After much thinking and discussion, we decided that the direction we were going was not exactly where we wanted to go and we went back to the drawing board - literally. One major factor in this decision was that the logo designs to date were quite feminine, and it was felt that it should be more unisex to appeal to both genders.
Back to the drawing board:
We played around with a handwritten typefont to give it a more unique and lively feel.
Using some of these sketches we tidied them up into a handwritten logo typeface:
Aurore said:
'I feel that we are getting somewhere. I like the dynamism of the font and the fact it looks like a signature which kind of match the idea of Portrait/Canvas.'
and:
'We talked about something about more dynamic which illustrates your energy and enthusiasm... And also a logo that would suits both male and female dancers.'
Using the idea of being appealing to both male and female dancers, we tried including the original figure (with some amendments!) within the logo:
After discussion we felt that the logo should have more energy, so that it perhaps even appeared to be jumping or dancing. We played with a few effects to try and achieve that effect.
Spinning effect:
We used a couple of different fonts with similar techniques used, to see if they were more legible:
Paint Splatter effect:
We liked the spinning effect but decided to also explore other techniques to add energy and explosiveness to the logo design.
Initially we continued the idea of using a dancer within the logo:
We then combined the handwritten typefont with a splattered background and felt it worked well:
Aurore said:
'Here we are, 2 in final, it is nearly as intense as a Wimbledon's final!'
We combined the splatter, the spinning and the handwritten font-style:
We were getting there!
After more discussion it was decided that the simpler sans-serif font was the favourite amongst Portrait and the dancers, but we all agreed that the splatters were the way forward. In the end we didn't go with the effects that we had experimented with, and Portrait felt that 'simple is better'.
At last! The final logo:
With handwritten strapline:
It was a long process but in the end we came to a decision that the group all agreed on, and that fulfilled the criteria of being energetic and unisex.
Logo Comments
Thursday, 15 January 2009 09:48
I've had a few comments back about the logos:
Hannah said:
'I think this logo is better:
I think it is more unique and has a good look.
I think it should be in the first picture writing and in the colours black and pink, because they stand out more!!'
So it would look something like this:
Hazel said:
'Hi. Just looked at the logo and really liked it, some of the colour combinations could work better though.
I really like the combination of words and how they've been put together i think it describes portrait really well.
Really like the logo, i think it shows what we do really well and effectivly =]'
and:
'possibly more colour combinations which go slightly better?
e.g
Black and pink
Grey and pink
Pink and white
yellow and white'
So it would look like this:
Frankie said:
' I think they are both really good, but if i had to choose one i would pick the one where the dancer represents the "T".'
So two votes for the t dancer!
Personally I like no 3:
Not everyone has commented/had the chance to comment, but unless there are any objections:
I think everyone should choose 2 logos from any of the above (can be the same type) and then we can put the two most popular to the group vote.
Putting a dancer in a frame matches the concept of 'portrait'. If the frame was gold (old frames are always covered in gold!) that would also work.
Keeping in mind the keywords (expressive, creative, exciting, energetic and inspirational) I had a play around with different fonts and framing devices (click for a larger view)...
As the logo should represent creativity I introduced a few curves (squares are for scientists!). This made me think of theatre curtains. The way they curve, are bunched up then drop to the floor:
The borders I tried to make like curtains above didn't really work, they look like toilet icons! However this font works for me:
I think it's strong & expressive.
So ignoring the borders for now, back to this idea:
There were quite a few 't' shapes in the photos I took of the session:
I think the dance shape on the right is the most 't' like and the most expressive, creative, exciting, energetic and inspirational!
Trying it by itself first and combining it with the font, border and more developed curtain:
Doesn't quite work for me. The figure is a bit big.
Trying the figure as a 't':
The figure looks better the same size as the text. The curtain on the left is too big. Not sure about the white 'AIT', it reads as something different.
The size is more inproportion. The figure might read more as a 't' if it was going the other way. Maybe just a simple box around portrait?
I quite like the simplicity of the logo on the left. I think it's time to get some input...
This is a tag cloud of all the words that you wrote down on your sheets. I've made some words larger as they appeared more frequently (Click for a larger view)...
We decided as a group that these words were the most important:
From this we made this:
Perhaps these words are quite important to the logo design also:
