Courageous Heart Yoga

Research and Brief

First I wrote out the brief and highlighted key parts. Doing this will be very helpful when designing because instead of reading the entire brief I can scan quickly to important details and I also know key things to include or try out in my designs. From this brief the key points I found are the designs needed to be delicate and have a soft and spiritual feel to them, and a pastel colour scheme was a must. I picked out some colours below the brief to quickly give ideas of a possible colour scheme that I could look back on when designing. 

Next I created some mood boards for further inspiration. First I created a mood board of Miami because this is where the company is based and I wanted to try and capture the feel of the area in my designs. From this mood board I found the area contained lots of soft pink, blue, and peach toned pastel colours which is perfect because these are the colours requested by the client so I can definitely try and incorporate these in my designs. There is also a very laid back and beachy feel to the place and it looks very relaxed and laid back and again this works well with the carefree and spiritual feel the client wanted so again is something I can try and incorporate.

Next I created mood board of existing logos for yoga companies. I kept the search very specific by finding just yoga logos as I wanted to see the style that other companies have gone for and what is popular, and I also feel that the logos that will en capture the mood the client is looking for are those specifically designed for yoga companies. A lot of these logo are a combination of image and text and I think these look very effective and is a style I would like try out. I think the flower shaped designs and yoga figures communicate the relaxation and healing theme the best and would work well for what the client requested so this is another thing I would definitely like to try creating.

Initial Ideas

I drew out some initial designs and experimented with the heart shape to create different floral shapes and yoga poses as these were what I found I wanted to do from my research. I also tried out a couple of layouts so that I had an idea of where I wanted my designs to go before starting on screen.

Development of Ideas



I then used the pen tool to draw out a simple heart shape and played around with lots of different ways to create shapes using just that one heart design. I think the floral shapes look the most effective as I found flowers were a common theme in my research to communicate the healing and spiritual part of the yoga companies and this is what the client wanted the designs to communicate. Using the heart shape links to the name as well as linking to heart and healing as requested in the brief.

I then incorporated the colour scheme in with the shapes. I used mixtures of the three colours suggested by the client and found that when layering them the shapes behind got hidden so I decided to lower the opacity so that the below shapes could show through. I think this gives it a much softer and more delicate look and helps communicate the feeling of heart and healing the client requested.

I also tried just using colour outlines for the shapes but I think these look a bit empty and dont have much impact so wouldn't be suitable for a memorable logo.

I then found some typefaces that I thought could be suitable to work with the logo. I found mostly sans serif typefaces because I wanted something simple that didn't overcomplicate the design and after collecting them all I found I liked the thinner strokes best as the image part of the logo is very delicate and subtle and a lighter stroke compliments it better than the heavier ones. I also found some script typefaces because I thought that the elegance and softness of these could work well for the brief and compliment the delicate design. I then paired some typefaces with some of the image elements I made and found that the script typefaces alone weren't legible enough but worked when mixed with the sans serif to emphasise a single word. I think the mixture of script and sans serif works better than just sans serif as it helps give a subtle contrast between the two lines and adds some elegance to the text part of the logo. I tried some different layouts by placing the image above and alongside the text but I think these layouts need developing further so that it all comes together better.

I then played around the layout of the design. I tried out a bolder sans serif typeface as well but decided to stick to the thinner one because it looks a lot softer and the hand drawn look to it makes it blend in better with the delicate image. I think I like the layout of having the image at the side of the text better because when put above the logo becomes quite chunky and starts too look a bit cluttered and I think it flows nicely across in a line when placed at the side.

I also wanted to create a logo that used the heart shape to represent a yoga pose so that I also have a logo that links directly to the purpose of the company. I tried out various combinations of the heart shape with other simple shapes. I dont think any of these work particularly well because the ones that actually look like a yoga pose with the diamond shapes look too complex but the ones with the heart and circle alone are not obvious as a yoga pose so I would like to develop these further.

I created a new design out of the heart shape that is a lot softer and I think the open arms communicate the message of healing and heart that the client wanted. It is a very simple image so i tried out having the text inside of it and I think this works quite well as it contains it but the design also works with the text alongside as it is so simple so doesn't look overcomplicated. I also tried out a new layout for the previous flower design and placed it in a circle and I think this works nicely as it contains the design and brings it all together.

I did some extra experimentation here and played around a little more with the yoga position logos as well as trying out a new design with a tree within a heart but chose not to develop it any further as it was too complex for a logo.

Here I experimented even further with the yoga pose logo. I think the peach works better than the blue colour scheme as the blue is a bit cold and doesn't bring across the warmth and healing that the peach does. I also played around with the layout a bit more and this helped me to decided the best layout for this design would be lengthways with the logo to the side as it it quite a long image and doesn't work well in a circle. I think the way the image encloses the start of the text gives across a feeling of healing and protection and this links back to what the client wanted.

Final Designs

From all of my development I selected my favourite designs to send off to the client. I decided to send a variety to give the client choice so that they could choose the design that best suited the company.

I think this one is effective because it flows nicely and the heart/flower shape links to the heart and healing feel that the brief wanted. The simple hand written style fonts compliment the image without overpowering it and I think the design looks elegant and delicate and suits the company.

This is the same components as the design above but I chose to enclose them in a circle. This allows the flower shape to be the main focal point as it is pretty equal in the first design. I chose to add the circle as it brings the whole design together and makes the overall design flow better. I made the circle the same pink as in the design to keep the pastel theme and help it compliment the flower.

I think this design meets the brief because the shape represents not only a yoga style pose but also healing and heart as the image encloses the text. I kept the same hand written style font as I wanted something that wouldn't overpower the image and would keep it looking soft and delicate. I think the warm peach colour sticks with the pastel theme the client wanted and also gives across a vibe of warmth and healing.

I also chose to include this layout of the design because this gives the client the option of having a logo that can be broken up as the circle part could be used separately. I think the delicate font compliments the image part of the design and I think it all flows nicely together.

Air Plant Decor

 Brief

First I took the brief and created a page to highlight key points. I bolded important information and placed in images of the webpage given for inspiration to help me when designing as I can quickly refer back to key points of the brief and get design inspiration from the site they liked.

Research

Next I carried out some research to help give me some design inspiration.

Colour Scheme / Illustration Style

First I did one for the colour scheme that was given to me and inspiration for the style of illustration I would like to create as I am looking at drawing a small plant to go along with the typography. I took some of my colour scheme inspiration from the plant image as this is where they got the ideas for the colour scheme from.

Typography

Next I made a mood board of typography to help me when creating the typography portion of the logo. I found a couple of script fonts to keep with the delicate nature theme, but mostly sans serif as this is the style of font used on the logo they gave as inspiration so is most likely what they are looking for.

Similar Style Logos

I also found some existing logos for similar nature based companies to give me inspiration for layout and design. I think this will be very useful when designing as I can take elements from various logos and put them into an effective solution for my client.

Initial Ideas

I drew out some quick sketches incorporating plants with simple sans serif text in different layouts. This helped me to experiment with lots of different layouts and ideas before taking the best ones on to screen.

Development


First I tried out different fonts to help me select the most effective for my design. I chose all sans serif fonts as this was the style used in the logo they provided. Doing this was very helpful because I could be sure I had experimented with many options so that I can choose the most effective outcome.

I then began to develop these typefaces further and began to play around with the additional plant element. I chose a bold sans serif font because I think this is bold and will stand out whilst being simple enough to be placed with the plant element. I didn't like this initial plant because its not clear enough that it is a plant so I decided to develop this further.

I made various other plant elements and experimented with colours and placements of them as well as adding in shapes and boxing elements. I think the addition of colour is effective because it stands out against the type a lot better than plain black and helps the designs meet the brief better as these were the requested colours. I tried adding in an air plant with the circular shape and although this captures the company nicely I don't think it works well with the text and looks over complicated. I also tried adding leaves on to the side of the text and I think this adds a nice decorative touch but I think this would need further development to integrate it better with the text.

First I tried developing the plant and text integrated image from the above page by developing the leaves so they were separate from the text. I think this is a lot more effective because it doesn't hide or clash with the letters but still blends in nicely. I changed it too the colour scheme and experimented with typefaces. I think this design is simple and could meet the brief but I want something that captures the company better. I next tried integrating a drawing of an air plant that I created with a simple sans serif typeface as I didn't want to over complicate the logo as the design the gave for inspiration was very simple. I added in the lines to integrate everything together. I then tried lots of different layouts of this idea. I think this idea is an improvement on the first but it could be hard to add colour without overcomplicating things and I think it might be worth trying to completely box it in as the open edges make it look a little unfinished.

I then further played around with the layout of the previous design and ended up boxing it in and I think this looks more effective as it makes the design look more connected and gets rid of the unfinished look the previous designs had. I also tried out the design in a circular shape but I think this ended up looking far too complex for a main logo and wouldn't work well for websites etc. and something simpler would work better.

Next I played around with the colour scheme suggested in the brief. I tried various combinations  but none of them really seemed to work with this design. This told me that the design isn't suitable as the colour scheme is essential so I need to develop new designs.

I played around with the design a little and tried out a simpler variant of the circle design bur I still dont think any of these are quite right and I have developed the idea as far as it can possibly go so I would like to try something new.

I decided to do something completely different and chose a much subtler font as this time I wanted the image part of the design to be the focal point. I decided to base it around an actual air plant as these are usually contained in circular glass bowls so I created a simplified version of one of these. This design allowed me to add colour as there are lots of empty spaces within the design that can be filled with colour. I think this is looking a lot more effective than the previous designs as it looks clean and simple but also flows nicely together and works with colour. I would like to develop it a little further to add more colour and maybe a bit more to the shape.

Initial Final Design



I made the air plant a little more detailed and I think it looks effective as it is still simple but really shows the companies product. I think it meets the brief as it is simple like the logo they provided but also very different giving the company a unique edge to it.

I incorporated the colour scheme into this design. I decided to do it very subtly as it didn't seem to blend well with the black text when the colours were used all over the shape. I think this subtle hint of colour is effective and makes the whole design a little more interesting and decorative.

Final Designs after feedback

After presenting my designs I was given a lot of feedback suggesting that I incorporate the colour scheme into more of my design as I had done it very subtly and people felt that if those were the colours requested by the brief they should feature strongly in the design. Taking this on board I tried out a couple more colour combinations.

I chose this combination in the end as all of the colours are incorporated but it isn't overpowering or clashing like some of the ones I tried above. These colours are not ones that work well together so it was hard to come up with a combination that looks appealing but I think this works nicely as there isn't too much of any of the colours. I decided to keep the text black as it was too much to colour that as well and made the design look a bit messy and confusing. I think this helps the image part stand out more and keeps it looking simple.