Photograph Illustration

For my illustration of the Roman Colosseum, I tried to keep with the original color-scheme of the photograph. However, due to the building's complex design, I found it very difficult to match the colors of each brick in the structure. The many angles of the rounded building created a very difficult challenge for the shadows involved. I used the pen tool and the pencil tool for all of the shapes and highlights of the illustration.

Logo Sketches

Smart Text Logo

This is my final logo design for the Smart Text Company. I decided to keep the logo simple and to the point with the talk-bubble and the company name. I chose the color scheme, gray and silver, because I was trying to keep it looking like platinum or as a futuristic design. I chose the font style because of its easy legibility and it has what I think is a very clean look. As far as changes that were made from the original design, the only detail that was adjusted was the color. Originally, I was going to leave it as an all-black and white logo. However, seeing it as a finished product it looked very bland, so I tried to give it a little bit of appeal with the future-looking colors. Also, I did not put in a fill. I did this because I think it would make for a more interesting icon on the cell-phone's screen so that the user can see their own background instead of the one for the app.

Logo critiques

1. NFL Logo: I think this is a very solid version of the National Football League's logo. The most recent change that I am aware of was the lessening of the stars on the shield. I think this is a good move because it makes it a simpler image. With this simplified version, there are fewer similarities between the logo and the American flag, which results in better visibility, memorability, and universality because it may be less considered an American-only sport. 

2. Saab Logo: This logo, similar to Apple's, contains an image of something that is not actually a product of the company's. It does, however, work well as a simple image that reminds the consumer of one of their slogans, "Born from jets." Also, it makes good use of the Usability-factor. The text is large enough and the image is simple enough that if it is shrunk down or blown up, there will be little difficulty understanding the meaning. Because of this, I think it is a strong logo.

 3. MTV Logo: This is a logo that I believe is clearly targeted towards teens/young adults because of it's disorganized style. The background is a splatter of paint with objects such as a bottle popping out from behind it. The designers used a very bright and strong orange against the black and white background to make the brand really stand-out against the rest of the logo. While it is a good design, it has little usability if it were to be shrunken down for a business card or something of that nature- the details of the background would be completely lost.

4. Poland Spring Logo: While this logo uses a very appealing image to illustrate the freshness of their water, there is, I believe, far too much text. A full two lines of text that are written at the bottom would be completely lost if the logo were to be made smaller for a business card of flyer. This amount of text and complicated illustrations works against the product in terms of memorability. It does, however, have a certain level of timelessness. 

 5. Under Armor Logo: I think this company did a great job with their logo- it's simple, usable, easy to learn, and has meaning (the two curves make a U and an A). While it is not a terribly old company (1996), they have, as far as I know, kept the same logo for all of those years. I think this speaks well to the logo's durability, as it has also become an incredibly recognizable brand.