Visual marque research

I have previously researched brands and designers visual marques blog post here. Since then I have came across more visual marques that I have found inspiring. This type of research is important to me as I can get a good feel for current designer personalities and approaches and this will further benefit my ideas and approach to this project.

Well known companies

I enjoy the simple yet striking approaches the above brands have used, the simplicity of the bold blocks of geometric shapes are very effective and their visual marques are known and recognised worldwide. The idea of using clean, sharp and smooth shapes feels right to me and I think will coincide well with my brands overall personality. Strong, bold shapes like the ones above adds to a brands professionalism, it comes across confident to the consumer, as if the brands knows who they are what what their beliefs are. I want my brand to look strong and confident too, I think that taking the approach with bold and striking shapes will help me achieve this.

Personal Brand Visual Marks

Hand drawn approach

I have included the designer below as I came across her visual mark online and I found her approach interesting. The digital drawing of the bird gives off a hand drawn feel, the shapes and lines aren’t straight or too precise, this approach to a visual marque is nice and personal which can add a closeness to her and her audience and clients. However I am not a fan of the type here, I feel that the hand drawn approach is friendly however I think that is can take away from a brands professionalism. I want my brand to radiate professionals and think that a hand drawn approach isn’t the right look I want for my brand. This type of style wouldn’t match my monogram and wordmark as those elements are bold and modern I think a hand drawn style of visual would take away from that and wouldn’t look consistent.

Simplicitic

I love this designers visual marques below and how they linked their first initial with a paper clip in the shape of a V, this idea is very smart and the outcome works very well. Alongside with this lime green colour which is very vivid and striking, it works very well with the cheerful and clever theme that is she has decided to go with for her brand. my monogram is simple, clean and bold I have to take this into account when designing my visual marque, I want something that coincides with my monogram and wordmark and I think a simplistic approach will do so.

Line drawing

I loved the visual marques below, it is created by The Gowalla team, and they had previously been known for the Facebook game Pack Rat, and Firewheel Design. This idea of a continuous line is intriguing and works great for this kangaroo illustration, the lines are smooth and and uncomplicated, this approach could be interesting for my visual marque and is an idea I could try out. A continuous line idea for a visual marque is creative and I do want my brand to show my creative flare. However I don’t think that this type fo style for a marque would coincide with my other elements, my monogram isn’t made up of a continuous line; it is thicker and bolder therefore the below style just wouldn’t pair well with my brands image.

Master Apprentice Challenge

To get in the swing of designing visual marques I have decided to set myself another Master Apprentice challenge which is to recreate a one of the visual marques above. I have included my attempt below.

Original

My re creation

Reflection

I find doing master apprentice challenges very beneficial and this one was no different. I made this in illustrator and it helped me familiarise myself with using and creating curved lines, the most challenging part of this side project was doing this in one continuous line. This got me in a good head space to create a visual marque, this challenge gave me a good indication of the correct size and scale that my own visual marque should be. I enjoyed the line work here and I think that this style of illustration for a visual marque is very charming but still modern and trendy, however I think the freeness and fluidity of this design won’t pair well with my brands image so far.

What did I learn?

I have looked at a lot of different visual marques, from personal brands to companies and from this research I now have a good visual marque research base to work from for my own designs. The designers have taken a lot of different approaches and each outcome is different, but they all work well with their overall brands as a whole. My monogram is simple but bold and uncomplicated and I want that theme and personality to be reflected in my visual marque.