“Simplify, simplify.” ~Henry David Thoreau

Nothing truer to design than Thoreau’s quote. Great designer’s don’t agonize over what to add, but what to take away. Effective design communicates the message to the audience as simply as possible. The bane of beginning designers and especially teenagers is that they want to fill every inch of space. They want to show off all the fancy tools that they learned to use. They want to add “flare” (please don’t get carried away with the flare tool). White space is GOOD.

Now that you are more comfortable with Illustrator let’s take another look at logo design. I wasn’t too excited about many of the designs. I didn’t stress enough the importance of typography (kerning, tracking, and leading) or two of the important principles of design (contrast and alignment).

11/03

“Good artists copy, great artists steal.” ~Pablo Picasso

Before you begin any new design project you need to do research. Who is your audience? Also, look at what other designers have done. Almost every design is derivative of something else at this point. All of the experiences you have had, all of the things you have seen, factor into your designs. You have been bombarded by visual imagery your entire life and whether consciously or subconsciously you have seen design elements that you have liked. You incorporate them into your designs.

You are just taking things one step further and consciously looking at designs for things that you like and can incoporate into your own designs. The key thing is how you reinterpret and combine different design elements into your own unique design.

Visit the Inspiration page (*hint* look under Resources). Look at the logo designs from other designers. What do you like? What elements can you reinterpret in your designs? Also, on the Resources page there is a section with links to logo design blogs, logo design information, etc.

Also, you need to organize your files. I am going to be checking your computers soon to see if you are using folders and naming things properly. If you are not, it will be -120 on your participation grade.

Visit the logo project page for more information.

Robin Williams, author of the excellent Non-Designers Design Book, first promoted the concept of CARP vs CRAP. Basically, the principals of design can be condensed down to contrast, alignment, repetition, and  proximity. If you follow CARP, your designs won’t look like . . .  well you get the idea.

So, what is CARP and how can you follow it to improve your designs. First, download the following documents. You don’t have to read every word, but look at the examples and the explanations and then read the chapter summaries. Right-click to save documents: Contrast | Alignment | Repetition | Proximity | Review.

Since we are working on logo design, lets look at Dissecting a Logo and how some of the elements above are used to design an effective logo.