase's stock is predominantly aimed at females, males can purchase things from there too. This shade makes it more gender neutral. I think the colours and the style of the font work well with what Paperchase embodies as they use in house designers. Paperchase feautres people like Gemma Correll and Sophie Corrigan. I can imagine their illustrative cards with this featured on the back.