#ixd103

My Process

The updates i have made to my brand is that i have fixed some dimensional errors in the monogram and made it more round on the left hand side. I have added colour to my monogram wordmark collab by adding a hot pink colour which I personally like and think adds a more vibrant and contrasting colour. I decided on Stacking the Wordmark on top of each other and having the monogram sit resting above the bottom word. I chose to keep the typeface the same colour to keep it uniform and left the coloured portion of the brand to the monogram.

This is the concept I have created for my visual marque. To break it down it has 2 influences which help to explain myself The first part is the circles and the 2 arching lines this is to replicate a vinyl record which comes from my Djing and Music Production Background and the two chopsticks represent my love for chinese food.

I’ve followed a number of design focused Tumblr’s and will use them as inspiration during my projects, below are two that stuck out to me and I think will prove very useful in my upcoming work.

Dddribbble - I've found a lot of useful inspiration from this Tumblr account, ranging from branding inspiration to web designs. This account features a lot of creative illustrations, these are great inspiration to me in IXD104 when creating my icons/cityscape illustrations. 

It also features examples of monograms and branding designs, which will be useful for ideas with my current branding project in IXD103. There are many UI/UX designs and app design examples, the layouts of these have inspired me as I am currently creating digital wireframes for my Travel app.

Thedsgnblog - The blog has many helpful resources and design inspiration. It covers logo design, digital design, app design, UI/UX and many more. I've found a lot of great colour themes through the account which has gave me great inspiration. 

After listening to a broadcast about design I heard designers discussing how making minimalist interfaces and products is more complicated than one which looks complicated and is over-crowded. This brought me back to Paul Rand who once said the same statement.

It took me quite some time to find a layout for my projects section that I was pleased with. I started off with sketching multiple layouts in my first website wireframes, just to get an idea of what could be done with the space. But it wasn’t until I started doing the final wireframes where I could actually add images of the projects where I got the feel for what suited the website best. I didn't like the way the circles looked, neither the slim rectangles as not every artwork would suit a cropped image. Later I started looking into more animated layouts, like accordions and card UIs. While I like the idea of accordions, they only work with a limited amount of work and they might get quite visually confusing if the separate projects contain a lot of small parts. In the end I really liked the clean and simple design of the cards, which will have a hover animation. It’s simple and consistent, there’s enough space between every piece and no matter what amount there is, it’s going to look good. It’s pretty similar to the instagram layout.

This will possibly be my main photo on my portfolio website. 

Location: Svåne, Norway

Photographer: Kastytis Donauskis

Here is another photo I consider using when introducing myself.

Location: Oslo Opera House, Norway

Initial Mockup for Portfolio Site

On the left hand side of the page will be my monogram (top left), beside it ways in which I can be contacted/see my other media accounts. as you hover over these elements there will be a colour change. Also my word mark with an intro/about below it.

Brand Colour Palette

Visual Marque Refinement

I have tweaked my initial visual marque into something that means even more to me and fits the criteria for a visual marque even more so than the previous one. On the frames, I have included two pencil leads on the end of either frame, so it’s glasses with pencils... I simplified the purpose behind the idea mentioned before, which was about the concept of showing it for research material on my work, but I scrapped that idea in my mind once I thought about the meaning for it more. Pencils were the start of my design path and combining that with glasses makes it a perfect match for me.