maryfranwiley.com » Sketchbook

Building an identity

maryfran — Thu, 28 May 2009 02:45:09 +0000

I have been working late into the night working on my new web design venture and have come up with a smashing logo design. It was a bit of a process, and admittedly it was a bit rushed, but sometimes things just feel right, and this was one of those times. I knew I wanted purple (it would have been really confusing to have a logo that was yellow) and I knew I wanted something retro-ish but I was afraid of getting grunge or old-fashioned on accident.

I wanted a simple logo that was easily recognizable and that was reminicent of something of my childhood (and the company’s name), so it is a crayon label!

Purple Crayon Web Studio

This is exactly what I was going for! It makes sense on a crayon, looks mighty spiffy off the crayon and is pretty much awesome.

Logo as a crayon label

What next? Business cards! But, I am a designer, so I can’t have just any business cards. I am also on a budget, so I can’t have anything too crazy or weird. The business cards are going to be 2″ squares. Perfect to still fit in a business card case, different enough to warrant a second look. And it is that second look that is oh-so-important!

Purple Crayon Business Card - Back

Purple Crayon Business Card - Front

I think that the brand is on it’s way to the look and feel that I am going for. As soon as I have a bit more time I will add some of the finished pieces to the portfolio section.

Progress is being made.

maryfran — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:28:22 +0000

So far, so good, I think. You can see the evolution of my design below.

The logo thumbnails:

The rough logos: (I am debating between connected script below and the disconnected script in the similar logo above). Also, in Illustrator I will play with having a pink fillagree fill in the cotton puff because my marker mafe it look less delicate than it does in the black. I am also concerned about the delicate lines being lost in reduction.)

The page thumbnails:

The rough page comps (The green bar on the main page will be fuchsia instead):

And a link to the final color palette on Kuler. (Fuschia, Black, Grey and Green)

Web/Interactive Design – Baumwolle site

maryfran — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:26:17 +0000

For web design, our project is to take the whole semester. It is creating a site from inception (including naming the company and designing a logo) all the way through creating the final site. I plan on creating three sites simultaneously for practice and to fill my free (and not so free) time.

The design brief explains who the site will be reaching out to and the sitemap is the current basic structure (although it is subject to change as the project progresses…).

Baumwolle Design Brief (PDF)

Baumwolle Sitemap (PDF)

Logo Design – Initials

maryfran — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:11:05 +0000

The assignment was to turn your initials into a finished logo, as if they were the name of a broadcast company, a bank and a software company. The majority of my attempts failed but I came away with several logos that were fairly interesting, and one that I think is pretty cool, especially if you only use the middle portion.