exercise 1

Response to readings 1.

This chapter, The Revenge of Brand X raised what I thought were some interesting points on the role of branding in todays consumer driven culture. It is easy to forget that it is in all simpleness a mark to set yourself apart from the masses. I found that the metaphor between branding a company and an animal useful in reflecting on company identities and the difference between those that succeed and fail. The ones that win a place in my mind are the simple and bold marks, marks of ownership. It also outlines what I think is an often misunderstood difference between advertising and the brand and the purpose of each, and while I believe that it is futile to have one without the other, they are both quite separate in that the brand is the loyalty that the consumer holds in their hearts and the advertising is the tool that attracts attention and changing intellectual stimulation

cricles

ex1 b)

b) The Famous Stars and Straps logo.
This logo is for the Famous Stars and Straps clothing company. It is an interesting logo as it has strong affiliations with the music world. The owner Travis Barker has been the drummer for several prominent punk/pop/RnB/alternative bands and artists and has used his place in the music industry to raise the prominence of the brand and logo. The logo now enjoys the almost cult status of Atticus and Macbeth clothing, representing the wearer as more than just a t-shirt or belt buckle but a representation in the music subculture.

The aesthetic qualities of this logo include a prominent, stylised F within which a star is created with negative space. Unlike many modern logos, this one utilizes sharp corners and an intensional back slant which unbalances the image to create an impression of breaking away from the modern trends. The Logo is very bold aswell which can make it seem aggressive.



The Rusty Logo

This logo has ties to the surf and skate subculture. Its past clothing designs generally utilized darker tones and largely brown and grey colours with 'dirty' patterns or images.

The Rusty logo is successful do to its simple, minimal and jagged appearance. The image has an impression of movement and suspense.

circular logos

Simple shapes are useful in logo design as they can be easily recognizable and translate well to a wide range of sizes colours and mediums. Circles in particular are very smooth and none threatening and can appear very centred and bold.

exercise 1

1) The Hutchinson Heraldic Crestis interesting in the use of two primary colours in solid blocks forming the background to a white design. This while very eyecatching makes it hard to concentrate on the design of the lion in the middle. The lion by today's reasoning should be facing the other way so as to create a forward facing message rather than facing backwards. The gold stars which are found on every variation of the crest are helpful in centering the lion.

The piece was obviously created to make a bold and aggressive statement about the family line, hence the blocks of colours and the lion as a centre point.

heraldic crests in logos

The use of the heraldic crest aesthetic is an interesting tool in that it gives an atmosphere of heritage, tradition, family and a tight-knit group. This gives the sense of something long established with pride in its self and as a force to be reckoned with.

The fact that the crest is a logo of sorts anyway means that it can easily be translated into the graphic design world.