more logo’s for mook

After completing the website, I decided to try out some more logo’s.  Although I think the logo I used looks good on the actual website( the wood-look, nature…) it might not look as good on a letterhead or businesscard without the garden background.  I therefore worked on designs that would look like a classic logo on its own.

Bearing in mind that the product is aimed at women, and we are trying to show that they are comfortable and lightweight, i looked at other logo’s of feminine products.  They are all quite simple, elegant and often include a small image that blends in nicely with the text.  Based on that research I used a feather, flowers and a dove on seperate logo’s.  I kept them all simple, mainly one colour and looking elegant.  The logo at the bottom, which looks like it has been slashed with a scissor, is probably too funky for this kind of product but I tried it anyhow.

MOOK EVALUATION

THE TASK WE WERE GIVEN WAS TO LOOK AT AN EXISTING WEBSITE AND REDESIGN IT.  THE WEBSITE IS FOR A COMPANY CALLED MOOK WHO SELLS SCARVES.  THE FIRST THING I DID WAS TO LOOK AT THE WEBSITE AND DECIDE WHAT I DISLIKED ABOUT IT.  THERE WERE ALOT OF THINGS THAT IN MY OPINION COULD DO WITH IMPROVEMENT.  FOR STARTERS THE LOGO WAS TOO BUSY, TOO CLUTTERED AND TOO FLAT.  THERE WERE ALSO SOME RANDOM BUTTERFLIES AROUND THE HOME PAGE.

THE WEBSITE HAD A REFFERENCE TO “kARLBACH” STYLE, WHICH IS NOT SOMETHING PEOPLE FROM A LARGE SPECTRUM OF THE POPULATION WOULD UNDERSTAND.

THE PICTURES LOOKED LIKE SAMPLES FOR CURTAINS OR LINNEN.

ALSO, THE FONT OF THE TEXT ON THE HOMEPAGE IS TOO SMALL.

BEARING THESE OBSERVATIONS IN MIND, I STARTED SKETCHING MY OWN 3 IDEAS ON PAPER FIRST, FOLLOWED BY WORKING IN PHOTOSHOP.

I TRIED TO CREATE 3 VERY DIFFERENT THEMES.

LOOKING AT MY 3 DESIGNS THESE ARE MY FOLLOWING THOUGHTS:

DESIGN 1:  I ACTUALLY REALLY LIKE THE HOME PAGE, IT IS SOFT AND FEMININE AND THE GILDED FRAME ADDS ALOT OF CHARM .  I WAS TEMPTED TO CHOSE THIS DESIGN, BUT DECIDED TO CHOSE DESIGN 2 AS IT IS MORE SPECIAL AND THERE WAS ROOM FOR ANIMATION IN FLASH, WHICH I THINK LOOKS REALLY COOL.

THE OTHER PAGES I DESIGNED FOR DESIGN 1 ARE GOOD, BUT MAYBE THEY ARE ALL TOO DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER, EXCEPT THE LOGO AND THE BUTTONS, AND THEREFORE THERE IS A LACK OF CONSISTANCY WHICH MIGHT NOT LOOK SO PROFFESIONAL.

THE LOGO, I THINK IS GOOD AND I WAS TEMPTED TO USE THE SAME LOGO FOR DESIGN 2 BUT COULDN’T DO SO AS THE BACKGROUND WOULD BE TO BUSY FOR IT.

DESIGN 2:  THIS IS THE DESIGN I CHOSE TO FULLY DEVELOP.  IT HAS A NICE FEEL TO IT AND THE IDEA IS TO SHOW HOW LIGHTWEIGHT THE SCARVES ARE = COMFORT.  AS I HAVE MENTIONNED BEFORE, THE BACKGROUND IS A PICTURE OF MY BACKGARDEN WITH A WASHING LINE HANGING ACROSS.  I ENJOYED WALKING AROUND WITH MY CAMERA AND TAKING PICTURES OF DIFFERENT TREES, BACKGROUNDS, FABRICS, TEXTURES ETC..  I FEEL I HAVE WORKED HARD FOR THIS PROJECT, ESPECIALLY ON GATHERING IMAGES BOTH WITH MY CAMERA AND DOWNLOADED FROM THE INTERNET

WITH A BIT OF ANIMATION IN FLASH, THE SCARVES  LOOK LIKE THEY ARE GENTLY BLOWING IN THE WIND AND THE BIRDS MAKE A CHIRPING SOUND.

I TRIED CREATING DIFFERENT LOGO’S FOR THIS DESIGN.  AS MUCH AS I WANTED TO USE SOMETHING COOL AND DIFFERENT, I HAD TO RESTRICT MYSELF TO A PRETTY PLAIN LOGO AS THE GARDEN BACKGROUND WAS SIMPLY TOO BUSY FOR MUCH ELSE.  THE LOGO LOOKS LIKE IT HAS BEEN CUT OUT OF A PIECE OF WOOD, WHICH MATCHES WITH THE BUTTONS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE.

IN THIS WEBDESIGN, I HAVE KEPT THE CONSISTANCY THROUGHOUT THE WEBSITE, STICKING TO THE SAME BACKGROUND ON ALL PAGES.  I AM QUITE HAPPY WITH THE RESULTS BUT I THINK THE SHEETS OF PAPER I USED ON THE CONTACT AND EVENT PAGE COULD DO WITH SOME MORE WORK AS THEY SOMEHOW DON’T LOOK FINISHED TO A PROFESSIONAL STANDARD.  I HAVE SLIGHTLY TWEEKED THE POSITION OF THE BIRDS ON EVERY PAGE TO GIVE IT SOME CARACTER.  AT FIRST, I DID NOT MAKE THE CLIENT PAGE BUT AFTER LOOKING AT THE FINISHED WEBSITE, I REALISED THAT IT WASN’T BRINGING ACROSS AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE: THE FACT THAT THESE SCARVES ARE TARGETED AT A LARGE AUDIENCE, INCLUDING PEOPLE OF ALL DIFFERENT CULTURAL BACKGROUNDS AND RELIGIONS. BY ADDING A VARIETY OF PICTURES ON THE CLIENT PAGE, THIS MESSAGE WILL BE SELF-EXPLANATORY.

I FEEL THAT THE SCARVES ON THE HOMEPAGE DO NOT LOOK VERY REAL, BUT AS I HAVE EXPLAINED IN THE WRITTEN PROPOSAL, SHOULD I BE THE ONE TO DESIGN THE MOOK WEBSITE, I WILL THEN TAKE PICTURES OF THE ACTUAL MOOK SCARVES HANGING ON THE WASHING LINE.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE INFORMATION I HAVE USED FOR THIS DESIGN IS RANDOM AND NOT GENUINE.  IT IS THERE TO SHOW WHAT THE WEBSITE CAN LOOK LIKE AND ANY INFORMATION CAN BE REPLACED BY T HE CORRECT ONE.

DESIGN 3;

THE IDEA BEHIND THIS DESIGN WAS TO CREATE A HOLLYWOOD STYLE  BACKGROUND, USING AN OLD-FASHIONED CAMERA WHICH WOULD PROJECT PICTURES ONTO A SCREEN.  TO KEEP WITH THIS THEME, I ADDED SMALL IMAGES OF FILMREELS ON THE BUTTONS.  I TRIED A VARIETY OF BACKGROUNDS BUT WASN’T ENTIRELY HAPPY WITH ANY.  THE LOGO WAS GOOD, I USED A PICTURE I HAD TAKEN OF A FOAM HAT STAND WITH A BANDANA ON TOP AND MADE IT BLACK AND WHITE IN PHOTOSHOP.

I THOUGHT THIS DESIGN WOULD LOOK BETTER AND TO BE HONEST I COULD PROBABLY HAVE WORKED HARDER TO IMPROVE IT.  SOMEHOW, I DIDN’T LIKE IT TOO MUCH AND THEREFORE DECIDED NOT TO CONTINUE WITH THIS DESIGN.

CONCLUSION:  THIS HAS BEEN AN EXCELLENT EXPERIENCE FOR ME.  I HAVE REALLY IMPROVED MY PHOTOSHOP SKILLS AND FEEL MUCH MORE CONFIDENT USING IT.

CREATING THE BUTTONS USING THE SLICE TOOL WAS ACTUALLY MUCH EASIER THAN I HAD ANTICIPATED AS WAS USING DREAMWEAVER.

USING FLASH IS GREAT FUN AND IT IS AMAZING HOW MUCH A BIT OF ANIMATION ADDS TO AN IMAGE.

THIS PROJECT HAS COVERED MANY DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF GRAPHIC DESIGN, WHICH WAS GREAT PRACTICE !

RECREATING AN EXISTING WEBSITE AND KNOWING THAT THE OWNER WILL COME IN AT THE END AND JUDGE THE DIFFERENT DESIGNS MADE IT MUCH MORE EXCITING FOR ALL OF US.

SOMETHING ELSE I HAVE LEARNT FROM THIS PROJECT IS THAT ALLTHOUGH I HAVE SPENT A LONG TIME, WRITING A DETAILED DESIGN PROPOSAL, WHEN IT CAME TO ACTUALLY WORKING ON THE DESIGN IN PHOTOSHOP I DID NOT ALWAYS STICK TO WHAT I HAD WRITTEN.  IT IS ONLY ONCE I SAW THE ACTUAL IMAGES AND EXPERIMENTED WITH BACKGROUNDS, COLOURS, ETC.. THAT I REALISED WHAT LOOKED GOOD OR NOT.

THE FINAL WORKING WEBSITE(SCREENSHOTS)

THESE ARE SCREEN SHOTS OF THE FINAL WORKING WEBSITE. AFTER HAVING DESIGNED ALL THE PAGES IN PHOTOSHOP, I USED THE SLICE TOOL TO CREATE THE BUTTONS AND LINKED THE BUTTONS TO THEIR CORRESPONDING PAGE IN DREAMWEAVER.  I ALSO ADDED A BROWNISH BACKGROUND COLOUR AND CENTRED THE IMAGE ON THE SCREEN.

ADDING THE CLIENT PAGE

THIS PAGE SHOWS A VARIETY OF LADIES WEARING SCARVES.  THEY ALL COME FROM DIFFERENT CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS BACKGROUNDS.  HAVE ADDED THE “CLIENT” BUTTON AND MUST NOW ADD IT TO OTHER PAGES AS I HAVE NOT DONE IT AS YOU CAN SEE ON THE PAGES BELOW.

MORE SOPHISTICATED DESIGN 2

AFTER LOOKING AT MY THREE DESIGNS, I DECIDED TO CHOSE DESIGN 2 BECAUSE I LIKE THE NATURE BACKGROUND AND I AM CONVINCED THAT WITH THE ANIMATION IT WILL LOOK GREAT.  I HAVE KEPT THE SAME BACKGROUND THROUGHOUT THE WEBSITE, OCCASIONALLY MOVING THE BIRDS OR THE BUTTONS. I HAVE ADDED THE LITTLE BIRDS, WHICH I WILL HOPEFULLY LINK LATER ON TO A CHIRPING SOUND.

another page for design 3

I can either keep the calender as it is(see-through) or fill it in with white.

experimenting with design 3

I exeperimented with the homepage for this design, both by changing the background and by slightly tilting and changing the size of the screen, camera and logo.

design 3 for Mook website

This design is bolder than the first two.  the main page shows an old-fashioned camera and a screen. At the moment the screen shows a picture of a lady wearing a scarf, but when I start working in flash, I will make the screen show lots of different pictures.

The buttons look like reels to maintain the theme.

I made the logo in photoshop, using a picture that I took of a scarf on a foam hatstand.

another page for Mook design 2

This the about page for design 2.  The background is similar to the homepage, grass/garden.  the logo is the same and so are the buttons(except that they have been moved a bit). The idea behind this picture is to show that the scarves are so soft, one could even use it to cover a newborn baby.  I have created the scarf in photoshop, but would obviousely use a Mook scarf in the actual webdesign.

Design 2 homepage

The idea behind this design is to create a nice, fresh, airy effect.  For the background I used a picture of my own garden.  I attached a washing line to two trees.  The scarves I made in photoshop using the warp tool.  If I chose to use this design, I would obiviousely use pictures of Mook scarves,or create the scarves like I have done above, but using Mook fabric patterns.

At a later stage in flash, I will make the scarves move gently, as if they were blowing in the wind.   This will show that the scarves are lightweight and therefore comfortable to wear.

I have made three different logo’s and at this moment I think the one I preffer is the one where the letters are cut out to reveal the trees in the background.

I am still planning to add some birds on the washing line, who will chirp when the mouse hovers over them.

I have also included a picture of grass and trees that I found on the net, but have decided not to use it as the proportions are wrong and the colours look fake.  Instead I have worked with the picture of my backgarden.