[QUOTE=dgg;47112426]If you want real briefs, head over to 99designs.com and look around. Lots of cheap bastards wanting their design done from crowdsourced work over there.[/QUOTE]
they're not good briefs though. they're crap briefs that are (usually) set by companies that either have no idea what they want or no clue about design, or they want something fairly specific with not much room for creative input. and far more importantly, they're unlikely to look good in your portfolio.
"design a logo for my health food company" - not a good brief
"design a business card for my SEO company" - not a good brief
"design a landing page for my personal training company" - not a good brief
for the most part they're all empty and uninspired projects. you might find some good stuff in there but i really don't think it's worth your time trawling through the rubbish. and as for entering, i probably wouldn't waste your time on that either. just don't bother with crowdsourcing crap.
you'd be much better off looking at actual briefs set by companies from all around the world, that are much more in depth and interesting. i don't know if you've ever studied or if it was ever mentioned as any part of a curriculum but you should definitely check out these [I]playaz:[/I]
[B]D&AD[/B] - Designers & Art Directors, global design... collective. top notch stuff!
2015 briefs - [url]http://www.dandad.org/en/new-blood-awards/[/url]
[B]Roses Student Awards[/B] - creative body, well known/regarded
2015 briefs - [url]http://www.rosesstudentawards.co.uk/pages/briefs[/url]
[B]RSA[/B] - slightly different approach to design, much more philanthropic, charitable
2014/15 briefs - [url]http://sda.thersa.org/uploads/RSDA2014-15_Projects.pdf[/url]
[B]Starpak[/B] - focused primarily on packaging, which isn't everybody's cup of tea, but if you are into it then they're definitely good
2015 briefs - [url]http://www.iom3.org/content/starpack-students-design-briefs[/url]
i'm not suggesting you have to actually enter any of these at all (plus most of the deadlines are quite fast approaching, iirc) but if you have a read through you should see how vastly different they are to anything on crowdsource websites. they have real depth, usually a fair amount of room for creative wiggle and best of all - they're thorough projects that produce more than just a logo, a business card and a landing page. you're encouraged to really think, exercise your creativeness and produce quality work - which is all going to look fantastic in your portfolio. and if not a single one of these briefs excites you then just get searching for previous years briefs, or just make up your own - which is what a lot of people get to do in their final year/s at university and my gosh we did not know how lucky we were to have that...
don't waste your time on crowdsource websites, look at the real stuff, it's much more inspiring and interesting!
[QUOTE=PieClock;47118958]Just took a quick glance at the landing page. Is that one of those competition sites? They're pretty awful to be honest. Unless you win you'll never get any feedback. Every logo I've done for free I work to a brief and always be sure to get some feedback.[/QUOTE]
Yes, I wasn't telling you to enter them, I was suggesting you to look at them for briefs. It's a sea of briefs, and the ones that pays well is usually accompanied with a thought-out brief as well.
[QUOTE=Autumn;47119330]you'd be much better off looking at actual briefs set by companies from all around the world, that are much more in depth and interesting. i don't know if you've ever studied or if it was ever mentioned as any part of a curriculum but you should definitely check out these [I]playaz:[/I]
[B]D&AD[/B] - Designers & Art Directors, global design... collective. top notch stuff!
2015 briefs - [url]http://www.dandad.org/en/new-blood-awards/[/url]
[B]Roses Student Awards[/B] - creative body, well known/regarded
2015 briefs - [url]http://www.rosesstudentawards.co.uk/pages/briefs[/url]
[B]RSA[/B] - slightly different approach to design, much more philanthropic, charitable
2014/15 briefs - [url]http://sda.thersa.org/uploads/RSDA2014-15_Projects.pdf[/url]
[B]Starpak[/B] - focused primarily on packaging, which isn't everybody's cup of tea, but if you are into it then they're definitely good
2015 briefs - [url]http://www.iom3.org/content/starpack-students-design-briefs[/url]
i'm not suggesting you have to actually enter any of these at all (plus most of the deadlines are quite fast approaching, iirc) but if you have a read through you should see how vastly different they are to anything on crowdsource websites. they have real depth, usually a fair amount of room for creative wiggle and best of all - they're thorough projects that produce more than just a logo, a business card and a landing page. you're encouraged to really think, exercise your creativeness and produce quality work - which is all going to look fantastic in your portfolio. and if not a single one of these briefs excites you then just get searching for previous years briefs, or just make up your own - which is what a lot of people get to do in their final year/s at university and my gosh we did not know how lucky we were to have that...
don't waste your time on crowdsource websites, look at the real stuff, it's much more inspiring and interesting![/QUOTE]
I finished my bachelor at Teesside the summer that was (yet to have my damn graduation papers sent).
D&AD is definitely a good source for briefs, but honestly I think the crappy briefs are also good starting points for anything you want to do on your own time. They are vast and varied, and their sloppiness allows for room for you to build on yourself. They are specific enough to give you an idea on where to go with it, but unspecific enough for you to adjust it to what you would have wanted it to be like.
They are not worth wasting time on if you're thinking about handing them in and catering to the client to earn money, but they are a good source of inspiration for a project if you don't know what you want to do.
The student award briefs are very good for portfolio work when you want to sit down and try and create something to impress others with, but when you just want to sit down and do some work the crowdsourced ones are easier to get around to.
[QUOTE=dgg;47119600]I finished my bachelor at Teesside the summer that was (yet to have my damn graduation papers sent)[/QUOTE]
actually that was addressed to PieClock to see if he'd ever come across any of the listed organisations already, but w/e. but the actual papers don't mean anything so don't worry if you never get them - in fact even what the paper represents doesn't matter a whole lot in this field, employers are after real work experience and skilled work, not a grade.
[editline]11th February 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=dgg;47119600]but when you just want to sit down and do some work the crowdsourced ones are easier to get around to.[/QUOTE]
true, but you're not really going to fill a portfolio with quality work that way, which is what (i think) PieClock is trying to achieve
I hadn't came across any of those. They definitely look useful though, but thankfully the briefs I have been working with haven't just been "design a logo for my health food company".
And yep, I need a portfolio that makes me one of the 15 out of 150 applicants that sticks out the most by the 25th this month. I've done quite a few logos now, enough I think to show my potential in that area. Have to cover more ground however as the course I'm going for is Interaction Design, and logos isn't exactly the main focus area.
Thanks for the help, both of you, I really do appreciate it.
Good luck Pie Clock, can I ask what Interaction Design is considered at the place you are applying? User Experience design, like UI stuff? Either way, exciting stuff.
Also, really good advice there Autumn.
DGG, do you have a portfolio of school work we could see? I've seen some of your stuff in the past and I've looked at your website, but I would be curious what they actually have you do at a school as I've only taken targeted graphic design courses in high school and the rest was more architecture.
[QUOTE=Smeetin;47120868]Good luck Pie Clock, can I ask what Interaction Design is considered at the place you are applying? User Experience design, like UI stuff? Either way, exciting stuff.
Also, really good advice there Autumn.
DGG, do you have a portfolio of school work we could see? I've seen some of your stuff in the past and I've looked at your website, but I would be curious what they actually have you do at a school as I've only taken targeted graphic design courses in high school and the rest was more architecture.[/QUOTE]
It's actually a new topic in the University and they've said they like to change it up every year and keep it modern and up to date. Students last year for example were learning about the design of the UI on mobile apps, but also on the side during all the smart watch announcements, learned about the challenges of designing for something like that.
The main tutor does a lot of talks in for places like Google and Twitter, and one of the exciting things is all his students can go to the talks for free, meaning chances to make connections with people in businesses like that.
It is really exciting but the competition is damn painful, I'm really trying not to get my hopes up for it.
Ya I can imagine. Well, if you want to post your portfolio here for some constructive criticism I would be more than happy to help out, particularly with the portfolio it self. In my faculty we had to make a portfolio after each project and then mid-term, year end, and I just finished my 200 page masters application portfolio. In total I've probably made 14ish portfolios in the last 4 years.
It isn't generally graphic design oriented and they want you to keep it quite plain and simple so that the focus is on the images, but I've learned a ton about page layout and stuff while doing it.
Here is one that I did 2 years ago (pardon the slow load times and the under construction-ness of the rest of the site. I'm pretty much in a continual phase of redoing it.):
[url]http://www.kenoncreative.com/portfolioimp.html[/url]
[QUOTE=Autumn;47120094]actually that was addressed to PieClock to see if he'd ever come across any of the listed organisations already, but w/e. but the actual papers don't mean anything so don't worry if you never get them - in fact even what the paper represents doesn't matter a whole lot in this field, employers are after real work experience and skilled work, not a grade.
true, but you're not really going to fill a portfolio with quality work that way, which is what (i think) PieClock is trying to achieve[/QUOTE]
Yeah, education is worthless if you don't have anything to show for it. If you do good work you're good, if you do bad work you're bad, what the papers say doesn't matter.
I got the impression that he just wanted briefs for the sake of motivating himself to make stuff in general. But yeah, the design awards briefs are a great springboard for portfolio work, I should probably have a look over them myself.
[QUOTE=Smeetin;47120868]Dgg, do you have a portfolio of school work we could see? I've seen some of your stuff in the past and I've looked at your website, but I would be curious what they actually have you do at a school as I've only taken targeted graphic design courses in high school and the rest was more architecture.[/QUOTE]
The stuff on my website is basically what I am satisfied enough with to show from school.
My problem is that I'm not able to work if I'm allowed to just go home instead. I need that 8-4 (9-5) work hour and someone that expects me to work to really get anything done. So as school gradually loosened up, allowing you to work at home I got less and less motivated to work and as such, obviously, my work suffered from it.
I'm really good at working in a working environment, but at the expense of hardly being able to work outside it. On top of that I'm much more interested in learning technical skills, how to do stuff, learning new things in general, than actually doing. I'm basically a shit.
Oh wait, I guess I forgot to upload the Contemporary Jewelry uni-project there. The end product was pretty half-assed, but I loved some of the research and sketching I did for it. Just never got to combine it into a whole finished product, sadly.
I could probably just whip up some collages or pdf documents for the uni projects if you want. It's a wonder I even passed, I wrote my thesis/dissertation in one day (had to re-write what I had, which was only 1600 words or something out of 5000), still managed to get a better grade on it than some other classmates :v:.
Well, I'm glad to see anything you're willing to show. I know how it is though, I used to be so much more productive, something turned off in my brain the last few years during school.
UPDATE:
Did pretty much a total visual overhaul of my portfolio site. Pretty happy with the results.
[url]http://www.stefanklassen.com[/url]
I'm still getting my head around graphics design (have been for 5 years now, oh boy)
Mainly somebody who deals with typography and photographs I rip from various websites
this is what I made for my YT channel
[url]http://i.imgur.com/isH35MQ.jpg[/url] (linked because its extremely big)
and something I made for a servers MOTD + rule list
[img]http://i.imgur.com/lFYoxNs.png[/img]
A person I made out of basic shapes and just deformed him to look like this
[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/248055_356677581100015_1140137739_n.png?oh=d11743980c0f082a01bc3da772855768&oe=55880E7A&__gda__=1435830187_bc7b7278cb288ebcb5f6ab7692422fb0[/img]
And another
[img]http://i.imgur.com/Qis3liZ.jpg[/img]
I'm extremely jealous of this thread and what you lot can create, I need to pick up on my game and start practicing making basic silhouettes
But for now, I like just doing these basic things, they look good in my mind
They look good to me too! Sure they are simple, but starting simple is probably a good way to go since simplicity is so important.
Did you make the Poseidon logo as well? Its really cool.
[QUOTE=Smeetin;47146070]They look good to me too! Sure they are simple, but starting simple is probably a good way to go since simplicity is so important.
Did you make the Poseidon logo as well? Its really cool.[/QUOTE]
Unfortunately no, but I made it "materialised" with the 2D shadows, they said they like the idea of putting the head in a circle with the shadows and what not. I can't make a lot of good shit, as said I really need to practice and probably get illustrator
[editline]16th February 2015[/editline]
Also my very early worked emphasised a lot on glossiness and busy-ness, something that was popular for its time (2011)
I thought it was awesome, but realised that it was shit after I started using Windows 8 and Windows Phone. So transitioning from busy to simple didn't take a long time
It's all good, we all got caught up a little in the whole web 2.0 glossy / apple trend.
Well, thanks for posting your work! It doesn't need to be "good shit" all of the time. I go through piles of "bad shit" before I ever get somewhere decent and besides I just want people to discuss the topic in general.
So if you have any questions or need any advice, please ask!
[QUOTE=Smeetin;47149954]So if you have any questions or need any advice, please ask![/QUOTE]
First question: How do I make logos that are not shit?
Anyway, content:
[QUOTE][IMG]http://i2.minus.com/i9VUPmqzASPLa.png[/IMG]
Law firm[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Kindlinho;47151005]First question: How do I make logos that are not shit?[/QUOTE]
I second this.
If I can throw my 2c in here
I find logos that use a lot of detail, like unnecessary detail to be dumb
like in your designs for the law firm, the first one doesn't need those 2 lines by its side, your 2nd one is better
Maybe it's just me but I don't see the point in stuff like that unless it has some explict purpose
Guys..... So i might have an interview for a graphic design company as a junior graphic designer.
I was thinking about, just to maybe boost my chances of getting the job, redesigning their logo?
Do you think that is a good idea? Or a bad idea?
I wouldn't redesign it for their intention of actually use it, but just showing them my ideas, skills and thought process as a practice so i can show them what im capable of?
So yeah, good idea? bad idea?
[QUOTE=papkee;47151081]I second this.[/QUOTE]
Honestly it's personal preference, what are you doing it for, (and if applicable?) who are you doing it for?
I always find the end product to be more satisfying than actually doing the stuff, I try not to get to attached in the design phase so I don't get that next-morning regret of "Oh fuck this looks like trash"
[QUOTE=greeley;47151828]Guys..... So i might have an interview for a graphic design company as a junior graphic designer.
I was thinking about, just to maybe boost my chances of getting the job, redesigning their logo?
Do you think that is a good idea? Or a bad idea?
I wouldn't redesign it for their intention of actually use it, but just showing them my ideas, skills and thought process as a practice so i can show them what im capable of?
So yeah, good idea? bad idea?[/QUOTE]
I feel like it might come off slightly arrogant to redesign THEIR logo? Kind of like picking flaws in something that is actually close to their hearts or something. I might sooner pick a logo they would recognize, but isn't theirs. Just my opinion, that is the vibe I got when I thought about it.
[QUOTE=Kindlinho;47151005]First question: How do I make logos that are not shit?[/QUOTE]
Research
Research your client. Research the market the company is in. Research the industry the client is in. Research the demographic you're trying to appeal to.
If you have a client, ask them questions about their firm, find out what they want to achieve, find out their future goals, who do they want to be seen as?
Moodboards, brainstorming, references, keywords, age range, culture, products, style.
Sketch
Just sketch, a lot, make up all sorts of design ideas. If you've done your research you should have found particular styles, objects, technologies, words, whatever that you can draw inspiration from. Don't stop at 10-20 ideas, keep going.
Make sure you're specific, don't try to express 5 different things in the logo, try to communicate 1-2, tops 3 things with it. You don't want people to wonder what the hell the logo is or why it looks like it is. That is not to say it needs to be understood by everyone, but it should be understood by the company and the demographic without any outside help. This will of course always be up for debate, just make sure it makes sense.
A good logo is a meaningful logo. A logo that represents something, that sends a message, that makes people understand a bit about who the company is. They understand what industry they are in, they have a vague idea of the price range, they can guess the products.
A logos objective will always be different, lesser known companies are much more reliant on being understood at first glance, whilst a well-known company will instead rely on being up-to-date (in most cases they would only want to update their branding, not their logo anyways).
Third Page Excitement. We are the little thread that could.
[QUOTE=Kindlinho;47151005]First question: How do I make logos that are not shit?
Anyway, content:[/QUOTE]
Well, your content would prove that you already know how! The second law firm logo is quite nice.
Since someone else asked too, I'll just list some stuff that I do / think about when I'm working:
(Disclaimer: I'm not an expert and I too make the occasional shitty logo)
I also agree with everything DGG said.
1. Your work probably isn't as shitty as you think
2. Either way, everyone is going to produce shit once in a while, its natural
3. Sketch a lot, you have to get all the bad ideas down and out of your head before the good ones can flow
3b. Tweak and tweak again. Quite often my best logos come from iteration after iteration of a certain concept. Have to be careful you don't get hung up on something that isn't going anywhere though.
4. Don't ever throw any idea away
5. At the same time, never hesitate to move PAST an idea
6. Principles of Design (Balance, Harmony, Unity, Contrast, Etc), K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple Stupid)
7. Simple does not equal unrefined / lack of detail / boring
8. Often I find that it is in the details that the best design emerges
9. As a practice I often force myself to look at each vertex within the logo and try things with it: Should it be rounded, should I nudge it over here, if I carve it out like this will it enhance this secondary concept, etc.
10. If you can add an element of gestalt, do it. Always be on the lookout for it.
11. It doesn't hurt to take heavy inspiration from something else. Treat it as precedent of something that worked. It is best when doing this to attempt to replicate the underlying concept rather than the exact form obviously, you don't want to start just copying logos.
11b. Look at examples of other logos designed for the type of industry you are designing for (ie. medicinal logos, law firm logos, tech. logos, etc). Look at the trends and commonalities. Question them. Ask yourself if you can break them, stand out, but still have the logo fit the industry.
12. You don't need to be great at typography, but treat the type with the same respect as the logo. Take some time with it, try different positions, sizes, fonts.
13. Think about how the directionality and form within the logo relates to that of the type. Can you build visual lines between them?
14. Legibility is crucial at all scales. Try shrinking your logo to small sizes to see what information is lost.
That's all I can think of at the moment. If it seems like some of my work doesn't follow these guidelines, that is probably because a lot of the work I have posted on facepunch is the work that helped me to develop this way of thinking.
8,9, and 10 are my favourite parts of a design to work on. They can really take a design to the next level.
One of my favourite things that I have done is in my dracula poster:
[img]http://www.stefanklassen.com/images/logos/dracula-01.jpg[/img]
By looking at each vertex carefully, I got the idea to add the blood drops to where the background meets the foreground / border colour at the bottom of the page. It fits the theme of Dracula well and I felt it was a simple way to add another level of care to the poster.
Which version you think is best?
also, thoughts?
[url]http://imgur.com/a/7sIk3[/url]
Version 1
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/KjTsxpM.png[/IMG]
Version 2
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/1UaGYn3.png[/IMG]
Version 3
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/rs5nVzs.png[/IMG]
Version 4 (with different hand variation)
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/K1VqZkK.png[/IMG]
[QUOTE=imMonkeyGOD;47153110]Which version you think is best?
also, thoughts?
[/QUOTE]
I like the standard hand, but I definitely think version 3 or 4. Leaning more towards 3, feels more whole / together. I'd also suggest minimal grunge.
[QUOTE=greeley;47151828]Guys..... So i might have an interview for a graphic design company as a junior graphic designer.
I was thinking about, just to maybe boost my chances of getting the job, redesigning their logo?
Do you think that is a good idea? Or a bad idea?
I wouldn't redesign it for their intention of actually use it, but just showing them my ideas, skills and thought process as a practice so i can show them what im capable of?
So yeah, good idea? bad idea?[/QUOTE]
Might be seen as a little cheeky, so I wouldn't really advise it. I see you're from the UK, may I ask where you're interviewing? I'm just nosy :)
[QUOTE=imMonkeyGOD;47153110]Which version you think is best?
[/QUOTE]
I like 3 the best, I like the design better as a whole when the hand has fill. Not a fan of textured font, but I lean towards more flat design.
[editline]16th February 2015[/editline]
basically same as the guy two posts above
why not
[img]http://i.imgur.com/IAXX2Q4.jpg[/img]
This thread makes me feel bad. I'm just starting out with design and stuff, but all you guys's work is just SO MUCH BETTER
I haven't had any education on actual design yet. I just took a couple courses in high school on how to use photoshop. So far I'm just self taught. Hopefully next semester I'll be done with all of my basic art courses and can finally move to graphic design focused stuff. I'm really excited to get an actual education instead of me just looking up how to do what I want to do. Maybe I'll be as good as y'all in a couple years.
Still, I'll post some of my stuff.
[t]http://i.imgur.com/9iwmyQZ.png[/t][t]http://i.imgur.com/XyoLI3L.png[/t][t]http://i.imgur.com/wDXcXTv.png[/t]
I could never figure out which of these three I liked best.
[t]http://i.imgur.com/6pVWBrV.png[/t]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/QZZoiF3.png[/t]
I was practicing different text styles for these. (I didn't draw the cyborg, credit goes to: [url]http://afridge.tumblr.com/post/78336526139/mediborg-from-ss13-space-station-13-wanted-to[/url])
[t]http://i.imgur.com/UKKFpG4.png[/t]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/G0NmpUT.png[/t]
All I have on hand is screencaps of photoshop for these couple for some reason. Maybe I'll actually finish these one day. I could never get what's supposed to be the back side of the blu-ray case to look good.
I attempted to make a logo based off of my screen name and my personal/portfolio website of the same name. Though, I feel something similar to this already exists.
[t]http://puu.sh/g0aRC/039f4fdadc.png[/t]
I don't have much experience with Illustrator yet so I simply just used various shapes in Photoshop to form the bomb and cut down a circle to make the effect in front of it (I don't know what to call it).
[t]http://puu.sh/g0aKl/1f015a6287.png[/t]
The different shapes that make up the complete shape.
I made the logo an absurd size, 6788px by 6788px and used Illustrator along with Icomoon to make it into an icon font for use in my website.
That's exactly how you should use illustrator, it's what makes it fantastic! Check out the pathfinder and get those shapes combined, if that isn't already what you used for the moon shape.
[QUOTE=imMonkeyGOD;47153110]Which version you think is best?
also, thoughts?
[URL]http://imgur.com/a/7sIk3[/URL][/QUOTE]
No. 3. The text "flows" the best out of these 4 options. Try drawing an ellipse around the logo, just to check if the text looks good (flows well).
Logo looks flattened in #1, not very appealing.
Version 2 is way too humongous at the bottom and doesn't flow.
3 going the right way, but needs tweaking. I'd probably try matching the "Film Animation" font size with "Mel Hoppenheim" to help the symmetry.
4 could look okay, if you used it inside a shield or something, but 3 just looks way better. Not a fan of the inverted hand either. Hand is the central theme here and it should be bold, strong and full.
EDIT: Also, thanks for the tips. I kind of know the basics like "what looks obnoxious" or "logo has to deliver a message", but I often feel uninspired and can't come up with a good idea.
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The Graphic Design Thread - Drop It Like a Hotkey
