Creating a Unique identity; Jonathan Verma.
I have been set a brief as part of MultimediaFD course; to design and create my own unique identity and show research and study into Balance, Emphasis and Contrast.
I've started off looking into and researching the 3 design principles we are going to be assessed on, just to get a better understanding of exactly what I'm going to need to achieve..
Balance; 'Balance in design is the distribution of elements across the design. Balance is a visual interpretation of gravity in the design.'
http://webdesign.about.com/od/webdesignbasics/p/aabalance.htm
Emphasis; 'Emphasis in design provides the focal point for the piece. It is a way of making the element that is most important stand out in the design. Emphasis is sometimes called dominance.'
http://webdesign.about.com/od/webdesignbasics/p/aaemphasis.htm
Contrast; 'refers to the arrangement of opposite elements (light vs. dark colours, rough vs. smooth textures, large vs. small shapes, etc.) in a piece so as to create visual interest, excitement and drama.'
https://sites.google.com/site/principlesofdesignsite/home/contrast
I've been looking further into brand identities and how some of the bigger companies have created their brands and how they use Contrast, Balance and Emphasis. I looked into the pepsi logo and found a few things; the background for the logo is white which provides a great contrast of colours using red and dark blue which are quite dominant colours that create emphasis, they're impactful and recognisable, also note the use of the golden ratio, the designer uses proportionate circles, which makes the design visually pleasing and easy to look at.
I went on to look into different ways of creating a business card, I found some very different and inventive ides on this website,- http://www.boredpanda.com/creative-business-card-designs/
I like the idea of a transparent business card, I feel it is a simple and effective idea, which is what I'm aiming for, something which is simple, interesting and elegant. however I'm not sure how much it will cost or even what materiel I would need to use. Theres also another business 'card' that I like the idea of, it's a piece of card that, with a few folds, turns into a small box, its an interesting concept; creating something that has two uses, its something I will take into consideration when I come to my final design.
Ive always been drawn to the ancient indian/Persian 'paisley' design, its a pattern that is very commonly used in Indian art it is supposed to represent life and eternity. Being indian myself I feel I feel the design could potentially represent my identity quite well, as we have to produce 3 business card designs I am going to start looking at how I might include this pattern in one of my designs.
Im finding it hard to make the pattern on adobe illustrator so I will be looking on instagram and behance to find more simple ways of creating balance, contrast and emphasis using the paisley pattern.
Ive recently been introduced to bauhaus (the idealistic German art and design school founded in 1919) and their teachings, I found the simple shapes used in bauhaus designs established balance, while the primary colours red, blue and yellow are basic, yet bring contrast to any design whether it be structural or graphics.
Having sketched out a few Logo and business card designs, I have decided that I should put my name and initials on to the back of the business card so that it wont interrupt the balance of the design. I will be looking into Contemporary typography fonts to see which will provide the ideal balance of emphasis and contrast.
After reading an article; http://webdesignfromscratch.com/web-design/logos/ I've realised I'm going to have to take into consideration the fact that some people are colour blind and may not be able to see some shades of green and red, this could be a problem when it comes too designing my 'bauhaus' themed logos. After researching further into contrast, balance and design, i've found some information on colour theory and flat design.
Find my designs and final business card idea on behance;
https://www.behance.net/_Verma
