Many times the role of a graphic designer is to take a handful of images and put them together to make a good looking piece. Is somewhat MacGyver-ish in the way he would take a plastic fork, some string and a cardboard box and create an armored tank. Thankfully we had better images to work with than a cardboard box, and who can go wrong with NASA related items?
For a while, it seemed as if everyone and their uncle were either realtors or loan officers – that is, until the market turned a bit sour. Those that were the best survived, and Rebecca is definitely one of them. It used to be that one could write a phone number on a sticky note and put it on the door of a house and it would be sold before the day is out. Now we have to do a bit more than that, and good looking flyers, signs and business cards are very helpful. We worked on a new look for Rebecca’s material, going with a fresh look and peppy colors.
The 2 following images are to her postcards.
Every home requires a good looking sign as well…
and don’t forget the business cards.
Every property gets the same treatment.
With the credentials for 2010 wrapped up and in production, we can now show you last year’s credentials. We take security very seriously and didn’t want to take the chance of the 2010 credentials looking even remotely similar as to 2009. BUT, you really must attend a game this year and check out the 2010 versions as they are going to be great.
This all goes back to our desire to not just make good design but to make everyone else look good as well. We want the athletic department to look good, that people coming from other schools to a game and being given a credential will look at it and think, «whoa, this school is top notch». Granted, we take on all kinds of design work and we try hard to make everything we touch look good, but this is also our hometown team – we take pride in what we can do to help out.
Included below are a few of the dozens of credentials we create for each game, as well as a few large versions of the credentials without the required text. They would make for a nice set of playing cards.
Maybe we should be a bit more impartial, but having a UCLA player being bowled over on their head — it makes us smile.
We were asked to come up with an El Tour de Tucson poster/jersey idea as they already had a few submissions and wanted another artist to submit another option. Unfortunately, less then a week was given so this was done outside of work hours to afford more time, which there still wasn’t a whole lot. It wasn’t anyones fault — sometimes the process is longer than the time given. These were two ideas, but where never completely finished due to time constraints.
Idea #1, including the Pima County Courthouse [the old one, that is] and saguaro ribs in the background. Where to put the cyclists? Not totally sure, but either riding in front [very dynamic] or around the dome.
Idea #2: a much stronger composition for the poster, with the riders leaving the old Pima County Courthouse and the 7am sunrise in the background. With the sun on the far side, deeper colors in shadow could be used with a few lighter colored highlights.
Here is a quick color mock-up of the second idea, with deep blue/purple shadows.
Another quick mockup of the poster so that we could pull the graphics over to the jersey.
… and another version in green.
The final poster would have been painted, and the 5 spot color restriction for the clothing would be removed.
A good cycling jersey always complements the poster, though the printing restrictions keep it from getting all-out crazy. This version matched the border of the Pima County Courthouse’s dome, and looks a bit more southwest.
We don’t believe we have ever seen a blue and purple jersey – it just might work.
The jerseys are printed with 5 spot colors, and the last few years the colors have been somewhat similar. This was a sizable jump from prior year’s colors.
Ever wonder how a logo is created? We can assure you that it is never done on the first try. All those great logos that we see every day – they took several revisions [and for big companies, years] until the right look is found. Follow along as we go through the logo process for Landiscapes, LLC.
Here is the original customer provided doodle, two leaves in sort of a yin/yang format. It is a great concept, but it needs to be turned into a clean logo, and that is where the fun begins. Though the following images have 3-5 logo ideas on each, there were many more ideas that we aren’t showing here.
How many veins? How thick should they be? Are there veins and how will the text look over them? We start out in black and white as that is the least forgiving. Starting with color often results in a logo that doesn’t look very good, nor does it print well in black and white. Color makes logos look better than they really are.
We tried a few block typefaces as they should stand out well when given a black outline.
The customer requested some oriental looking typefaces [okay, pseudo oriental fonts] and we pulled out a few from the thousands we have. Many typefaces look great with a lot of characters, but when there are just a few, they can stand out like a sore thumb.
The simple leaves without a lot of veins is less busy and helps make the logo look like a sphere.
Since we were getting close, we started adding color. They asked for red and blacks, so we obliged. The bottom logo had the most promise, but it was too bold and the leaves didn’t fit well. None of the text applications are very readable.
Dropping the black and red, and muting the greens and adding a gradient into the leaves. Now it is looking a bit softer and a bit more inviting.
A few more typeface variations…
Then we get back to the black and red, which is a bit much. It is just too hard to read.
While playing around with the logo, we thought, “What if we roughed up the edges so that it looked more like leaves vs looking like a really nice melon or pea?” – it turned out to be a good idea.
The client didn’t like the stems of the leaves, and he was right – it almost looked more like a balloon or melon. We tried a few variations.
In the end, the client asked us to flatten the leaves just a bit, and that helped make the company name stand out a bit more. He was very happy about the logo and has been getting plenty of compliments, so that means we have done our job — making our clients look good.
