FMX210_Blog1_04/03_SMiller

 This past week, we worked on creating our stylescapes, first on paper and then using a digital template in Adobe Illustrator. The goal was to gather and organize our best and favorite images that represent different aspects of what we want our logo to represent. We focused on five areas: colors, fonts, audience, typography, and my chosen descriptive words; loyal, thoughtful, and creative. Putting together the stylescape was a fun process because I got to see my logo really coming together for the first time. For colors, I picked my top 4 favorite colors, and for descriptive words, I picked my top 2 or 3 from each word. I was drawn to really similar fonts like STARDOM so a lot of my fonts have the same visual design. For the audience, I pulled stock images of celebrities, clients, and people interviewing me, all people who would potentially see my logo. Seeing everything come together on the digital template gave my vision life and gave me a better understanding of the overall direction I want to take. After finalizing my stylescape, I moved on to sketching out my logo ideas. This part of the project was especially fun for me because I didn’t have to worry about making everything look perfect. Instead, it was all about getting my ideas down on paper and experimenting with different symbols and ways I could incorporate symbols into the letters of my name. Sketching freely allowed me to explore different styles and see what worked best before I had to commit to a final design. This step made me realize how important brainstorming is in the creative process. In addition to sketching, I also spent time deciding on what symbols or icons best represent my brand. I looked at different shapes and imagery that could visually communicate what I needed. I was typically drawn to the megaphone and the chain link as I think those are both things that represent a communication major. Then I tried to integrate that into my sketches. This helped me better understand how design choices help represent what you need them to. Overall, this week helped me make my brand’s identity and gave me a strong foundation for developing my logo. It was exciting to see how all the elements; colors, typography, and images come together to form a visual theme. I now feel more confident in my design direction and am looking forward to refining my sketches down to a single idea I really like and can build off of. The next phase of the project after turning in my 50-plus designs that are due this Thursday, will be about taking these rough ideas and turning them into more professional-looking ideas in Adobe Illustrator, eventually bringing my logo to life. I’m excited to see how my work continues and evolves and how I can refine my vision even more in the coming weeks.