Five Proposals

These are my final five designs which I believe represent my word accurately as well as successfully meeting the brief of what was needed through the experimentation of scales, strokes and contrast with the kerning. I have made alterations to each of the typefaces at least one point, and although each logotype differs in multiple ways; they all coincide with the ideals of my brand representing modern design. This is done through the consistent use of the single line weight, and use of sans serif fonts only. The five designs also conform to the target audience which my chosen brand would be aimed towards. I wanted my logotype to represent fashion and current trends in graphic design, this is to contrast against the vintage nature of the clothing. This is also something I found people in the age group I am aiming towards (18-mid 30’s) respond well to, shops and brands that the demographic I am using shop in taken on the same kind of approach.

­My first design was inspired from one of my initial sketches, it features the connecting underline which I wanted to represent the connecting eras of fashion in the store. I've manipulated the typeface used here, Helvetica, to be able to sit evenly on the same baseline this was because the bottom of the bowl on the U set slightly below the baseline compared to the letters on the typeface. By creating this underlining it also offers the logotype a strong structure, this makes the logo versatile in terms of what context it can be used in without loosing impact, it also offers something different which makes the logotype memorable; something which is important to withhold within the logotype to give a brand its identity.

My second design was in experimentation from ideas given in feedback and my initial sketches, it uses the idea of connecting through the use of kerning on the second line yet keeps the separation on the top line, this has been done to be able to make sure the entire logotype fits into one square, with the boundaries of both the top and bottom lines on an even vertical line. I've used a lighter line to weighting, this contrasts against the structure of the logotype, almost making it look more delicate. Although aesthetically pleasing and practical in terms of branding, due to the shape it can be interesting to see manipulated into different merchandising material, the connection on the bottom line resembles a ligature, meaning the two lines can be interpreted as different words; something which is not useful in a logotype.

My third design features a lowercase version of Futura, by using a lowercase and more rounded font it insinuates playfulness something in which I found was successful in my branding research. The structure of this logotype was thought out to the context in which it would be used, this logotype is a long rectangle shape in which it would appear on a label; this could also be printed onto a bag. By using l also offers more curves, this gives it more humanistic look thus is easier to read repeatedly, which is useful in terms of branding of the logotype will appear multiple times in very close proximities. Due to its shape it's also quirky and unique making it memorable, creating a strong brand identity, representative of vintage fashion. 

My fourth design takes a lot of elements from my last one; this was due to the feedback I gathered that the logotype single line was more successful than the ones on multiple lines this is because of readability. I continued the use of lowercase font, the use of Futura offers a modern look which plays on whitespace. This conveys the idea of the brand, focusing on contemporary to contrast against vintage. The connecting factor, which I found out was a popular design decision in my feedback, has been added here by an extremely close kerning; giving the letter forms a touching state. I have added full stop to this to represent that the store is currently on trend, contrasting against the vintage fashion, something which I was keen on representing in my logotype. In this logotype I edited the crossbar from the T, extending both sides to create even space between the kern of U and Y. To then add to the sense of balance I extended the ascender of T to align with the sender of D, this complements the fact that there are two even descenders below the baseline.

My final design was experimenting with modernity. I wanted to keep in the factor of the touching letterforms as these seem to be more popular designs. Through linking only a few of the letters together, I can keep a wide kern and use a lighter weighting. This means there is a lot of white space on the page, representing the brand's identity and visual aesthetic as a fashionable modern vintage store. This is the only logotype in which I've used a different colour, once again I believe this helps add a contemporary nature to the logotype. Although as an improvement, I believe this shows the brand identity successfully but due to the gaps it separates the word too much, and therefore when put onto mock ups it appeared to not have as much impact as some is the closer kerned logo types, because when read the word presents pauses.