Paisley Bay

First I copied out the brief and highlighted key parts that my designs will need to be influenced by. The client also included some images of paisley's to take inspiration from and a logo she liked and I can use these as the initial inspiration for my designs to make sure it suits the clients needs.

Next I found some logos for similar style companies to see what existing companies have done and find the style of logos I think are most effective to take inspiration from. From looking at these I found serif and script fonts seem to work best with illustrated elements so these are the style of fonts I will be most likely to look at to go with the paisley illustration.

I also did some research into paisley shapes so that I could make my designs as accurate as possible and take inspiration from a variety of these to create the perfect paisley design.

Next I created some quick initial ideas. I created some quick paisley designs and tried out a couple of different layout and font styles so get an idea of what worked best before taking it on to the computer.

Next I found some fonts that I thought could be suitable. I stuck mainly to serif and script fonts as I found these worked well in my research but also found a couple of sans serif fonts because I didn't want to completely rule them out. I then started drawing some paisley designs and tested them out with some of the fonts to help me choose the most effective font and started playing around with layouts. The client also mentioned liking white text on a fray background so I tested out some fonts and paisleys on these as well. I think this looks effective because it looks elegant and also looks a lot softer than the boldness of the black text so this is something I would like to experiment further with. I presented the bottom three grey and white designs for feedback and was told to refine the paisley shape further so this is the next development I will do.

I created a new paisley shape using the live trace tool and began to incorporate it with one of the serif fonts. I think this looks a lot more professional and refined than the ones I created with the pent tool and works best with the serif font as it looks too decorative and complex when placed with a script font. I tried a couple of different layouts and I think it looks effective when integrated with the text by using it as the dot on the 'i' and the logo provided by the client also used the method of integrating the design with the text so this should suit the clients taste. I also tried out some different layouts with the script font and used one of the hand drawn paisleys as it is subtler and doesn't look overcomplicated when paired with the text. I also tried experimenting more with colour and tried out a pastel blue as mentioned in the brief by the client and I think this looks a lot more delicate than black and works well with white as the contrast is enough that the design stands out but not overpowering.

I then experimented further with this new colour scheme and tried out various ways of enclosing the design with different circles and boxes and layouts within these. I also tested out script fonts further with both paisley designs but I think the serif font looks a lot more high end and sophisticated and is also bolder so has a bigger impact against the blue.

I think this square design is really effective because it encloses the design and brings everything together. I made the paisley quite large so that it is the focal point of the logo. The serif font works better than the script as the legibility is a lot better and the script font overcomplicates the design and makes the whole logo look a little unclear. I also used this design inside a circle but I think the square works better because the size of the paisley and text can be made into a better proportion with each other.

Below are my final designs that I ended up submitting to the client. I thought all of these designs were effective and would suit the brief and client so chose to show all of them so that the client had a variety of choices and could choose the one that suited them best. I think these look effective because the font compliments the paisley design as it is simple and doesn't overpower it but looks elegant and high end as requested by the client. The colour schemes match the ones requested in the brief and look elegant and stand out but are also subtle and understated and I think all of the designs meet the high end luxury style whilst retaining the handmade essence of the company by having the hand drawn paisley element.