OUGD502 - Logo Research

As a group we are working on producing a successful logo, something which communicates the name of our Graphic Design business and also the name of the business.

As a group we have found ourselves torn between two different names for the business, (CoffeeSpace) and (dSpace).

Because we will be creating and designing a coffee house that will become part of the business, which we plan to use as a way of publicising and increasing the impact of our brand and image. At the same time making a better connection with the public there by subconsciously making more contacts.

So I plan to research different logos which could maybe give me some inspiration towards designing something which could be used with on of the business names.

These logo designs are very effective, simplistic and would be classed as the modern solution to a modern problem in design. They effectively express the idea of the business/company through effortless design strategy.

I really want the same technique to be shown in our logo design.

Since we have decided to promote the business through the use of a coffee house, I will also carry out some research into successful coffee shop and cafe logos.

http://designrshub.com/2011/12/25-hot-coffee-logo-designs-for-your-coffee-shop.html

I really like these logos above, even though they are quite illustrative they are very effective at the same time as well as being very warm and inviting. I would want to incorporate this idea into our own final logo design.

These designs above are very self made designs which I really enjoy looking at. I like the use of warm and cool colours along with the simplistic designs which really caught my eye.

http://creativeoverflow.net/50-inspirational-cafe-coffee-logos/

The two logo designs below are for coffee shops that offer an alternative or different service, meaning there is two different business in one. The designers of these logos have taken that fact on board and incorporated it into the design.

http://creativeoverflow.net/50-inspirational-cafe-coffee-logos/

OUGD502 - Taking Care of Business - Brief

For this brief I will be working as part of a small group.

As part of a team for this brief I will be working towards creating my own business. This will require me to collaborate with other students and make part of the design, financial and business choices towards thinking, creating and finalising my own business. 

Firstly I discussed what would be required to be in the position to start a successful business, as a joint ownership. There are many things to take on board but after I received enough information about what I would be doing for this brief I worked within my team to discuss some of the options that we thought would be important to cover first.

Most of these various different points were design based instead of business based as I thought it would be important to work on a strong 'idea' that then making it easier to plan a business around the idea.

When receiving the information needed to begin the business I was told that during the idea generation process, there should be an idea that separated my teams business from the others. An aspect that would enhance the impact of the business..

I sat in my group and discussed 'business ideas'. 

We instantly conversed ideas about what we could create that would give our business and 'edge'.

We had the idea of our Design Studio (business), having a public art/coffee house that will be become part of the studio. This idea is designed to 'promote the business name' to the public. 

There will also need to be something which enhances the service the design studio can offer clients.

OUGD502 - Re Evaluation and Future Dreams/Aspirations

Personal Evaluation

During the summer I had some time to think about myself as a creative and where I stood in the industry of graphic design. 

As I am now a second year student I feel as if though I am taking in so much information ad inspiration from so many different angles on the world of design, sometimes I feel as though I am loosing myself in the process. In a way as though I am loosing the reason why I enjoy graphic design so much.

To stop my career from turning into a job I enjoy to just 'a job' I feel that writing this blog and re evaluating my position and vision is a healthy thing to do every so often.

Over the Summer I got a chance to meet with so many new people, from back home in Huddersfield and here in Leeds. A few of the people I met were also creatives, such as photographers, digital designers and graphic designers. After getting to know someone on a more personal level, it then opens the door for discussion. I was able to speak about collaboration.. which really excited me because I had basically made my own connection without the help of anyone else, it really gave me a confidence boost as a designer to know that making connections can be so easy.

About a week before coming back to start my second year at university I did start to think about goals and what I really wanted to become more familiar with over the year. 

The first was becoming better at printing and experimenting with different materials such as T-shirt printing. 

The second was becoming more experienced in writing for myself in my blog instead of just 'explaining' myself, in a way that I want to become more excited about sharing my experiences with people. 

The third is really enhancing my networking, and my social media impact. I want to branch out to other designers and creative industries by using the same social platforms as they do, such as Bechance, LinkedIn. 

At the same time I want to increase the time I spend on uploading my work through social media, hopefully this way my designs could get more attention. 

After increasing my social impact I would really like to design my own website so I can then link everything together.

Dreams and Aspirations 

Firstly I would like grow my own network and have a big social media impact, I would like people to want to see my work. I really want my work to have an effect on society with hopes to change the way people think.

The second is that I want to travel the world, I would love that sometime in the future I could be at a point in my life where I will be able to want to see something and just go.. no obstacles in my way. I want to be able to take my camera and laptop and just see what I come across and then share it with the rest of the world.

The third is to meet my favourite illustration designer 'Si Scott' I would love to work with him on a project, discussing the design and the planning, then we could work together on the drawing and I would take his work and use my skills to apply it to the branding of some project.

The forth is that I want to aspire to be able to approach various different companies and enquire work experience and visits to their company., I could possibly gain more contacts this way.

My biggest aspiration is to some time in my career be at the point where I can start my own business however I am not sure yet what I will specialise in but I want to specialise in something that I will be able to grow as a designer in and then make a successful company out of it.

Think about it

As a growing graphic designer, I have often thought about ways I can get my work seen by others, ways to gain more exposure for myself as well as my work.

I have always been very good at storing my work physically and writing descriptive text to explain my intentions and choices of design. however, since I have been creating pieces of design and turning my ideas into work since secondary school when I first chose to become a designer, over the years I have accumulated a lot of work and ideas, and I have learnt that it is easy to loose physical copies of everything I have done in the past and will continue to do in the future. 

I have recently thought about making my own online portfolio, so when I need someone to see my work, It is there instantly ready for me to access.

The Hungry Sandwich Club Brief

Today I attended a talk given by the young graphic design business 'The Hungry Sandwich Club' Based in Leeds, they are a fresh face to modern, colourful designs, vector creation and animation. 

The talk was about who the business was, how it began and where it is now. The talk was very inspiration to me personally, the designers who started the business, graduated from the same university and course that I am now currently studying.

The designers spoke about their journey so far, their work and their business, the reason I found this such a great talk that I am glad i attended was because it showed me that if I put myself and my work out there enough and make the effort that is needed in the world of graphic design then I will make something of myself and my work.

The young designers were very impressive with their talk, by relating to myself and everyone else listening in the room. The talk definitely left me with a confidence boost about my own future intentions of being a noticed and respected designer who has the ability to make an impact and a difference. 

After the talk, the designers gave everyone the opportunity to work on a brief that they had prepared. 

The brief was to design a direction map for a cycling event which would be part of the 'Leeds Food Festival'. The map could be created in any way we wished, what ever we thought would be most effective.

I worked withing a group to come up with a finalized idea for the map and then create it. As a group we began to converse ideas about how we should design the map, color choice, images, text, placement, weight. Until we had agreed on a final idea, which was a very illustrated/vector based piece, using a range of bold sketched images for landmarks and pastel themed colors for the overall theme of the map. We had the intention of creating something fun and interesting to look at and probably different the the average based map design that are usually used. 

Keeping in mind that the brief was to work within a group and explore and converse ideas that would stand out from any other. 

After spending a few hours on the design, we had finally completed our own vision of a cycling map:

As a group we all agreed that this was something very different and new, we had applied illustration, vectors and colours to the very extent of their use for this certain project.

I personally found the brief very fun and interesting, I really enjoyed the talk by the graphic design company, the hungry sandwich club and the brief they had prepared for the group.

http://hungrysandwich.club/

The Hepworth Art Gallery

I previously took a trip to the Hepworth Art Gallery in wakefield, as part of a course day trip.

It gave me the chance to experience something new and to take inspiration from a vast amount of different forms of art and design. To also take inspiration from the creators.

I didn't really see anything I personally liked in the gallery, however it was very interesting to find out the definition of more complicated pieces, how and why the artist came to the finished design.

Out of all of the pieces I looked at I would say that this one is my favorite:

It was very interesting, the piece seemed to communicate the idea of light and air.