Think Creative

As humans we look at things with different degrees of analysis. We are in fact the only living creature that has the cognitive ability to analyze things, event, problems and try to come to a conclusive result. The advantage of this analytical brain is to help resolve these problems in a more effective manner. Our closest relative, the chimpanzee, when faced with a termite nest wont look at it holistically and see the potential aspects to which a solution to get a termites out. Instead they are limited to their surrounds and their capabilities. They generate simple tools to approach the most convenient solution. Saying this, it is wrong to take away from the chimpanzee the ability to fashion tools and use them. For many years man has deemed himself the only manipulator of his environment, is such a way as to physically alter and fashion elements to create tools. This is not so. What this has to do with creative thinking is a little more deeper than termites in a nest. Holistic knowled...

So once we have our list of terms and derivations, the next stage is to convert them into visual ideas. Mainly, as this is a creative project then all the elements need to be presented in a graphic form. What I tend to do is to develop via sketching. Saying this though, there is a disparity in what can look good in a sketch and what can look good in a final design. This understanding can come with a great deal of experience in how things look in rough and complete form. I tend to so all my logo designs via illustrator, and so when sketching I tend to keep simple lines and blocking that I note will be colour or shape. Anyway, what happens depending on the list of words, is I try putting down any idea that pops into my head based on the initial visual I see. This can usually populate an entire A3 sheet of small thumbnails. Like the one I added above. Another thing that is hard to describe, as a necessary part of the process, is the need to have gestation time. For example, I have tree ...

What usually tends to take place next i the depth process is to define the images I like the most as fully rendered icons. This tends to be done in illustrator. Illustrator is great for icons and logos, many as you can resize the objects without loosing quality or clarity. So what I tend to do, is whilst designing and thinking about logos, I tend to image how I will achieve them in illustrator. Its hardly worth trying to think of a great logo that can only be made in photoshop. Not saying that you can't use photoshop for doing logos. The issue there is that you have to make a very large version and then hope the resizing wont degrade the image too much. So, for the sake of all that hassle, it is best tho construct the whole image in illustrator. There are a great deal of effects now available and with some training it is possible to make the image look almost as good as a photoshop file, if that is the look that is required. For these logos, it was important to maintain a clean a...

So, moving further down the path of the depth process, we have ended up, through client choice, at a possible two versions. The surprising thing, that never fails to amaze me, is that the icon on the left is the first design I chose and developed, based on that feeling. The client was skeptical, and so wanted variation, but then when it came down to it, returned to this choice. In some aspects of trying to understand this, it could be said that this is possibly the eye that designers have in knowing a good design over a bad. Not saying that some of the other logo ideas were bad, but sometime something just stands out. And as the client wanted something a little closer t the original then this sort of hit the mark. So what the next step was, was to define a minor variation to draw the logo to a more Greek feel. I decided to incorporate the principle of gestalt in the design and minimizing the two letters of the school's name from the 'sigma' and 'kappa' that exists...

After two weeks of working and tweaking and convincing the final logo has been decided on. In some senses it is still my second choice, although I was very pleased that the concept came in a 'eureka' moment one night as I was feeling desperate about the clients insistence on doing something different from the original design and close to the original. This pays dues to the notion that good ideas come when you are horizontal, sleeping or consciously resting. It has a great deal of gestalt aspects to the design as well. Making the 'sigma' appear from a negative shape that reflects the 'kappa'. What was then part of the process is to deliver the several variations that may be needed by the client for print. This includes black on white and the reverse out against black. Also included are several adaptations of the logo with text positioned differently. I managed to convince the client that the use of PF Archive Pro was better than the original Sans Serif font ( M...