These were examples of logos or signs that I found while just walking around the streets of Huntingdon and Cambridge. Many of these are recognisable from a distance and even more so up close. Some of the signs have to be noticeable from afar because they are signs for cyclists or people in cars. So they need to recognisable from a certain distance so people know where to go or where not to go.
Many of the street signs are either the same or similar colours, this makes it that bit more recognisable to someone looking at it. The Cambridgeshire County Council sign is blue, so is the busway sign, although it does have green as well as blue and the street signs like the pedestrian and cyclists signs. The blue stands out quite well and because they are all similar colours you can relate them to each others and know for sure that the signs are official and you must acknowledge it because you could be fined or cautioned if you don’t.
Many of the signs don’t have words because people who may not speak or be able to read english would not know what the signs mean. Therefore by the signs have diagrams it makes it easy for everyone and anyone to be able to read and understand what it means.
These are just a few examples of Paul Rands logos which he has designed. The type of logos he has designed is a text-based logo, I can see this because they all have some for of text whether it is just one letter or a couple of words, the logos include text. Also quite a few of his logos are contained within a shape or letter, for example the whole of the third column are either contained within a shape or are a letter.
I think all of his logos are quite good because they are not complicated, they’re quite simple but they still have an impact. They are all designed with bright colours or deep colours which is good because it catches your eye. I like the idea of containing the logo within something because that way you can keep it quite simple but also make it noticeable and make an impression on people. I also like how simplistic the logos all are, it doesn’t get busy and messy, which is why I think they make good logos.
This was the logo out of the ones I chose that stood out the most because the black background makes the other colours pop out and stand out loads, which is why I think it is the best logo because it caught my eye first. I also think that the font he has chosen for the G is very clever because it draws you down the logo the look at the whole thing. Overall this is the best logo because he has designed it very well to make it catch your eye and instantly draw you in.
Creative 4/ Channel 4:
Channel 4 is a huge channel which many people know of even if they do not watch any programmes on the channel. They have also had many different logo designs which are all rememberable for one reason or another. Quite a few of them are made from shapes which form the number 4, I think this is a great logo because its different to most other if not all of them which makes them noticeable and makes a big impression on people.
As you can see from this clip of one of there logos, it starts of as a 4 and then all of the shapes go off by themselves and then they come back together to form the number form. I think this is brilliant form of designing a logo because it is unlike any other logo like I said, which is good because when people see it they will instantly know what it is and what the logo is meant to represent. This is important for a logo because you don’t want to have a logo that reminds people of other companies or other designers etc, therefore you want it to be different and make it stick in peoples head and when they see this logo think of you.
I think that the logo with the writing and buildings in isn’t the best logo because it is a bit too busy and people might get distracted away from the meaning of the logo which is to be representing channel 4. There is a lot going on in the picture, although you can see the number 4, I think it could be a bit more calm and have less involved in it too.
Maggie MacNab:
I chose to write about Maggie MacNabs work because it is quite nature based, which is good because I wanted to base the logos I design around nature so I thought I could gather some good inspiration from her work. From the logos I had seen of hers, it looked as though she liked to intertwine one image into another or to combine to together. I quite liked this idea because all of her designs are simple but are still very powerful and they all make an impression on me. I think her logos are a mixture of text-based logos and graphic logos. I think this because some of them are designed round letters but then some are pictures which are meant to represent the company.
Many of her logo designs are black and white and include swirls and wavy lines (as you can see from the few examples I chose). I think the top logo isn’t very good because it reminds me of the ying and yang image that everyone recognises,which isn’t good because it won’t make people think of the company. Although I do think that the black and white combination works very well because it makes it stand and however for my work I want it to be quite colourful and bright.
I liked this logo designer more because she has designed the kind of logos that I would like to be designing. She has also designed her logos based around nature which is also the same as me, as I’ve said before. Although, I think I might take inspiration from all three of them because they all have elements which I think is important for logos. Like the bright colours Paul Rand uses and the way that creative 4 has shapes which make an image and then as I said the Maggie MacNab because the more the design I want for my logo.
Illustration based logos are usually more complex and detailed than their iconic,Graphic or text based parts, and are a highly-rendered pictorial representation of some aspect of the company being portrayed. To develop the concept for the illustration, we can focus in on the name, the business concept or a company character/mascot that can be developed. Graphic design purists sometimes frown upon illustrative logos, and often with good reason.
Text based logo:
This type of logo only includes text, like the examples below. They can be different colours and different font types but will not include any type of imagery within the logo. These types of logos are straight to the point because they are normally the name of the company.
Graphic Logos:
This type of logo can involve words and imagery. As you can see from the examples below, the image would/ can represent the company itself, fire fox is a great example of this because it has the fox element and the tail of the fox represents the fire. I think this is the type of logo I would like to design because they can be the most rememberable because not only could it say what it is but the image will also represent it.