More logos

I'm going to use the first logo, but below are some other variations. It occurred to me that the text looks a bit like a little wing (Hermes, messenger of the Gods style...) which is relevant. Tried taking that idea further, but I think I still like the simplicity of the first design. I am worried it's a bit boring though, and also it reminds me slightly of a construction firm logo... which isn't really the look I'm going for... oh well!







Also, here it is in context, with some new 'while you were out' cards...

Logo stress

This blog is increasingly becoming a place where I say 'Help! Is this any good?!' I guess I'm probably not subjective enough about my own work, but what can I say, after a few hours staring at black circles and triangles, everything just looks... well, like a bunch of black circles and triangles.
These are further ideas around the 'RM' initials. I really didn't want to use them, I wanted to spell out the whole words, but somehow it's just not happening... Every time I try and use the whole words, it just looks too busy...

So anyway, which is your favourite/least favourite, and why?






Update!
Ok, I just did these, and without wanting to get too optimistic... I LOVE them. I just think, unlike all the others I've done, they WORK. But as I say, hours of staring at shapes can send you a bit crazy, so what do you think? I think I prefer the right hand one, where the shape of an envelope is less explicit and more implied, and it also leaves the letters clearer to be read - but do you agree? Also, the colour... I love it, but don't think it's quite appropriate. I shall work more on that.

Dissertationing

Not often I post 'wordy' blogs, but this is going to be one. I've just finished writing the introduction and conclusion for my dissertation (although I still don't have a definitive title, eek!). I thought I'd post them up here so you can have some idea of what I've been tap tap tapping away on for the last few months.
And I'd like to confess it now, yes, I am a huge public transport nerd. I think the UK would be a much happier and more efficient place if the government would stop wasting money on pointless wars (another rant entirely) and put some of the money saved into public transport, so that everyone would ditch their cars and hop on a bus or train instead.
I know it'd never work because people like cars far too much, but we can all have our dreams :)
Anyway, here goes:

Introduction:
From the early 1900’s, the suburbs around the outskirts of London began to expand rapidly. While this growth slowed from the 1930’s onwards, there are still hundreds of thousands of people living within an hour of London’s city centre. People were lured to the suburbs by the promise of countryside living whilst still being able to access high paid jobs in the centre of London. Now, however, many people who work in London are forced to the suburbs because they cannot afford the high living costs in the heart of London. London Transport has played an important role in the growth and development of suburbia, especially through their innovative use of design to promote and persuade travel. I’m interested to consider just how their design could be such a strong persuasive tool, leading people to travel at different times of the day, visit new places, and even enticing people to actually relocate to a totally different area.

Now, as in the early part of the century, there are still many hundreds of thousands of commuters travelling in to the centre of London daily. So how has commuting changed in the last century? And how has London Transport’s use of design changed over the last century to assist the needs of commuters?
(above is one of my favourite poster designs. If I could afford it, I'd have bought it as a print! It's by the wonderful Edward McKnight Kauffer, from 1921.)

Conclusion:
Whatever reason people choose to live in the suburbs, a majority of them still require access on a daily basis to the centre of London, and London Transport fulfils this need. But London Transport’s role is far greater than it may initially seem. In the early part of the century the train and transport companies played a huge role in encouraging the growth of the suburbs, and they did this through the use of forward thinking and innovative design. There was the creation and promotion of ‘Metro-Land’, and at the same time, the visionary poster campaigns of Frank Pick were stimulating travel to attractions on the outskirts that might otherwise have been overlooked. And this design was not limited to posters and print based media. All areas of design were important, from the design of the stations, to the famous underground map, nothing was too small to be considered and designed to promote and encourage travel.Commuting into London still continues to this day and looks unlikely to lessen any time soon. London Transport continues to use design as a way to assist, inform and generally make the experience of travelling easier and more efficient. In the early part of the century, London Transport was widely acknowledged as being one of the most forward thinking companies in terms of industrial design. While it may not still be so acknowledged, the company continues to push forward new campaigns and innovations in design.

Back to the drawing board...

My previous ideas were too complex. I was reminded of the fact that a logo also has to work on a very small scale... and while I still quite like them, it was clearly a case of having to start again completely from scratch. Here are some of my starting agains. Forgetting about colour for now, do you like any of them? I think the first is my favourite, but there's still a lot of work to do, these are literally just some initial drawings.

Which (if any) do you prefer?

Working on a new identity for Royal Mail.
Do you like any of these?
Which is your favourite colour. Are there any elements you think need more/less exaggeration? Critiques please please! (The tails coming off to the right wouldn't just end abruptly like that, they would bleed off the edge of whatever application they were being used with - van, postbox, signage etc.)

Ones to watch

Ah, how nice it is to do a short, simple project, where the client says things like 'Ace' and 'Super' lots.
This is for The 405 and their 'Ones to Watch 2010' compilation CD. I'd been waiting for a chance to use this typeface for a while...
(The logo on the back is their existing logo, not designed by me.)
Click for a better view...

Alkenes

A favour for my boyfriend. I have no idea what this is all about, but it was my job to make it pretty. He's on a teacher training course, and they each have to produce an A1 poster about an area of science they're less confident in, up to A-level standard. Judging by most of the work I've seen from his class (and indeed the teaching community in general), Comic Sans, Clip art and lurid Gradients are sure to abound. The youth of today deserve better!

I used the typeface Vag Rounded, which has a similar 'friendly' 'rounded' feel to comic sans, but without all the... y'know, bad. Colours wise, I initally had ambitious ideas of using 3D style effects in places, but I ran out of time. So it's just red and blue. Ah well.

Oh yeah, and horrible JPEG quality! Why does everything I save from Indesign always do this? The colours were so much more vivid :(