Week two was all about an introduction to monograms. We had a few tasks to complete this week during class time which were enjoyable and also good learning experiences because I got to see other peoples work. We looked a range of monogram examples and why they are used, why they are important and how a new revamped monogram can transform the brand. Daniel explained that this week we will designing our very own monograms for our own brand which is exciting and then next week will be more focused on typography.

Geometric name task:

For the first task of the day we had to only use the three geometric shapes: circle, square and equilateral triangle to create our name. My name is short with repeated a’s so I felt lucky, I really enjoyed this task because it was something I have never down before and it was fun to work with a limited range of shapes. I thought this would lead to a limited amount of possible outcomes, however this was the opposite. I found that only using shapes led me to coming up with new ways to portray my name in digital form than ever before, and ways I would have never thought of if I was allowed to use lines etc.

I started in my sketchbook to get a feel for the shapes however these designs changed when I brought them to the computer. These were my initial sketches,

 

This is what I created.

The more typographical one was my first attempt, I think it looks nice and feel the colour combination works well together but I wanted to try again and create something more abstract- more out there. I like the second one because of the colour palette, I like this one better because I played about with the opacity with the darker shades of purple so the cut outs didn’t look too harsh. By only using shapes and not manipulating them like I did in my first attempt it made for a more futuristic outcome and can be interpreted in many different ways the more you look at it.

Overall I really enjoyed this task, it was fun to learn about how shape placement can spell out words. It was also very interesting to see the impact shapes can have and how great they can look on the screen. I feel this task got me thinking about my own monogram and how abstract/clear I think it should be. I really liked that we got to see how others tackled this task in class and it was great to see how everyone approached it differently, resulting in different outcomes. In seeing others work it allowed for another source of inspiration, leading to more ideas.