Logos

After hearing that we would be doing logos as our project, I immediately began brainstorming ideas that I could do. I have attempted logos in the past before, but never achieved to finish a solid one. I had always used Photoshop and whenever I tried to make one in Illustrator, I failed every time. After the calligram project, I had more confidence that I can make the logo to what I would want it to look like.

Here were my first 5 sketches:

I only had to choose 3 from those and while really liking the Maxks Premium Diving Masks logo because of the vectors I would be creating, I ended up picking the LipHookers     Cannabus       and      Peace, Love & Shakes  logos.

All 3 of these logos had a different concept to them and is which is why I enjoyed creating each one. The first logo was the LipHookers logo. The company is a manufacturer and distributor or fish hooks. I wanted to have a general symbol for this company and to keep the color scheme to natural colors with the blues and greens. I like how this one turned out and I think it gets the point across.

Next up was Peace, Love & Shakes. This idea originated because I was probably craving a milkshake at that time. I was originally going to do something with 3 brothers milkshakes (because I am 1 of 3 boys my parents had), but then I had changed it to relate to the common phrase "Peace, Love and Happiness". The colors green, yellow, red go very well together and that is why I had chose to put it as the symbol colors on the milkshakes. I am pleased with how this turned out and could definitely see this as a real lit up sign on top of an classic looking milkshake place.

Lastly, Cannabus. A marijuana delivery company. Yes, that sounds awesome I know. I wanted to separate the "Canna" and Bus" in the logo but overall have it together as a whole. I chose to do the Bus in a yellow with the black wheels only on that word. When I had moved the back wheel towards the start of the "Cannabus", it cover part of the cannabis leaf and didn't work that well with the logo.

I really like how the end of this turned out and it would be cool to see this happen in real life sometime in the future.

This project was enjoyable because of the variety of things we got to do. We had freedom to choose what everything was about that company and then design a logo from scratch. I think all of the logos came out very well and could see them being used as an official logo for a company as well!

Calligram

For this calligram project, I started with really elementary school designs as my sketches. I had used a peace sign and a football. The text was not altered at the vector level (on my sketches) and it was just plain text on curved paths. I then chose to do a different design and in which I chose a turtle. I am big into snorkeling and the marine life so this project was fun to do. The turtle is my favorite marine animal and I even have 2 turtles tattooed on me.

I started out with looking at turtles online on Google for inspiration and then came up with this sketch of a turtle:

After scanning it on the computer and importing it into Illustrator, the design started. I wrote a list of words related to the subject to help start and get the process moving quicker. Manually sizing the text and then creating outlines so I can individually edit each anchor point took hours and hours to get the shape of the turtle. I would run out of words every so often in which I would stop and think of a few more to keep going.

Here are some screenshots while creating it:

After completing the turtle, I ran through many different sets of color combinations and eventually chose this as my final.

Overall, I am really pleased with the outcome of the calligram and could definitely see myself making more in the future. I think the text coming together is very easily read and the composition of the turtle is easily defined.

Doing this project really helped me start to get into Illustrator because it helped teach me how to edit each anchor point and path to make it in whatever shape I would like it to become. I think this project was a great choice to help the class gain knowledge about Illustrator to help for future projects.

Blog #1

        Whats up guys, I'm Jesse James DiSabato. And yes, my parents did name me after one of America's most wanted outlaws. However, contrary to what you would think with that with name, I'm more on the friendlier side. I am 18 years old (turning 19 on September 12th), originally from Long Island, New York. I had moved to Florida during the middle of my middle school years. With myself attending high school in Florida, I then chose to stay inside the state of Florida in which you now see me here at the University of Tampa in my 2nd year as a Sophomore.

         Growing up I was always fascinated in digital design and liked to see the hidden messages behind the art so I took Digital Design classes all throughout high school. I loved expressing my mind in creativity on the computer. During those years I had learned logo design, web design, animation art, etc. and wanted to continue this through my collegiate experience, then eventually my career. With that being said, I am excited to learn and extend my creativity this semester especially now the classes are beginning to move into the field of what my major is: Graphic Design. I had a very positive first class. My classmates seemed as interested about this class and the semester to come as I did and the professor seemed to know what he is talking about.

         I expect to learn a lot in this course and engage with my classmates about difference design aspects. I would also like to mainly learn how to master the pen tool to draw out what ever vector image I would like to create. That will definitely help me exceed past my fellow designers and hopefully land a solid career spot with a company or even my own business. I love things sports related so getting a graphic design job with a sports team would be an awesome job for my life.

         With this year coming up, I definitely think this class will open up new ways to look at designs and I can't wait to start working on fun projects!