The idea behind this project was to create a chic, grungy, urban design for a clothing brand. The first step in the process was to decide on a name for said company/brand. In order to be edgy, the image of the brand centers around the dark theme of "suicide," but in a way that lends itself to an ironic spin on the dark nature of said theme. The final result is meant to look cool and trendy, but with the ironic theme of "suicide." My idea behind the actual design was to create imagery that was highly typography driven. My inspiration was the iconic nature of clippings and found-fonts classically seen in depictions of ransom notes left behind at the scene of a crime. Not only did I want to use a wide array of font-faces, and create them in a way that they mold and gel together, but I also wanted to experiment with iconography and the design potential of glyphs, symbols and other typographic elements. The challenge in using an excessive amount of type-faces and font-families is arranging them in a manner that makes sense and is visually "soothing." Typography is often the downfall of young designers, as many people take an old "wanted poster" or "circus attraction" approach, combining font, after font, after font with the idea that "more is more"; Well, yes, and no - because "more" doesn't necessarily mean better - but for this project it would mean exactly that. Combining a majority serif fonts, but a few scripty-fonts and a sans-serif or two, the composition itself relies heavily on the weight of the characters, alignment, and finding a balance so the that the iconography blends seamlessly into the letters and neither end of the word "Suicide Note ♪" seems to tip the canvas.
The eighth-note, which is to be the representative symbol of this brand, hearkens an appearance resembling the likes of the Grim Reaper's sickle. This is not a coincidence, but an aesthetic choice that plays into the theme of suicide and death. And in a deliciously grim and coincidental twist, the eighth-note accenting the end of the string of letters (more-so, the one written into the title of this project) is created (on PC) by holding the "alt" key and typing the lucky number, 13.
Logo Design
Different styles, uses and applications of the logo and accompanying elements.
