Final Designs; CD Cover, Logo and Film Poster

These are the three designs that I am submitting as my final designs for the CD cover, logo and film poster. I think they are my best work over the 11 weeks.

CD Cover

The Logo

The Film Poster

Film Poster - Drive 5

The initial idea was to have the car, side ways, with the 'driver' in front in an authoritative position. However, from the drawing I could tell this would not be an interesting poster to look at. Therefore I decided to change it and as the car was split in three, have three key characters. The characters would be behind the car, and have there own colour scheme in each section, seen below right.

Using the lasso tool I managed to select and isolate the individual characters, scale them and place them behind their own section of car. On the left there is a purple overlay, in the centre is a green overlay and on the right is a orange overlay. I created the individual overlays be selecting the area and then altering the colour balance of each selected area. The title was found on line, I have changes the scale of the title and changes the colour to an off- black. Yet I kept the electric pink outline as I felt it emphasised the text, but also was a throw back to the film. I was pleased with the result of this poster, yet felt that it may appear to have too  much white (empty) space. I trialled a couple of different coloured backgrounds, none really worked with the design. Below is one example, here I am again using the pink to link it to the credits of the film.  

I reverted back to the original background, and went back to the drawing board on ways that I could make this poster a bit more interesting.

One way to make the poster more interesting would be to add text. I knew that I had to add a review, as part of the criteria. However another criteria was the byline, I decided to put a bit of a twist on this and have a quote from each of the three characters from the film. Online there are sites dedicated to the iconic quotes and lines in films, after deciding which ones I would use it was just a case of entering them and changing the colour of the text. By matching the text colour to the character I hope it makes it obvious  that it was them saying it. I like this design a lot, all I needed to do was create a better review and I was done. The finished poster is below. 

Film Poster - Drive 4

This idea stemmed from two key themes of the film, the first being the scorpion that is sewn onto the back of the main character jacket. The second being a quote from the film, most memorable moment of this quote is at the beginning of the film during the time the film it set itself up. As these are two key themes or elements of the film, I decided to incorporate them together in this clock. 

I played around with the background colour finally deciding upon the pink. The film is known for its electric pink credits, the aim of for the background to create synergy with this. I also moved the location of the clock face. The font is san serif and very flat. I used grid lines to give me guidance, when planning the layout.

I am really please with the outcome of the poster, it has a very simplistic stylish modern approach, with I think is in keeping with the film style. However, I can not use this poster design, or even say it is my own. After making the poster I was searching through Drive posters to see what type of font they used on the film reviews and cam across a poster design that is very similar to mine. I must of seen it in my research and inspiration stage, and not realised when I started to design my own. I am only keeping these three designs as an example of what I can do, as I feel that they are a great example of how my skills have developed. Below is the poster I saw online. 

Film Poster - Drive 2 - 3

After the first poster design did not turn out as I expected I decided to try another design. I started simply by incorporating the scorpion from the jacket in the film into the word drive, replacing the letter 'I'. The design looks okay, but wasn't really engaging as a film poster.

I decided to move on to yet another possible design, this one uses a screen shot of the film with the driver looking into the rear view mirror. The byline about it is a quote from the film, its a threat about always having to look over your shoulder. I felt it matched nicely with the imagery.  However I didn't like this design either, unfortunately I have to go through the process of making the poster - at least part of it - before I can assess whether or not I like it.

One last chance for these two previous designs, I tried combining elements of the two together. The issue of them on there own was they were too plain, together there should be more happening. Yet although it creates a slightly more interesting poster, the out come is not amazing. Luckily I still have some more drafts to create. 

Film Poster - Drive 1

From the selection of drawn designs I came up with I first tried the collage of scenes with in the car. I thought this would be a cleaver way of teasing a couple of the iconic scenes and themes of the film without giving too much away. It would also include the car, it was important to me to keep some reference to the car as, I felt it was such a key aspect to the film.

However the finished collage looks very untidy and is too busy for someone to understand it with a quick glance. The edges are also messy, but this is something I would of addressed if I was to continue the design. However because of the almost cluttered feel of the image I did not take it any further.

Film Poster - The Brief

The film poster had to be A4 or bigger, and to redesign an existing film poster or create a new one from either existing films or a new idea.  The instructions given are below.

Before I started on my own film poster, I looked at other alternative film posters that people had created to get an idea of the type of thing I could create. There was plenty of interesting and inspiring pieces of work. The issue I had was the lack of knowledge with the software, as some of the work look complex and highly professional. Although I had learn a lot over the weeks with the designing of the CD cover and logo, the film poster was a new challenge. 

I began by drawing out some drafts of what I could do for my film poster. I started with  the film Scott Pilgrim Vs the World. Below are the plans I came up with. I wasn't initially thrilled with what I had come up with so decided to change the film I was focusing on, hoping this would give me new ideas. 

My second attempt at drafting the film poster went a lot better, I had picked the film Drive, staring Ryan Gosling. Though not a favourite among many, the film has several iconic scenes and themes that meant it lent itself well the different designs. The drawings of the film poster designs can be seen below. I will talk about each design separately  in individual posts. 

Logo Design - Butter Beer

Although I am happy with the outcome of the Bubba Gump Shrimp logo, I thought I would attempt to design a Butter Beer logo as an extra alternative. I started out by looking at existing beer logos, and although there are a couple of more complicated designs, the majority were relatively simple and clear in there design. Fortunately there weren't many existing designs for Butter Beer, this is surprising as the franchise is relatively big.

Above is  my initial drawing of what the design would look like, of course i have made some alteration to the design on the left. But a lot of the ideas remain the same. 

This, above, is the finished design from my initial drawing. It is main shape comes from two circles at either end of a rectangle, the circle at the top has no fill and the stroke cuts into the shape of the rectangle, whereas the circle at the bottom does have a fill and is united with the rectangle. After creating the basis of the logo I needed to add the text. 

I've used an understate serif font the has just slight protruding ends, as this appears more tradition. 

Added a text box under 'Butter Beer' as this helps the text stand out more. 

At the top of the logo around the circle is an effect similar to the vintage Japanese sunset. For each of the 'rays' - which in this case are grey - I used the pen tool to draw the four sided shape. I then used the direct select tool to adjust the shape so that it would fit within the logo. 

There is also the use of floral banners, these were a free vector pack collection seen below. I did try ti make my own within Illustrator, however it proved to be too difficult. The vector banners added a little bit of extra style to the logo. 

Below is the finished logo on a bottle. Although really happy with how the logo turned out and excited to stick it onto a bottle this became a slight issue. It was mentioned that the design was more of a label than a logo. And sticking it onto the bottle was a bit part of why it looked that way. Yet, not to be phased, I embraced the idea and decided to cut down the label design.  

Seen both above and below are two very similar designs that only differ in the text used. Above have he same text used in the original logo - that is now the label. Below uses a similar font but the letters are slightly more rounded. Both have a clear connection to the original idea, with the use of the cream banner box being lifted out and placed in a circle. Not only is there a link with the banner and text looking the same, I have used the same colours as well. 

I felt that the two designs about, although worked really well, were very simple to construct. I understand that a good design doesn't have to be complex. However, I felt that I should try a least one more alternative to give myself more choice. Below is that last alternative. 

In this design, below, I reconstructed the original base of the logo - two circles and a rectangle. I then copied across the grey 'sun beams', as this was a feature I really liked. Next I used the direct select tool, selected multiple points at the bottom of the design, and rescaled the shape. After this I inserted the text to the centre of the the top circle. I decided to go for the initials rather than squashing the whole name into the space. 

In this example I used the same font for the text as I feel it suits the logo, as it as the protruding ends like in the original logo - that is now the label. If the logo was to be scaled down, people would still be able to make out the logo and text. As an extra alternative I decided in the example below to remove the bottom circle.

I needed to change the appearance of the text, as in the the two examples above the 'BB' does not quite sit right.  I tried a couple of different ways to present the text. Of these the one I like the most is the middle design, where the 'BB' overlap. One final adjustment I made to the design was increasing the width of the circle. The finished design can be seen below. 

Logo Design - Bubba Gump Shrimp

Progressing from the initial logo designs, Mr. Fusion and Prestige Worldwide, I decided to try and create a logo for Bubba Gump Shrimp. Although there is an actual business as a result of the film, I stuck with the idea as I was using the film as inspiration not the existing restaurant.

In this first design I have united to circles, and have the text following the curve of the pathway. In the centre is an image of a shrimp that I acquired from the internet. I pulled it into Illustrator and imaged traced it with the black and white logo trace. This gave me a basic shrimp image that is the basis of the logo.

In this version of the logo I have kept the same font, as I feel this works nicely with the design. However I have removed the inner stroke, and pushed the text further towards the outer stroke. I felt the created a cleaner logo, with less filling up the space inside the circle. 

Here I have changed the font of the text at the top to try a font more typical of a printing press. I only changed the font at the top as this was a quick test. I do like the font type now at the top of the logo, however I may still continue experimenting with fonts, incase there is a better suited font. Perhaps the biggest, or most noticeable change is that of the background colour. Before I used pink as it relates well to the shrimp. Yet I feel the blue fits slightly better in this design, and can be linked to the sea keeping a link with the shrimp and ocean theme. 

From these first attempts I realised that the design was little bit too basic. To give the logo more substance I wanted to create a vintage print style, adding the effect of it looking old and rustic. This proved to be the most difficult effect to incorporate working in Illustrator, I had to watch several tutorials and read a couple of articles on it before finding the best way for me to do it. Above is my first attempt, the white marks is a result from removing a layer from the background in pathfinder. The processes is shown in the below image. This was an interesting result but not the effect I was originally thinking of. 

The font has changed again, here I tried to reference back to the print typical of the military. Linking subtly to the origins of the logo from Forrest Gump, as the pair met and came up with the company while in the army. Another change to the text would be that 'Company' has changed to 'CO.', this is a little bit more informal but felt a company based around shrimp could be.

I gave designing the logo with the vintage effect another go to try and accomplish the effect I originally set out to when I re-imaged the design.  In this design I managed to create the effect of the black text fading, or the print not perfect. I returned the text to the original font 'American Typewritter', as I felt this was the best suited to the logo. I really like this end design and feel it is a good remake of company that many will quickly think back to the film it is from. 

Logo Design - The Brief

For the logo design in this assessment we had to design a logo for a fiction company that originates from film or TV. The instructions can be seen below.

I had a few ideas of what I wanted to do for the logo, but decided to start by researching into other designs and film companies that I could use for inspiration. Through this research I came up with four main companies I could use, these were; Mr Fusion - from Back to the Future, Prestige Worldwide - from Step Brothers, Bubba Gump Shrimp - from Forrest Gump and Butter Beer - from Harry Potter. The initial planning of the logos can be seen below. 

With the logo of Prestige Worldwide the main focus was on incorporating the world into the logo. The two concepts I came up with was centering the world with text following a path on the outside, or using a smaller world figure and having the name of the logo follow after it. The second is my preferred choice as I think the outcome will be more professional looking.







For the Mr. Fusion logo I started by looking up what fusion meant, one meaning is when two light atoms bond together. From this definition I planned that the logo should show two or more atoms. I came up with a couple of possibilities for the design. The first shows the atoms free from the main body, the second shows the two atoms on the ring orbiting, the last shows four atoms joined together. Although not fulling representing the meaning of fusion, the designs do carry a strong theme of atoms and chemistry.

Bubba Gump Shrimp was an interesting logo to design as it was the most apparent to me that could range in appearance. The design with shrimp on a plate, with a knife and folk, seems a bit novel and I'm not too keen on it. The design with small shrimp at either end of the name is a possible good design. However, my favourite is the last design, of the shrimp in the middle and the text circling round it. I also like this design as it turns the restaurant into a company.






Lastly the design for the butter beer. I looked at existing beer logos for inspiration and saw that a lot took a simple approach to their logos. With hints of flora, or decorative flourishes to set apart a couple of the higher classed brands. I tried to incorporate this into the design on the left. The right design will include an actual beer image in the center.

From these my I started by designing a logo for Mr Fusion, this was the name of the fuel converter for the Delorean in the Back to the Future series. From the name fusion is creates an image relating to chemistry and of atoms. I wanted to incorporate this in my design. 

I used a serif font as a thought it was more appropriate for the scientific company to have. The four smaller circles are meant to represent atoms orbiting, relating to the scientific field of the company. I also changing the shape and orientation of the largest circle to give a notion of movement of the atoms.  The colours are basic, but I feel that they work well in the keeping of the design. I did originally try to incorporate; yellow, orange, red and purple into the design. But having this range of colours made the design to busy and confusing. 

Another design I created at the beginning of the logo process was for Prestige Worldwide, this is the company that created in Step Brothers. Although its not very clear what the company actually does, the name lends itself nicely to logo design. I focused on the 'worldwide' part of the name. By incorporating the initials P.W. into the globe, this would be used as a logo if the original logo was to large. Getting the colour and shape of the initials right was a bit of a challenge, as I had to make sure if the logo was scaled down that they would still be readable. 

I used a san serif font as the company is more modern and creative. Another feature I included was this tag line 'The First Word in Entertainment'. This is in the film and fitted well with the promotion of the company.