Making my worst colour work

988642 - a colour I don't agree with because I think it's a bit murky and dull in a way which puts it in a void. It's used extremely rarely too, which probably doesn't help things. 

7D9AAA - a colour that mitigates it

By pairing a colour that you would immediately reject with one or more colours that you really agree with, a harmonious composure could potentially be created. Sometimes it's dangerous to kill colours off in your mind. I think Pantone 4505 C is pretty horrendous as a colour, but in some applications a variant of it can work, and paired with 5425 C it can actually look appealing. By placing colours with other colours, our perceptions of them change.

These two colours work together, and as much as they appear mature and overly sophisticated, they can be appropriate for use in a children's story book depending on the genre. They could really look at home on an adventure/exploration book, representing the dirt and water of Earth.

Whilst I think the colours I'd have usually chosen are more appropriate and visually sound, through doing the exercise it has been proven that colours that are independently not suitable or attractive can be made to look good in a different context. 

Drawing the Detectives

Starting with the Golden Canon, I wanted to reflect the history of good book design within a contemporary visual. 

I like the appearance of black/white contrast, and the ambiguity and mystery that accompanies it. It's often used in mystery and crime novels and publications that want to draw your attention and make you think. 

I wanted visual storytelling to play a part too - I didn't just want it to be a chalk outline of a body, but one which clearly referenced a library. 

I alternated between black and white to fill the bookshelves to convey a sense of mystery and intrigue. It makes the design look fast and urgent as if its travelling through space, but it also begs the question: "where the hell is everything?"

Boots Rebrand

I rebranded Boots to evolve their identity to a point where it could last another 100 years. To make it modern and adaptable without losing its critical, trusted elements like the shade of blue it uses. To keep their renowned motto and their tone of voice, but to apply it to a new logotype which is versatile enough to feel at home on any media, be it on packaging, web, 3D, VR or mobile/wearable.

The current Boots logo is arguably over complicated and isn't ideal for scalable interfaces such as web enabled devices. Since the prevalence of online shopping is increasing to a rate which surpasses physical shopping, it's vital that Boots develops and maintains an online presence which is contemporary, efficient, easy to use and global. 

By simplifying their logo and extended identity, their website can be made to load much faster and be scaled infinitely. 

I started by looking at and analysing the success of the current Boots brand, then looking at competitors like Superdrug, then analysing online-only companies like Google to try and assess what makes a logo suitable for a major online presence. Simple, flat and geometric shapes are the most suitable and successful. 

Even when the current logo is flat, the complexity of the type would make vector rendering take much longer to load the webpage

Their primary competitor Superdrug has a more simplistic logo, but the pink colour, the star symbol and the script/sans-serif hybrid type positions it as a slightly less upmarket store. Boots must retain its quality appeal by keeping its trademark blue and mature type.

Futura is a suitable typeface to use because it plays to heritage roots whilst maintaining modernity.  Its very simple vector shape also allow for fast web rendering. 

Bright blue is a trend in contemporary graphic design, but I don't think it's appropriate to change their blue because of how essential it is as an element of their identity. It resembles healthcare, cleanliness and trust.

Helvetica and Akzidenz both appear too bold and aggressive, and simplistic for Boots. There is no friendliness or softness, which are both essential ingredients for their identity. 

A circle doesn’t really have adequate relevance, even though it could represent all round healthcare or a service that covers everything you need. It doesn't have the contemporary sharpness that it needs. 

Contemporary identities rarely employ ovals, and sharp edged shapes and elements are a design trend. I'd like Boots to follow that, but not blindly and without reason. 

An angled and sharp edged rectangle plays to their long standing heritage of offering cutting edge medicines and healthcare solutions. The full stop gives a sense of power and competence. 

By changing the colour of the 't', a standalone symbol or logotype could potentially be created. The colour distracts from the rest of the logo and loses some visibility, and Futura's 't' looks like a crucifix when it stands alone. 

In the group crit I asked the following questions to assess the success of the rebrand:

How could Boots' identity be modernised without losing its long established reputation? 

How does the circle symbol add value to the identity? 

How could the typeface be modernised and adaptable without looking cheap or cliché? 

Colour Theory: How Do You Read?

Systematic Colour (Part 1): An Introduction to Colour Theory

Notes from lecture: 

Colour hugely impacts our ability to read a piece of text.

Yellow on black is the greatest contrast - it's often used in warning signs so a warning is what yellow/black is recognised as. 

Colour perception is physical - physiological - psychological. Rods in the eye convey shades of black and white, cones allow the brain to perceive colour. One cone sees red/orange light, one sees green light and another is sensitive to blue/violet. If a single cone is simulated, we see that colour. Because of this, the eye can be fooled through the proportionate adjustment of three colours. 

RGB - screen - additive colour

CMYK (black is key) - halftone dots - print - subtractive colour

Systematic Colour (Part 2): Dimensions of Colour

Hue = one colour

Colour = one or several hues

“Colour" + “Hue" are often interchangeable terms

"Chroma" refers to all colour including shades, tints and tones 

Chromatic Value = Hue + Tone + Saturation (Luminance)

Intensity, saturation and brilliance are interchangeable terms that relate to higher or lower degrees of vividness due to diluted or undiluted colour or pigmentation 

Shades are hues plus black

Tints are hues plus white 

Tones, meanwhile, are hues plus grey

Colours can look completely different when they’re paired with others. 

PANTONE 
Universal colour identification system 

Coated: glossy stock, something with a sheen where the ink sits on paper

Uncoated: more porous stock, more muted which ink sinks in 

Colour in design has to be systematic.

An Analysis of the Whitney Museum of American Art's Identity

Whitney's graphic identity was created by Experimental Jetset in 2013 in response to their imminent relocation. It was built to be adaptable and versatile in order for the museums's in-house design team to use it in a variety of mediums and its concept is that of a new "graphic language, a sort of graphic toolbox" that can be applied to a variety of iconic visuals. 

Our group generally agreed that it's a successful and iconic rebrand that clearly identifies the museum. It's perfectly adaptable to screen, print and motion, and the Neue Haas Grotesk type's almost identical appearance with its descendant Helvetica gives it a very clear link to New York City's subway and transit identity. You know as soon as you look at it that it's based in New York, and clean inspiration is taken from the new building; its geometric angles and sharp edges clearly resonate in the new identity. 

Here the visual similarities between the museum's architecture and identity becomes clear - there was an obvious liaison between the architects and the graphic designers. The simplicity and modernity of the logo ensures that it doesn't distract from the gallery work - minimalist, geometric symbols are a trend in gallery and art museum identities. 

Yorkshire Sculpture Park Rebrand

Yorkshire Sculpture Park has a lot of permanent, recognisable symbols within the sculptures around the park. 

Competitor sculpture parks all seem to have a fascination with a circular symbol. What this represents is unclear, but it could potentially infer the wide, almost infinite reach of the park's sculptures, or the everlasting and always changing variety of them. I'd like my final resolution to have that too. 

This final resolution is inspired by the Molecule Man set of sculptures right at the entrance. If people have seen the logo and then enter the park, they immediately know they're in the right place. It also keeps the circular, infinite element of the former logo and of the competitor logos. It also could reference the site map, with all the different sized circles representing different circles around the park. Additionally, it has potential to exist in multiple forms, from tiny letterheads to a 3D VR animation, to a 50 foot metal sign.