The Graphic Design Alchemist

A fun and fast project...

2012-01-19T01:20:00.000-06:00

A good friend of mine, Janeen, asked me to design a quick logo for a class assignment that she had to do. Plus, she wanted to use this logo as an actual on the side business for the future. The Pamper Bar was created and I wanted the design to be a play-off of Diana Ross. Janeen is African American so I wanted this logo to market toward the ethnic audience. I created these logo samples in about about 1-2 hours.

Pushing the boundaries of creativity

2011-12-28T15:58:00.003-06:00

A few years ago, I was approach by my boss at the time, to design a brochure or booklet for the Tularosa Basin Coe Ranch client of ours. The only issue we had was the budget. The other designer who designed the first in a series of three brochures had already maxed out the budget. His inexperience in print design and the awful art direction given by the graphics manager really put a damper on things when I was asked to design the final brochure. The project manager even had to go to the client and request for more money so we can get this third brochure done on time.

Well, with the amount of hours that I had to work on this brochure and the years of experience in my design program, I went at it like a race horse. I worked my butt off by quickly coming up with the concept on paper and then researched all the materials that I needed to create an outstanding piece. My back was against the wall and I needed to build this design file right the first time.

In the end, the brochure turned out better than what I had envisioned. I incorporated an antique textured effect throughout the cover along with a streamlined process in developing the content. I quickly implemented Adobe InCopy, a plugin software that was for our editor to check-in and check-out parts of the brochure's text content without effecting the design itself. What was being created was 'simultaneous productivity'. I didn't have to wait for my editor to give me the text revisions while I designed the document. All she had to do was check-in/check-out the text that she needed to edit while I was still designing this brochure in Adobe InDesign. This saved us TONS of time and I was actually delivering the piece to the client on time, under budget, and to the satisfaction of the client.

Below is the brochure and what it ended up looking like. Let me know what you think.

Key points to remember:

When you work on a project that has multiple deliverables, make sure there's a large enough contingency plan for all deliverables.
Make sure that all deliverables share the same style of layout. In this case, we had three brochures looking different for each and yet non of them look like they related to each other.
Art direction is key on a large campaign.
Always build your file correct the first time and don't wait until the end to convert each and every element from RGB to CMYK. Duh!

RDG Consultant - Corporate Identity

2011-12-20T13:44:00.003-06:00

Rafael Garcia, a friend of mine from my volleyball league, recently retired from working at the Jack In The Box corporate offices. He's a very intelligent businessman with many years of experience in the restaurant industry. I approached him one day at volleyball practice because I heard that he recently left his company and wants to start his own consulting business. I gave him my card and told him that I would love to brand his new start-up company.

Below are the preliminary concepts that I created for Rafael to review. I incorporated elements from the restaurant business like a fork, spoon, and knife. I placed them in a circle to resemble 'completeness'. My client likes blue so I used three shades of blue for each part of the log. This is such a versatile logo that you can use any circle for any part of an application. Using gray gave it that professional touch in the typeface. I also chose a clean typeface to give it a masculine feel to the logos.

After my client chose his logo, I suggested that we use both a vertical and horizontal format. By doing this the logo becomes extremely versatile when used in applications such as a newspaper or magazine ad, flyer, web banner, etc. Below is the final logo that he chose in both color and in black & white.

Below is how I applied the logo to his stationery package.

I did run into some obstacles when we sent the business cards out to press. The first batch did not come out the way it should have. So, I decided to use another business card printing company in which they were able to print the card using a heavier card stock and that we could make the back side of the card using a different circle logo for each card. My next opportunity is to design his website which I'll start after January 1st.

Key points to remember when design an identity and apply it to a business card:

Always shop around for the best printer at a reasonable print price.
Look at various options to create both a vertical layout as well as a horizontal layout of a logo.
Always put the customer first and take the cut if there's a mistake on the production end. Your goal is to keep them as a customer for a long time.
Look at other opportunities to expand your client's business and provide them other services such as web design, etc.

Kanoe Caberto - website design

2011-12-20T02:05:00.002-06:00

My nephew's girlfriend, Kanoe, contacted me at the last minute to design a website that would display her digital filmmaking for her portfolio review. She attended my alma mater, The Art Institute of Seattle, and used this website to display her work. I was quite impressed about what she can do with digital video.

Anyway, I created the website using a beta program called Adobe Muse. Kanoe purchased the domain name from GoDaddy and we also had them host the website as well. She provided the header by submitting the business card design that she created herself. I then incorporated that as the header, created the color template, and used a tapa pattern from an earlier website I created for my cousin's business.

The website took about a two weeks to complete. My client provided me with all the content including the links that would stream her video samples. I would estimate this website to be around $1000 - 1500 to design, program, and produce.

Check out Kanoe's website at http://kanoecaberto.com

Below is a sample screenshot of the website.

Kanoe's website.

JMarkus HOA Management - logo identity

2011-12-20T01:51:00.000-06:00

JMarkus HOA Management is a company that my cousin, Jan Markus, owns and operates in the Las Vegas, Nevada area. I was in Las Vegas attending a business event and actually had time to meet up with my cousin and her family. When I told her about my new freelance business, she was so happy that I'm pursuing my passion and offered me to design/brand her company.

So, when I returned to Dallas, my first task was to draft a few concepts. See below. Jan already had an existing color pallet which she still wanted to maintain. I added a few combinations and liked how I used the dark gray along with the teal colors. From there, I focused on the design concept and looked at different ways to incorporate a house or houses in the design which represents community.

Draft logo examples presented to client.

In the end, Jan chose logo 1A. I explained to her that the logo represents her business being that no matter rain or shine, her services is always available. I used a continuous line concept in all three shapes and I really didn't want to show a structured box for each so I warped each one to give that care-free look. See below. You'll noticed that I created the same logo but in three different formats- colored, grayscale, and black & white. By doing this, you give the logo a versatile appearance for any type of design situation. Sometimes clients like to print something in black & white to cut costs so its best that I create this option as well.

Various color version of the logo.

The last phase of this project was to apply the logo in its stationery format. See below. I wanted to show how the logo could be used in different formats. In the end, I suggested that we only print the business cards to cut costs. The letterhead and envelopes could be printed at a later time, however, I did create a MS Word template for each of these so that Jan could use them for her business immediately.

Logo applied to a stationery package.

In the end, the entire process took about a week to create from preliminary sketches to final logo approval. Because she's my cousin, I gave her a nice discounted rate in which she really appreciated. The next phase for my client is to draft a scope and fee for her website. Although she still has her current website available, I suggested that I redesign the entire website to make it much more visually appealing and functional for her clients.

Key Points to Remember:

Draft your concepts on paper then take them to screen. I've worked with many graphic designers in my career and many of them tend to create first on computer. As designers, we all start at sketching a concept. Use your hand sketching skills!
Consider different color options but stay within your boundaries. If a client already has an existing color pallet, don't change it! Adapt your design to it and see how it looks.
Design your logo by using different design approaches- like continuous line, structured vs non-structured, or brush stroke.
Always show your client how you would apply the logo. Other than showing them how you would apply it to a stationery format, you can also show how you would apply it to a t-shirt, car wrap, or signage.